Honorary degree citation - Wei Yu

By: Patrick Kenniff, June 1988

Mr. Chancellor, I have the honour to present to you Wei Yu, a leading academic in the People’s Republic of China, the first woman in the country to have earned a doctorate in Electrical Engineering and the President of the Nanjing Institute of Technology, one of China’s leading national universities which has joined with Concordia in establishing in 1985 a pioneering joint doctoral programme.

Educated to the Master’s level in Electronic Engineering at the Institute she now heads, Dr. Wei was a prolific researcher in the fields of micro-wave electronics and electromagnetic theory long before obtaining, in 1981, her doctorate in Engineering from the Technischen Hochschule in Aachen, Federal Republic of Germany. She has since expanded her interests to the area of bioelectronics, and was responsible for setting up the Biomedical Department at N.I.T.

Dr. Wei’s expanding range of research interests and her involvement in academic administration have not prevented her from being extraordinarily active in professional organizations. She is Vice-Director of the Chinese Higher Education Society, Vice-Chairman of the Chinese Medical Imaging Society, Member of the Council of the Chinese Electronic Society, and Judge-Member of the Electronic Section of the National Nature Science Foundation of China. In addition, she is a prominent force in public bodies, serving at the present time as a Member of the Science and Technological Committee of the State Education Commission, and as a Delegate to the National People’s Congress.

Her commitment to rigorous education and to the expansion of China’s international educational exhanges has made Dr. Wei and ideal partner in both the framing and implementation of the joint doctoral programme of the Nanjing Institute of Technology and Concordia University. In teaching, research and administration, Dr. Wei’s achievements stand as a model and a challenge to what women may accomplish in the fields of science and engineering. In honouring Dr. Wei today, we are also officially acknowledging that she is already actively associated with Concordia in the promotion of international understanding through education and we welcome her as a full member of the Concordia Community.

Mr. Chancellor, it is therefore a privilege to present to you on behalf of the Senate and by authority of the Board of Governors, Wei Yu, that you may confer on her the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.