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The Council of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has recently approved the appointment of Prof. Leung Seung-ming, Alvin as Dean of Education with effect from 1 March 2011. He will serve for a term of five years on a full-time basis.

Prof Leung Seung-ming, Alvin is professor and chairperson of the Department of Educational Psychology, and Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Education at the University. He received his doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1988. He joined CUHK in 1996 after serving as a faculty member at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Houston respectively.

Professor Leung remarked, ‘I am very pleased to accept the appointment. Our vision is that the Faculty of Education will become a leading centre for teacher training, innovative research, and responsive service to the education community. Our roots are in Hong Kong and we want to use our expertise and scholarship to contribute to current and emerging educational issues. In addition, we want to strengthen our national and international collaborations, so that the Faculty could make a strong and visible contribution to educational communities in the Chinese mainland and internationally.'

Professor Leung has been specialized in training counsellors, teachers, and psychologists for over 20 years, and has been recognized as a leader in his field. He has provided numerous services to both local and international professional organizations, including the Society of Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA). Professor Leung was the elected chairman of the International Section (2008-2010) of the Society of Counseling Psychology and associate editor of The Counseling Psychologist (1999-2002). He was elected Fellow of APA in 2006.

In Hong Kong, Professor Leung was president of the Hong Kong Professional Counselling Association. He has served as honorary advisor and consultant to many professional and educational groups, and as speaker and trainer for the Education Bureau of the HKSAR Government. Professor Leung has also been active in research collaboration and counselling training in mainland China.

Professor Leung is a leading voice on the internationalization of the counselling profession, and his various local and cross-boundary efforts were recognized by the ‘Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of the Counseling Profession Award’ presented to him at the International Counseling Psychology Conference in Chicago in 2008. He was also awarded the ‘Distinguished Alumni Award’ by his alma mater, the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009 in recognition of his rich accomplishments in research scholarship, contributions to cross-national training, and professional service.

His research interests include career development and counselling, international and cross-cultural perspectives in counselling, counselling children and adolescents, school counselling, counsellor development and supervision. He has published over 65 publications and articles in refereed journals and academic books.

Subsequent to the resignation of the then Dean of Education, Prof. Lee Chi-kin, John, the Chinese University established a nine-member Search Committee for the Deanship of Education to initiate the search process in accordance with its guidelines and procedures for the search and appointment of full-time faculty deans.  An open global search was launched in February 2010. Having thoroughly considered 19 nominations/applications received, members of the Search Committee unanimously recommended Prof. Leung Seung-ming, Alvin to the Vice-Chancellor for the Deanship of Education. In line with the appointment procedures, Professor Leung met with teachers and students of the Faculty of Education earlier to exchange ideas on the future developments of the faculty, and the Council subsequently appointed him as Dean of Education.