Prof. Johnston Wong, Chief of Student Affairs at UIC, was presented with the Presidential Citation Award by The American College Personnel Association (ACPA) - College Student Educators International at its 2013 annual convention held in early March in Las Vegas, the U.S., which makes him the first ever Chinese winner of the magnificent award amongst global members.
Dr. Kathleen Kerr, President of ACPA, presented the Award, and the Immediate Past President Dr. Keith Humphrey said that the honour is rarely bestowed upon members of the Association, for lifelong service and extraordinary contributions to the profession of student affairs and particularly to ACPA. “ACPA is smarter in our globalization efforts because of Prof. Johnston Wong,” he said.
Prof. Johnston Wong wins the Presidential Citation Award
Founded in 1924 and headquartered in Washington D.C. at the National Center for Higher Education, ACPA is the leading comprehensive student affairs association that advances student affairs and engages students for a lifetime of learning and discovery.
“Prof. Johnston Wong is ACPA’s Informal Ambassador of Higher Education in China,” said Dr. Keith Humphrey. “At his behest, ACPA leaders took our first trip to China this past summer.” The ACPA delegation visited Hong Kong, Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing through various seminars on student affairs amongst local universities including Hong Kong University, Hong Kong Baptist University, Sun Yat-sen University, Fudan University and Peking University.
“He single-handedly coordinated the logistics of visiting a dozen campuses, the sharing of experiences with hundreds of student services professionals and actually gained access to the Ministry of Education for a high level meeting between Ministry leaders and ACPA,” added Dr. Humphrey, at the award presentation during the annual convention.
Each year, many individuals are recognized through ACPA’s awards programmes for significant achievements within and contributions to the higher education community, the student affairs profession and to the Association. In Las Vegas, Prof. Johnston Wong presented a paper at the conference titled "China Student Affairs in Higher Education from Student Management to Student Development", which enhanced his prestige as “a role model for academic affairs/student affairs collaborations.”
Prof. Johnston Wong at work
The recipient, Prof. Johnston Wong, was proud and grateful. “This is an acknowledgment to UIC’s student affairs work,” he said.
For the future scheme, Prof. Wong deemed that the collaboration between the two sides should be strengthened. “The consensus amongst Chinese educators on student affairs is that the traditional Student Management should be transitioned to professionalized Student Development. We plan to establish an institute of student affairs at UIC open to all institutes in China and would like to invite ACPA professionals to hold trainings or seminars for it. Furthermore, we hope to set up a full-time and part-time student affairs master course with ACPA and Shandong University.”
Editor: Deen He
(from MPRO, with special thanks to the ELC)
