Academic Affairs Newsletter, No. 2/01

Abstract

[evdate 2001-05-15] Academic Affairs Newsletter ISSUE NO. 2/01 May 2001 "Embrace the genius of the AND" Nelson Cue, Associate VP-AA and Director of OCPE In his spare time, Prof Cue often reads non-fiction books on subjects that he knows little about. So, he sees himself qualified as a lifelong learner. He recently finished the book "Built to Last". Visionary companies identified there, all "embrace the genius of the AND". In this article, Prof Cue shares with us how, in his view, such a paradoxical view can be brought in so that UST will continue to stay as a visionary institution. In "Built to Last" [Harperbusiness Paperback, 1997], the authors (James Collins and Jerry Porras) identified 18 visionary companies that consistently out-performed the market and their respective comparison company by a big margin, and deciphered the key factors that led to their sustained successes. The visionary companies include GE, HP, IBM, Merck, Motorola, and Sony. Their respective comparison companies are Westinghouse, TI, Borroughs, Pfizer, Zenith, and Kenwood. Myths of the business world Findings of the authors of "Built to Last" debunk many of the myths in the business world. Take the myth that it takes a great idea to start a great company. The reality is that few of the visionary companies began life that way. Another myth is that visionary companies require great and charismatic visionary leaders. The reality is that a charismatic visionary leader has been detrimental to a company's long-term prospects more often than not. What have all these to do with a university? In an article on the sequel work entitled "Good to Great", one of the many questions asked by Collins is "can UC Colorado become UC Berkeley?" Personally, I see no reason why the key factors contributing to the sustained successes of visionary companies would not apply equally to a university. So let me to speculate a bit. 1) "Clock building, not time telling" - Some of the most significant CEOs of visionary companies were more like the founders at the US Constitutional Convention. They concentrated more on architecting an enduring institution than on being a great individual leader. They sought to be clock builders, not time tellers. The same kind of leadership could surely lead to a visionary university. 2) "Reject the tyranny of the OR" - The corollary to this is "embrace the genius of the AND". Visionary companies reject having to make a choice between stability OR progress; cult-like cultures OR individual autonomy; homegrown managers OR outside executives; conservative practices OR Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). Instead, they embrace the paradoxical view that allows them to pursue both A AND B simultaneously. In the context of a university, one should not feel constrained to pursue basic AND applied research; offer regular AND extension courses; conduct brick AND click classes; allow academic AND professional leaves. 3) "Preserve the core/stimulate progress" - A visionary company almost never changes its core ideology. Yet, while keeping their core ideology unchanged, these companies display a powerful drive for progress that enables them to change and adapt. Visionary companies are not afraid to make bold commitments to BHAGs. In fact, BHAGs have been used at crucial points in their history. For us, becoming the "MIT", having the best business school and being the leader in technology transfers in the region are surely BHAGs. As to our enduring core ideology, one could phrase it as "educate all who come to us to empower them to sustain civilization and fuel economic growth, and nurture future leaders in all spheres of human endeavor". 4) "Achieve alignment" - The visionary companies became what they are through a larger "culture of In this issue: Academic Program News Self-financed programs 2 New PG programs 3 PGS rate 3 GGA calculation 3 E grade 3 Academic Personnel news 4,5 Achievement highlights 7 Teaching & Learning Problem-based learning 6 Symposium 6 Good practices 8 Others Views on lifelong learning 1 Safety 7 Virus hoaxes 3 On the light side 8 (to be continued on p.2).Printed on recycled paper discipline" erected and reinforced over time. It is critically important to create tangible mechanisms aligned to preserve the core and stimulate progress. According to Collins, the process is much like starting a massive flywheel from rest and making it spin. This would require all in the institution to push and shove. But unless these actions are in synch, the flywheel will not nudge much less spin. Interestingly, another business guru has recently arrived at similar conclusions that visionary companies operate at the "edge of chaos" ("embrace the genius of the AND") and behave like a living termite colony ("achieve alignment Is UST a visionary institution? UST has many of the characteristics of a visionary institution. It may already be one but we should not let up. This brings me to the topic of lifelong learning. Our SBM and SENG are already doing their share in offering executive and professional programs at the PG level. While the coordination of these programs could be improved, perhaps a more urgent task is to help increase the number of first-degree places in the region. In this connection, the UST College of Lifelong Learning (CL3) was formed recently on a college of self-financed basis with the idea to use as much online delivery as practicable and to partner with sister institutions world wide for diversity of programs, fast start-ups and cost savings. The recent Senate approval of the Continuing Education Review Board (CERB) to serve as a school-level academic review body, for non-UGC course credits and degrees, is a big step towards quality assurance. The goal to "achieve alignment" also requires the injection of start-up funds to get CL3 going. A community college (CC) with UST stamp As a part of the efforts to double post-secondary education places in 10 years, the HKSAR Government recently announced its intention to make provisions for the establishment of community colleges. Our acceptance of "embrace the genius of the AND" would argue for the establishment of a CC with a UST stamp -half "brick" and half "click" - that would offer its graduates many avenues to complete a first degree. The UST College of Lifelong Learning (CL3) was established in August 2000 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the University to develop, offer and conduct educational programs that are a supplement, an extension, and a bridge to the regular degree programs of the University. Current plans call for program contents to be delivered mainly in distance learning mode. Both credit and non-credit courses will be offered. Credits earned may be accumulated and counted toward relevant awards of the University. As CL3 is not an authorized party to offer degree programs, all credit-bearing awards offered through CL3 have to be issued by the University. To ensure the quality of these academic programs, a Continuing Education Review Board (CERB) has recently been established to function as a board of studies for the Office of Continuing and Professional Education (OCPE) to review all self-financed credit-bearing programs to be offered by the University through CL3. CERB consists of faculty representatives of all four Schools. The Senate has, at its meeting held on 25 April, approved the following channels of approval for Self-Financed Credit-Bearing Programs offered through CL3 - Channels of Approval all self-financed credit-based programs recommended by CERB UAC Sub Committee on Continuing and Professional Education (SCCPE) CUS or CPS as appropriate Senate (for final approval) processing self-financed credit-bearing programs offered through CL3: CL3 course to be on offer In late June, CL3 will offer a highly interactive online English course to the public. The course comprises 48 hours of online learning materials aimed at helping its students improve their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills of English. It targets students who intend to pursue tertiary studies taught in English. ("Embrace the genius of the AND" Continued from p. 1).May 2001, AA Newsletter 3 New PG Programs in 2001/02 The following new credit-bearing PG programs will have their first student intake in the 2001/02 academic year: {????}MPhil and PhD Programs in Atmospheric Environmental Science {????}MPhil and PhD Programs in Marine Environmental Science {????}MSc Program in Electronic Commerce Management {????}MTM Program in Global Logistics Management {????}Professional Diploma Program in Chinese Herbal Medicine PGS Rate for 2001/02 PGS is a general term that covers studentship awards supported by centrally allocated TA funding or research grants of faculty. The PGS rate for the 2001/02 will remain unchanged at $15,500 per month, which is the highest among the three research universities in Hong Kong. Related to this, room rental for accommodation in the PG Hall will remain unchanged too for the next academic year. The terms and conditions of PGS can be obtained from departmental offices. Alternatively, it can be viewed at http /www.ust.hk/~webaa/guide/employ/employ.html. Revised policy on GGA calculation In order to reduce the study pressure of first year students and facilitate their transition into the new study and learning environment at a university, the Senate has approved a revision of the policy on the calculation of the graduation grade average (GGA). The current policy gives one-half weight to courses numbered below 200. With effect from Fall 2001/02, courses that are taken in the student's first year of study will be given half weight in the GGA calculation. The revised policy will be applicable to students admitted in the 2001/02 academic year or after; current students will not be affected. Guidelines are in place to attend to students who are not admitted directly from secondary schools. Details about the guidelines are published in the Academic Programs Manual, Chapter UG 60 (3) at this address: http www.ust.hk/~webaa/APM/ug603.htm. When to give the 'E' grade? In grading UG examination scripts, have you ever encountered the work of a marginal student? The work at the examination is closer to a failure than pass, but the assignment work during the semester show possible ability that could merit a passing grade. You may not be sure if you should give a pass or failure grade. Probably, it will help to let the student do another paper. The 'E' grade will come into the scene in such a case. By assigning the E grade, the student will then be asked to do a supplementary examination, which is another chance to show to you if he/she has an adequate grasp of the concepts and materials taught in the course. If so, the 'E' will be converted into a 'D'; otherwise it will be an 'F'. Note though that at HKUST a supplementary examination is different from a make-up examination. Virus Hoaxes By now, everyone should be aware of the dangers of computer viruses spread through e-mail and the web. ITSC has increased protection against known viruses at the server level, and every desktop system should have a copy of a virus detection program installed. If yours doesn't, find out how to get one at the website http www.ust.hk/itsc/antivirus/. Another form of malicious activity is the virus hoax. These are e-mail "chain letters" initiated by people with the same kind of malicious and infantile mentality as possessed by the hackers who write virus code. The difference is that the people who generate hoaxes don't even have the skill and expertise to write real viruses. Instead, they rely on the fear generated by real virus attacks to trick people into generating useless traffic on the Internet. The F-Secure Security Information Center notes that "Hoax warnings are typically scare alerts started by malicious people - and passed on by innocent users who think they are helping the community by spreading the warning We've seen cases where e-mail systems have collapsed after dozens of users forwarded a false alert to everybody in the company." Their advice is simple: "End users must not forward virus alarms. Ever. It's not the job of an end user anyway. If such a message is received, end users could forward it to the IT department but not to anyone else." If you get such a warning, especially one that urges you to immediately copy it to everyone on your mailing list, don't pass it on. If it really worries you, forward a copy to ITSC at cchelp@ust.hk. If necessary, the staff at ITSC will follow up. Or, if you want to check it out yourself, go to the F-Secure website at http www.f-secure.com/virus-info/hoax/. Make-up exam Supplementary exam It is given only when the It is arranged in conjunction student is absent with the 'E' grade. from a final. An application has to be No application procedure is submitted to and approved required. by ARRO. The final grade will follow The final grade can only the normal grading for be 'D' or 'F'. the course..Printed on recycled paper Academic Personnel News First University Professor Emeritus Leroy L CHANG, former VP-AA - appointed University Professor Emeritus upon his retirement from the University on 15 March 2001. Administrative appointments Office of Vice-President for Academic Affairs Peter N DOBSON - re-appointed Associate VP-AA and Professor of Physics from 1 November 2000 to 31 December 2002. School of Science Nancy Yuk-Yu IP - re-appointed Associate Dean of Science from 15 February 2001 to 14 February 2002. School of Engineering Yeou-Koung TUNG - appointed Associate Dean of Engineering from 15 January 2001 to 31 December 2003. School of Business and Management Ka-keung C CHAN - appointed Acting Dean of Business and Management, from 1 January to 31 December 2001. Gary BIDDLE - appointed Associate Dean of Business and Management from 18 January to 31 December 2001. Kuo-Chiang WEI - appointed Acting Head of the Department of Finance from 1 January to 31 December 2001. Gerald Joseph GORN - appointed Head of the Department of Marketing from 1 March 2001 to 30 June 2003. School of Humanities and Social Science William TAY - re-appointed Associate Dean of Humanities and Social Science from 1 January to 31 December 2001. Yanjie BIAN - appointed Associate Dean of Humanities and Social Science from 1 January t o 31 December 2001. University Appointments and Substantiation Committee (UASC) - current membership Chairman: William TAY (Professor/HUMA) Members: Leonard K CHENG (Head and Professor/ECON) Albert Y LO (Professor/ISMT) H Benjamin PENG (Head and Professor/BIOL) Alvin SO (Head and Professor/SOSC) Yeou-Koung TUNG (Professor/CIVL) George Ke-Lun WONG (Professor/Physics) Derick WOOD (Professor/COMP) Faculty members on board between 2 July 2000 and 1 January 2001 School of Science Zhihong GUO, Assistant Professor/CHEM PhD University of Minnesota Bing XU, Assistant Professor/CHEM PhD University of Pennsylvania Shiqing LING, Assistant Professor/MATH PhD University of Hong Kong School of Engineering Ka Ming NG, Professor/CENG PhD University of Houston Chii SHANG, Assistant Professor/CIVL PhD Purdue University Limin ZHANG, Assistant Professor/CIVL PhD Sichuan University Rudolf Hans FLEISCHER, Associate Professor/COMP PhD Universit酹 Saarbr{????}ken Brahim BENSAOU, Assistant Professor/COMP PhD University Paris VI Cunsheng DING, Assistant Professor/COMP PhD University of Turku James Tin-Yau KWOK, Assistant Professor/COMP PhD Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Kei May LAU, Professor/ELEC PhD Rice University Jing CHEN, Assistant Professor/ELEC PhD University of Maryland Vernon Ning HSU, Associate Professor/IEEM PhD University of Iowa School of Business and Management Chih-Ying CHEN, Assistant Professor/ACCT PhD University of California, Berkeley Jaehyon NAHM, Assistant Professor/ECON PhD Harvard University Wen ZHOU, Assistant Professor/ECON PhD Duke University Yeung Lewis CHAN, Assistant Professor/FINA PhD Harvard University Paul W FORSTER, Assistant Professor/ISMT PhD University of California, Irvine Tai-Young KIM, Assistant Professor/MGTO PhD Stanford University Hongseok OH, Assistant Professor/MGTO PhD Pennsylvania State University May 2001, AA Newsletter 5 School of Humanities and Social Science Agnes Shuk-Mei KU, Assistant Professor/SOSC PhD University of California, Los Angeles Ngok MA, Assistant Professor/SOSC PhD University of California, Los Angeles Visiting faculty members on board between 2 July 2000 and 1 January 2001 (Appointment for 2 months or more are listed.) School of Science Yuh Kang PAN, Visiting Professor/CHEM Boston College Liang PENG, Visiting Assistant Professor/MATH Australian National University Timothy Arthur Louis ZIMAN, Visiting Professor/PHYS Institut Laue Langevin, Grenoble Cedex, France School of Engineering Shih-Chi LIU, Visiting Professor/CIVL US National Science Foundation Avishai CEDER, Visiting Associate Professor/CIVL Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Satu Synn饘e KEKKONEN-MONETA, Visiting Assistant Lecturer/COMP (Re-appointment) Universit{????}de Paris-Sud Vijay K BHARGAVA, Visiting Professor/ELEC University of Victoria Lei WEI, Visiting Associate Professor/ELEC Australian National University Kailash C KAPUR, Visiting Professor/IEEM (Re-appointment) University of Washington School of Business and Management Akshay R RAO, Visiting Associate Professor/MARK University of Minnesota W Richard SCOTT, Visiting Professor/MGTO Stanford University Adjunct faculty appointed between 2 July 2000 and 1 January 2001 School of Science Yongzheng HUI, Adjunct Professor/BICH The Ministry of Science and Technology, China Shang Fa YANG, Adjunct Professor/BIOL Man Kwong MAK, Adjunct Assistant Professor/PHYS Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Institute School of Engineering Delwyn George FREDLUND, Adjunct Professor/CIVL University of Saskatchewan Kamalakar KARLAPALEM, Adjunct Associate Professor/COMP Indian Institute of Information Technology Huey-Liang HWANG, Adjunct Professor/ELEC Tsing Hua University, Taiwan School of Business and Management Fletcher O LEE, Adjunct Associate Professor/ACCT Visiting Scholar, Department of Accounting, HKUST W Mary WONG, Adjunct Associate Professor/ACCT (Re-appointment) Former Visiting Scholar, ACCT/ HKUST Laurence C FRANKLIN, Adjunct Professor/FINA Hutchison Whampoa China Limited Substantiations and promotions The following faculty members have been substantiated and promoted to the indicated rank effective from 1 January 2001: School of Science Ning LI, Associate Professor(B)/BIOL Jishan HU, Associate Professor(B)/MATH Yongchang ZHU, Associate Professor(B)/MATH Xiang Rong WANG, Associate Professor(B)/PHYS Xu-Dong XIAO, Associate Professor(B)/PHYS School of Engineering Xijun HU, Associate Professor(B)/CENG Hongjun LU, Professor/COMP Bertram Emil SHI, Associate Professor(B)/ELEC Huihe QIU, Associate Professor(B)/MECH School of Business and Management Songnian CHEN, Associate Professor(B)/ECON Son Ku KIM, Associate Professor(B)/ECON Promotions effective from 1 January 2001 School of Science Karl W TSIM, Associate Professor(A)/BIOL Yijing YAN, Associate Professor(A)/CHEM School of Engineering Khaled BEN LETAIEF, Professor/COMP Mordecai GOLIN, Associate Professor(A)/COMP School of Business and Management Chuan Yang HWANG, Associate Professor(A)/FINA James Christopher WESTLAND, Professor/ISMT Substantiations approved between 1 July and 31 December 2000 School of Science Chi Kwong CHANG, Professor/CHEM Jian-Shu LI, Professor/MATH School of Business and Management David Daokui LI, Associate Professor(B)/ECON Sudipto DASGUPTA, Associate Professor(A)/FINA School of Humanities and Social Science Xueliang DING, Associate Professor(A)/SOSC.Printed on recycled paper CELT's IDEAS Portal Update: Problem-based Learning IDEAS is a two-way bridge between CELT and the UST teaching community. In the last issue of this Newsletter we introduced the first IDEAS initiative that focused on On-line Teaching and Learning. This theme is pertinent to teaching and learning at UST since there are now more than one hundred web-enhanced courses on offer. We are pleased to announce the launch of the second contribution to IDEAS: Problem-based Learning (PBL). The first major Problem-based Learning curriculum was launched by McMaster University Medical School in Canada in 1969. Since then, professional schools worldwide have adopted this approach to developing clinical and problem-solving skills in their students and equipping them with the self-reliant and independent approaches to learning that professional practice demands of them. In recent years, teaching departments in several Hong Kong universities have also implemented curricula and approaches to teaching based on PBL and additional support is now available from the Hong Kong Problem-Based Learning Centre, based at HKU but with the mandate of serving all UGC universities in Hong Kong. During May, CELT will host a series of workshops led by Dr David Johnston, Director of the HKPBL Centre. In addition to the ideas and information provided in the PBL section of IDEAS, CELT staff are happy to provide support to UST faculty who wish to explore the possibilities of introducing PBL into their courses. Your comments and suggestions for improvement or confirmation on usefulness, are crucial to sustain the development of IDEAS and are always welcome. Symposium Objectives This biennial event is aimed at assuring the continuous improvement of the quality of teaching and learning in the University. The emphasis is on sharing experiences and innovations among colleagues in the wider University community. Themes {????}Fostering critical thinking and responsibility for learning {????}Fostering collaboration among students {????}Promoting active learning in the classroom {????}Initiatives in on-line teaching and learning Teaching and Learning Symposium "Teaching Innovations: Fostering a Creative and Collaborative Environment" Teaching Innovation Awards Ceremony Hosted by Committee on Teaching and Learning Quality and Center for Enhanced Learning and Teaching 12 December 2001 at HKUST Teaching Innovation Awards In order to recognize and reward dedicated instructors who have made a sustained effort to improve the quality of their students' learning by innovative means, the University will offer five Teaching Innovation Awards on a biennial basis. Nominations will be accepted during 22 August - 28 September. Keynote Speaker Prof Eric Mazur Harvard College Professor, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics Professor of Physics, Harvard University http www.ust.hk/celt/ideas/pbl Call for Papers Abstract due on 10 September 2001 For more details, please visit the website at http www.ust.hk/celt/TLSymp.May 2001, AA Newsletter 7 Achievement Highlights Let's soar... safely As UST soars into the next decade, let's reflect on past events and get ready to reach for the next level of achievements. Early days - not without vicissitudes though While there was a strong centralized safety management program right at the start, efforts at the departmental level varied. Things were happening at such a fast pace that safety was at times not given the proper attention, perhaps inadvertently. There had been unfortunate incidents that caught the press attention; nevertheless, they helped forge a strong foundation for our current safety management program. Today a safety culture is alive and well established. Safety management is an important priority in all aspects of HKUST operations. Recent days - with new regulatory requirements At the same time when UST was consolidating its safety management performance, the Government promulgated the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance to broaden the coverage of the regulatory requirements to all employers, including universities and hospitals. The subsequent Labor Department inspection at UST, while revealed some improvement needs, did not identify major discrepancies nor resulted in citations. In comparison, the hospitals received many warning and improvement notices. What is next for safety management at UST? As we are prepared to tackle the next benchmark, it is important that safety remains an important priority and that it will be fully integrated in all of our present and future operations. We should nurture future scientist, engineers and business managers so that they will continuously practice the safety culture at UST; and bring with them this culture to the community. Closer to our operations, unit management needs to continue to play an active role in ensuring safety of all operations. Supervisors must continue to provide leadership on safety management of their work/group. The Labor Department will continue to inspect and audit our operations. We must carry out our own in-house periodic inspections and audits to monitor for compliance with established safety rules. Discrepancies identified during these exercises need to be promptly addressed. Risk assessment and management will need to be reviewed periodically for existing operations and be initiated for new or changed operations. SEPO - a partner to soar along with To fulfil its dual roles of consultation and monitoring in more efficient and user-friendly manners, SEPO will mainly focus on helping units further strengthen their safety management effort, e.g. providing unit personnel with the tools for conducting self risk assessment and management, and safety audits. More safety resources will be made accessible in e-format via the SEPO website. Materials scientists in PHYS have successfully developed a microscopic, super thin and low-cost protective film that can absorb a significant portion of the microwave radiation from mobile phone. The following faculty members were elected the BEST 10 Lecturers in the polling run by VERTEX, the House II Student Association: Prof Jong Hag Choi (ACCT) Prof King Chuen Chow (BICH) Prof Wei Min Dai (CHEM) Prof Jimmy Fung (MATH) Prof John Hulpke (MGTO) Prof Andrew Horner (COMP) Prof Jae Hyon Nahm (ECON) Prof Vincent Poon (ELEC) Prof K P Ramaswamy (ACCT) Prof Mike So (ISMT) In 2000, our Accounting faculty ranked 1st in the world in research articles published in the top five academic journals. UST is one of only seven accounting programs worldwide to consistently rank among the top ten during the past three years, with Chicago, Columbia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. Prof Tai-Kai Ng/PHYS, an expert in condensed matter physics, has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). Our Business School has been ranked by the Financial Times as one of the top-50 business schools in the world. A BICH research group led by Prof Nancy Ip has discovered a novel signaling pathway critical in the functioning of the human nervous system. The related paper was published in the April 2001 issue of Nature Neuroscience. It is the first paper from China accepted for publication in this prestigious journal. Lam Wing Keung (PhD student/HUMA) has been awarded the Monbusho Scholarship to study at Kyoto University for two years. He is the first UST student to receive a Japanese national scholarship. Vincent Cheung and Zhaofeng Zhang, ELEC PhD students, have developed novel techniques in the design and fabrication of integrated circuits (ICs) that could result in cheaper, smaller and more durable wireless devices. They presented their papers at the "Chip Olympics" in San Francisco in February. To date, UST is the only university from China to have its research papers accepted and presented at the world's top solid-state circuits conference. Printed on recycled paper PTC- G8662 I have been planning to write this column to celebrate the opening of the indoor swimming pool for some time. For a while, it seemed that the column might not get written before my retirement, but the pool is finally operational, so here we go. I started thinking about this topic when I first moved off campus into a flat at Parkview, which has a spa with an indoor pool, and began to swim regularly most mornings before starting on my commute to the University. I had not done much swimming since coming to Hong Kong, and the thing that I found most remarkable was that almost no one I shared the pool with used the swimming stroke that I had assumed was the universal way of getting about in the water. Instead, nearly everyone in Hong Kong seems to prefer what is known as the breaststroke. I, on the other hand, hardly ever swim any stroke other than the one that has become synonymous with freestyle swimming, formally known as the Australian, or forward, crawl. Now it is not odd, of course, that other people do not swim like me (or vice versa). What is odd is that it took me by surprise, and I have spent some time trying to understand my reaction. As usual with people my age, this gives me a chance to reminisce about my youth. Back when I was learning to swim in the pools (and occasionally the rivers and lakes) of Baltimore, my buddies and I learned all of the swimming strokes, just to prove we could do them. However, this was a time in our lives not too far from puberty, and a time in our society when children were a lot less jaded than those of today, so it was hard for us to even say "breast Good Teaching & Learning Practices Here are the good practices on teaching and learning that are recommended by the Senate Committee on Teaching and Learning Quality for sharing with Schools and Departments: Teaching Quality Assurance Mechanism in PHYS Student Advising Scheme in ENGG Curriculum Task Force in PHYS PRS, Web-based courses and IT-based student projects in PHYS Communication Tutor & Professional Development Programs in ENGG Timetable and Workload Survey organized in CENG Cross-checking of examination papers by peers in CENG Grouping faculty members with similar interests in CIVL Appointment of course coordinators in COMP Cross-checking of examination papers and Board of Examiners in MECH Writing and Speaking Through Curriculum Program in SB&M The practices listed on the left were identified from the 1999-2000 annual reports on teaching and learning quality submitted by the four Schools. More information about these practices is contained in Senate Paper SN54/21/2001. The relevant information from that paper has been posted to the Academic Affairs web site at http www.ust.hk/~webaa. It is likely that there are other good practices that could be noted and that some Departments have practices similar to those recommended here, but these were not reported in this round. Through disseminating these practices to the Schools and Departments, it is hoped that more ideas worth sharing will be reported in the future. On the Light Side - Different Strokes Peter N Dobson, Jr stroke" without getting embarrassed. Thus we decided by a sort of unspoken consensus to leave this form of swimming to that part of the human race that was destined to have them (breasts, that is). In the meantime, we had a glorious example on the silver screen of how swimming was supposed to be done: our hero Johnny Weissmuller starring as Tarzan. Weissmuller was the genuine article when it came to swimming-a holder of 5 Olympic gold medals and more than 60 World Championships. He is widely regarded as the greatest swimmer of the first half of the 20th century. Not surprisingly, the films in which he starred (he made 12 Tarzan movies between 1932 and 1948) featured a lot of scenes of him swimming. Perhaps with the help of special effects, he "crawled" his way across a multitude of streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes at unbelievable speed. The speed was essential, since he nearly always had to stop about halfway across to dispatch an unfriendly crocodile or two with the knife he had clenched in his teeth. As boys, we swam in such a way as to imagine ourselves as Weissmuller's Tarzan. In that less paranoid time, we were even allowed to bring rubber replicas of hunting knives to the local pool so we could deal with the imaginary crocodiles there. All these years later, that early indoctrination made it seem strange to me that grown men would swim any other way. I realize now that it is my reaction that is strange. Different strokes for different folks, the saying goes. Still, I have a nagging feeling that when the crocodiles eventually find the indoor pool, all those breaststrokers are going to wish they had paid attention when Tarzan was swimming .