University of Oklahoma Launches Mandarin Education Center as Part of its Taiwan Huayu BEST Program Partnership with Ming Chuan University
The University of Oklahoma celebrated the grand opening of its new Mandarin Education Center on September 23. The Mandarin Education Center has been set up as part of its Taiwan Huayu BEST Program partnership with Ming Chuan University. Education cooperation between Taiwan and the U.S. has expanded and become stronger since the U.S.-Taiwan Education Initiative was launched at the end of 2020. The Taiwan Huayu BEST Program, sponsored by Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, is designed to strengthen language education cooperation between universities in the United States and those in Taiwan, with an emphasis on supporting Mandarin language learning. The new center will enhance Mandarin language instruction, provide immersive experiences in Taiwanese culture, expand students’ opportunities to study abroad, and enhance bilateral academic exchanges between Taiwan and the United States.
The opening ceremony was hosted by Dr. Nian Liu 劉念, Chair of the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at the University of Oklahoma, and Director of the new Mandarin Education Center. Yvonne Hsiao 蕭伊芳, Director-General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Houston; Dr. Michael Markham, Dean of the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma; Dr. Rebecca Cruise, Associate Provost for Global Engagement at the University of Oklahoma; and Dr. Sophia Shi-Huei Ho 何壽慧, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Ming Chuan University each spoke at the opening about the importance of language learning, and their dedication to helping to train a new generation of global leaders equipped with professional expertise, bilingual proficiency, and international perspectives.
They were joined at the celebration by more than 100 guests, including Rebecca Lan 藍先茜, Director of the Education Division at TECO in Houston; Qin ZiHong 秦子紘, Director of the Mandarin Studies & Culture Center at Ming Chuan University, Leanne Eyerman from Ming Chuan University who is Director of the U.S. Campus, university officials, academics, students, and members of the local community.
After the ribbon-cutting, Bradley Quy, a master's degree student at the University of Oklahoma and one of the inaugural participants in the Study Abroad to Taiwan program, gave a performance of Don’t Leave Me Alone Anymore 不再讓你孤單. This is a song in Mandarin by Bobby Chen 陳昇, a famous Taiwanese singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist.
His performance was followed by a screening of the documentary A Chip Odyssey. The film interviews more than 80 key figures who witnessed and shaped the development of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry which began with the first generation of semiconductor engineers from Taiwan going to the United States in the 1970s for a technology transfer program. This illustrates how bilateral cooperation can lead to advanced technology and global innovation.