Asian Pacific Fund Announces 2008 Chang-Lien Tien Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Gail M. Kong
(415) 433-6859

January 31, 2008

National Awards Program Honors Two Asian American Deans

SAN FRANCISCO – The Asian Pacific Fund announced the selection of two Asian Americans as recipients of the second annual Chang-Lin Tien Education Leadership Awards in recognition of their professional accomplishments and leadership qualities. The award recipients are Norman C. Tien, Dean of the Case School of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, and Frank H. Wu, Dean of the Wayne State University Law School. Tien and Wu will each receive an unrestricted grant of $10,000.

The awards program honors the legacy of Chang-Lin Tien, the first Asian American to head a major American research university. Chang-Lin Tien served as chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, from 1990 to 1997, and was a founding member of the Asian Pacific Fund's Board of Directors. This program was created by the Asian Pacific Fund and is supported by the many people who admired Chancellor Tien as an acclaimed teacher, scientist and administrator. Asian American leaders offer valuable skills and contribute important insights to higher education that boost our country’s global competitiveness, especially as college campuses grow more diverse. The Tien Awards program recognizes the accomplishments of rising Asian American leaders in higher education to support their professional development and advancement.

"Dr. Chang-Lin Tien’s achievements in promoting excellence and diversity continue to inspire us. Dr. Tien’s devotion never faltered, his energy never flagged, and he never stopped believing in the possibility of creating a better future. He was a role a model for us all,” said Henry T. Yang, chancellor of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a member of the advisory selection committee. Other committee members included: Dr. Bob Suzuki, President Emeritus of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Leslie Tang Schilling, Regent of the University of California; Dr. Horace Mitchell, President of California State University, Bakersfield; and Dr. David Pierpont Gardner, President Emeritus of the University of California. This committee of higher education leaders reviewed nominations and made recommendations to the Asian Pacific Fund Board for final selection.

Norman C. Tien
Dr. Norman C. Tien is the dean and Nord Professor of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University’s Case School of Engineering. He is also the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Condensed Matter Physics.

Tien, a first-generation Chinese American, joined the Case faculty in January 2006 as the Nord Professor of Engineering and chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Appointed dean in February 2007, Tien has already realized several key elements for his vision for the school with initiatives in energy and global outreach. He created the Great Lakes Institute for Energy Innovation to develop and advance sustainable energy generation through research, development, and education. The Institute also serves as a vehicle to drive cultural change in the school by promoting multi-disciplinary, collaborative, large-scale research.

Tien has also created the San Diego Technology Application Center, the school’s first office outside of Ohio. The center’s mission is to raise the school’s national and international presence while connecting its science and technology capabilities with global innovation opportunities and resources. He has also developed new collaborative agreements with two Chinese universities. At the same time he has restructured his administration and faculty, including the appointments of the school’s first two female departmental chairs, to position its programs at the forefront of their disciplines.

Tien’s research interests are in the area of micro and nanotechnology—including microelectromechanical (MEMS) systems—the fabrication of small structures, tools and instruments for use in wireless communications, biomedical systems and environmental monitoring. With over 90 publications in the field, he has had 12 Ph.D. students graduate under his supervision since he began teaching in 1996. He helped establish the International Networked Sensor Systems Conference, now in its fifth year, and served as editor for the leading MEMS publication, the IEEE/ASME Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems. Tien was also founder and chief technology officer of AIP Networks, an optical communication components company now part of Optoplex Corporation.

Prior to Case, Tien served as chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California at Davis and held a joint appointment at the University of California at Berkeley. He also served as co-director of the Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center. He previously held faculty positions in Cornell University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Tien served as an adjunct research professor at Peking University and recently received the distinction of honorary professor of Tianjin University in Tianjin, China. He was also director of TCL Technology Innovation, Inc., an angel investment fund in Hong Kong.

A National Science Foundation CAREER award recipient, Tien received his Ph.D. from the University of California at San Diego, his M.S. from the University of Illinois, and his B.S. from the University of California at Berkeley. "[Norman Tien's] intellect and creativity are matched by a basic decency and sincere concern for the success of all of his constituents – faculty, researchers, graduate students, and undergraduates alike," said Barbara R. Snyder, president of Case Western Reserve University. "Norman’s energy and enthusiasm are infectious, and I have enormous confidence that our school will reach new heights during his tenure as dean."

Frank H. Wu
Frank H. Wu is the author of Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White, which entered an immediate second printing in its hardcover edition, and co-author of Race, Rights and Reparation: Law and the Japanese American Internment. In 2004, he returned to his hometown of Detroit to serve as the ninth Dean of Wayne State University Law School. From 1995 to 2004, he served on the law faculty of Howard University. He has been an adjunct professor at Columbia University, a visiting professor at University of Michigan, and a teaching fellow at Stanford University.

Dean Wu serves as a Trustee of Gallaudet University, the only university in the United States serving primarily deaf and hard of hearing. He has taught over several short periods at Deep Springs College, a highly-selective full-scholarship all-male school enrolling 26 on a student-run cattle ranch near Death Valley. He served briefly by appointment of the D.C. Court of Appeals on its Board of Professional Responsibility, which adjudicates attorney discipline matters, as well as two terms on Board hearing committees. He was appointed by Mayor Anthony Williams as Chair of the D.C. Human Rights Commission for 2001-02. He joined the Board of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund in 2004. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and a member of the Committee of 100, a civic group founded by Yo-Yo Ma and I.M. Pei, among others, to promote Asian American political participation, as well as a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. His media appearances have included the Oprah Winfrey show, Now with Bill Moyers, Lehrer Newshour, O’Reilly Factor, Book Notes with Brian Lamb, Talk Back Live on CNN, NPR, Voice of America, Fox Movie Channel with George Takai, and the Al Franken show. He has hosted episodes of the “Asian America” PBS-syndicated television show.

Prior to his academic career, Dean Wu held a clerkship with the late U.S. District Judge Frank J. Battisti in Cleveland and practiced law with the firm of Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco. He received a B.A. from the Johns Hopkins University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan. He has completed the Management Development Program of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He is married to Carol L. Izumi.

"Under [Dean Wu's] leadership, Wayne State Law School has transformed itself in a few short years. It is a diverse institution which embodies a spirit of social justice, scholarship and inclusion which mirrors the ideals exhibited by its dean," said Richard Bernstein, a member of the Wayne State University Board of Governors.

The Tien Awards program expanded to a national scale this past year, and the number of candidates more than doubled. Since receiving a Tien Award in 2007, Sung-Mo "Steve" Kang was appointed chancellor of the University of California, Merced, the UC system's newest campus. The other award recipient in 2007 was Belle W. Y. Wei, the Don Beall Dean of Engineering at the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering at San Jose State University.

Asian Americans are significantly under-represented at high levels of academic leadership. According to a 2005 report by the Committee of 100 (www.committee100.org), Asian Americans hold just over 6 percent of all faculty positions (40,000) at American universities, but only 1.5 percent of university president positions. A 2007 New York Times article noted that Asian Americans typically make up 10 to 30 percent of students at the nation’s leading colleges and universities.

"We were impressed by the high caliber of the candidates this year and enthusiastic that these rising Asian leaders can inspire others the way Dr. Tien did for so many of us," said Gail M. Kong, executive director and president of the Asian Pacific Fund.

The leadership of private and public academic institutions throughout the U.S. was invited to submit nominations, as were members of the American Council on Education and the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Representatives from national higher education organizations involved in diversity and executive searches were also approached to nominate candidates.

The Asian Pacific Fund is a community foundation established to improve the health and well-being of all Asian Americans in the Bay Area. By providing services and awarding grants to more than 90 Asian organizations, the Fund supports a broad range of local groups that help a diversity of Asian Americans. The Fund is the only organization in the Bay Area focused exclusively on working closely with Asian donors, raising funds for community agencies and public education projects, and ensuring that contributions have a lasting impact.

For more information, visit Asian Pacific Fund Web site

Board of Directors Raymond L. Ocampo Jr. (Chairman) • Mona Lisa Yuchengco (Treasurer) • John H. Chung (Secretary) Thao Dang • Mohan Gyani • Robert Lee • Andrew Cuyugan McCullough • Catherine Buan Peterson • Thuy Vu • Jerry Yang • Emerald Yeh

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