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At its meeting held today (June 15, 2017), the University Council received a unanimous recommendation from the Search and Selection Committee for the Appointment of the Vice-Chancellor (Search Committee) that Professor Rocky S. Tuan be considered as the candidate for appointment as the next Vice-Chancellor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). A period of consultation, lasting some 5 to 6 weeks, will now follow. Arrangements are being made – to be announced in due course – for Professor Tuan to meet with members of the University, including staff, students and alumni, during the week commencing July 3, 2017. Views expressed by members of the University will be reported to the Council to facilitate its decision-making on the candidature of Professor Tuan at a special meeting to be held during the week commencing July 24, 2017.

The Search Committee was established by the Council in accordance with the University Ordinance in June 2016, with a view to identifying a suitable candidate for appointment as the next Vice-Chancellor, succeeding Professor Joseph J.Y. Sung. After consultation with members of the University, including two forums in October 2016, a global search commenced with the assistance of a search consultant firm. Having regard to the assessment criteria as well as the expected qualities and personal attributes of the next Vice-Chancellor, as expressed by members of the University, the Search Committee has carefully reviewed all candidates who have applied for the position or have been nominated or sourced by the search consultant from a worldwide pool, and met with a number of shortlisted candidates from Hong Kong and overseas. Professor Rocky S. Tuan has been recommended unanimously by the Search Committee, after a search and selection process lasting more than eight months, as the candidate for appointment by the Council as the next Vice-Chancellor.

Professor Rocky S. Tuan was born in Hong Kong, and received his undergraduate education at Berea College in Kentucky and Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, USA, and his PhD degree from Rockefeller University, New York. He has spent his academic career as a biomedical research scientist at several prestigious universities and institutions in the USA, including the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson University, and the National Institutes of Health. Professor Tuan currently holds a number of appointments at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, including Distinguished Professor and Executive Vice-Chairman in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Arthur J. Rooney, Sr. Chair in Sports Medicine, Director of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Engineering, Founding Director of the Center for Military Medicine Research, Associate Director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and Professor in the Department of Bioengineering. Professor Tuan is familiar with higher education in Hong Kong, having served as a member, then Chairman, of the Biology and Medicine Panel of the Research Grants Council from 2010 to 2016. Since 2016, Professor Tuan has been serving as Distinguished Visiting Professor and Director of the Institute for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at CUHK.

Professor Rocky S. Tuan has issued the following statement through the University.

“I am most honoured to be nominated as a candidate to be the next Vice-Chancellor of CUHK – a university I hold in the highest esteem. I look forward to meeting with members of the University, including staff, students and alumni, and presenting my vision on the future development of CUHK to the University Council, next month.”