Dr Darren Weng Zhiquan received UIC’s ‘President's Award for Teaching and Service for Academic Staff’ of the 2018-2019 academic year.
As the Programme Director for e-Business Management and Information Systems (EBIS) and Assistant Professor of Division of Business and Management, Dr Weng has been a passionate teacher devoting his time in education.
UIC President Prof Tang Tao (right) presenting the President's Award for Teaching and Service for Academic Staff to Dr Darren Weng on 10 September 2019
Dr Darren Weng received his PhD degree from Ohio State University, having taught in the US and Mainland China.
In Dr Weng’s opinion, a teacher’s place is not behind the desk but amongst the students. He likes to interact with his students and learn with them, instead of stuffing them with concepts and conclusions.
“This makes it very easy for me to understand the difficulties that students encounter while studying, and it allows me to grow with them,” said Dr Weng.
Dr Weng (first from the left) with a group of graduating students
As a teacher, Dr Darren Weng wants to be able to do two things: to provoke his students’ thoughts and to have in-depth communication with them.
After each lesson, he would give the students some handouts to take home, such as some interesting and relevant commentaries and in-depth reports from international journals. Every semester, he would recommend two reading lists to students, which covers economics, finance and technology. Each reading list has about 20 books, 10 of which are classic books of some scholars in the past 100 years and another 10 books that are recent books that he recommends. After a class, he also plays videos such as TED talks and lectures to broaden students’ horizons.
Dr Weng Zhiquan with his student
Dr Weng prefers to know his students on an individual level. To do this, he tries to have many one-on-one sessions with students to solve their problems and to make them feel valued. For students who do not perform well in the course, Dr Weng invites them into his office for a chat. “Although it may be just a 10-minute conversation, in the next class, students will be more focused and perform better on the exam because they get to have a one-on-one channel with the teacher.”
To recognise and remember his students, Dr Weng, would download the photos of students from the MIS system. His students appreciate his efforts and his genuine interest in them. Even after graduation, they continue to message him from time to time to ask for suggestions or share with him their progress in their studies or work.
Besides teaching, Dr Weng likes to do research
Originally Dr Weng taught Applied Economics. He then participated in establishing the EBIS programme. He not only suggests the programme to use the latest textbooks, but also encourages his students to read the news in the tech industry, to start their own long-term entrepreneur projects by applying the theories, and to participate in competitions. One of the teams that he once instructed won a prize from a national competition and established their company. Dr Weng still keeps in close contact with these students and has invited them to share their experiences at UIC.
Dr Weng's students win the Grand Prize of the Guangdong University Students Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship Competition
In his earlier teaching years, Dr Weng felt content being an educator. After building long-term connections with many of his graduates, he is now willing to become his students’ lifelong mentor.
Outing with his students from the EBIS programme
After the FYP presentation
Teaching and doing research are the two things that make Dr Weng feel excited and fulfilled. He enjoys pursuing academia and spending a few hours per day on finding out answers that only a few people in the world are trying to find out.
From MPRO
Reporters: Covee Wang, Irene Yu
Photographer: Ivy Liao (some photos were provided by Dr Weng)
Editors: Samuel Burgess, Deen He, Lauren Richardson
