A raft of plans are in place to ensure City University of Hong Kong (CityU) marks its 25th Anniversary celebrations in appropriate style.

The outstanding efforts of the six designated working groups in charge of organising key events and other responsibilities will come to fruition

throughout the course of the silver jubilee year, to the benefit of the entire CityU community.

From social and sporting events to conferences featuring a host of distinguished scholars, the anniversary celebrations put in place by the working groups promise a broad array of activities that will appeal to students, staff, faculty and alumni.

Chairmen and coordinators of the six working groups are:

• Anniversary Banquet - Dr Dennis Sun Tai-lun, Chairman of the Community Relations Committee of the CityU Council;
• Academician Conferences - Professor Roderick Wong Sue-cheun, Vice-President (Research) and Dean of Graduate Studies;
• Publicity and Promotion - Professor Paul Lam Kwan-sing, Acting Vice-President (Undergraduate Education);
• Book on CityU History - Professor Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, Contemporary China Research Project;
• Anniversary Concert - Dr Ruth Yee Wing-yu, Associate Director of Student Development Services; and
• Marathon - Mrs Dorothy Davies, Associate Director of Student Development Services (Physical Education).

The 25th Anniversary Banquet in late 2009 will be a signature event of the celebration, to be attended by hundreds of University friends, patrons, staff, alumni and students who have made contributions to CityU’s development over the years. Dr Sun said the dinner’s tailor-made programme would showcase students' and the University's achievements and instil a sense of pride into all CityU members.

Among the highlight events will be a series of Distinguished Lectures by world-renowned scholars and Academician Conferences on energy and environment, biomedical science, engineering innovation, science and technology - policy and education.

“The subjects to be covered in these lectures and conferences are all topical issues affecting our community in a very real way,” said Professor Wong. “The anniversary provides an ideal occasion to both attract world-class experts in their fields and to illustrate CityU’s visionary approach to issues and matters of societal importance.”

“We hope the panel discussions arouse the community’s awareness of these issues and inspire more discussion and involvement,” Professor Wong added. He encouraged staff members, in particular students, to appreciate the precious opportunity to meet face-to-face with a congregation of academicians on campus.

The Publicity and Promotion Working Group is set up to oversee all the publicity and promotion activities, including production of promotional pamphlets, sourcing of souvenirs, planning, execution and designing of display boxes around the campus and anniversary logo and website, photo-gallery and campus decoration.

The working group responsible for the publication of the Chinese and English books on CityU’s history will see their project hit the shelves in September 2009. Mr Chan Che-shing, Senior Consultant of the Community College of CityU, is responsible for the Chinese book while Dr Rodney Hale Jones, Associate Head of the Department of English, will head the English book project. They started compiling the book in September and are expected to complete the first draft next June.

Besides the Chinese and English books on CityU's history, an album will also be published to visually outline the University’s development. “These commemorative publications are not just memoirs or photo albums, but genuine history books that chronicle the major events and developments of CityU as well as Hong Kong over the past 25 years,” said Professor Cheng, who has witnessed the many changes and developments since joining the University in 1992.

CityU will be fielding a team in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2009. Mrs Davies said the team had already exceeded the target number of participants of 625 (i.e. 25²). The number 25 stands for the 25th Anniversary of CityU, while 2 represents the second year of CityU taking part in the marathon.

Another highlight of the silver jubilee year will be the Heaven, Earth, Man Anniversary Concert. “The concert will be the first large scale performance to be held in the U-circle. It is hoped it will involve 200 performers from CityU and non-local performing groups,” said Dr Yee.

In conjunction with the silver jubilee’s launch, a special anniversary website ( www.jvrhmfr.xyz/cityu25 ) and the World-class University anniversary logo were also unveiled. Spearheading the celebration programme is the 25th Anniversary Organising Committee, which will ensure the occasion is marked by a host of fascinating educational and culturally significant events.

The Chairman of the Organising Committee is Dr Ellen Ko Law yin-lan, Vice-President (Administration), with Ms Kathy Chan Yin-ling, Director of the Development and Alumni Relations Office, as Deputy Chairman. Members include Mr John Dockerill, Secretary to Council; Ms Shihying Tan, Director of Communications; Dr Ruth Yee Wing-yu, Associate Director of Student Development Services; Dr Zhu Guobin, Director of External Relations and Cooperation Office; Mr Danny Tse Kim-hang, University Affairs Secretary, Students’ Union; Dr Bryan Wong Siu-fai, Vice Chairman (University Development), CityU Convocation; and Miss Mandi Leung Hay-man, CUPA President (2006-2008).

Co-secretaries of the committee are Ms Eva Kwan Wan-chong, Supervisory Executive Officer, Human Resources Office, and Ms Shirley Lam Yuen-ping, Communications Manager, Office of the Vice-President (Research).