Carol Shanklin, dean of the Graduate School, and Chwen Sheu, the Paul Edgerley chair in business administration and professor and head of the department of management, hosted two alumni events in Tapei and Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
“It is always a pleasure to visit with K-State alumni and learn about their successes,” said Shanklin. They are passionate about the experiences they had as students and express appreciate to their faculty mentors for their encouragement and support. It is always special when you visit with K-State alumni, but especially rewarding when you get to visit in person with your former students.”
Twenty-eight alumni, who graduated between 1972-2014, attended the event June 7 at Chateau de Chine Hotel in Tapei. Emily Wu, doctoral graduate in human ecology with a specialization in food service and hospitality management, coordinated the event. Four of the couples attending the event had even met and married while attending K-State!
Front Row: Jong-Woei (Allan) Whang, Chwen Sheu, Kuo-Ming Yang, Carol Shanklin, Christina Change and Larry Paris
Second Row: Kuentai (Brian) Chen, Flora Chang and son, Tzu-Yu Chen, Chung-Fang (Stephanie) Chiang, Wen-Shen (Fiona) Yen, Hui-Chen (Jean) Huang, Yu (Haley) Hsu, Yung Ju (Ruby) Fang, Kuei-I (Carrie) Lee, Day-Yang Liu, Michael Tsai and Chi Mei (Emily) Wu
Back Row: Chien Pang Lin, friend of Haley Hsu, Jiunn Ying Kung, Allan Lin, Jeff Kung, Luke Chiang, Arthur Su, Ms. Su, Chi Yin (Jenny) Wu and Andy Ko
The second alumni event on June 8 in Kaohsiung was attended by 12 alumni. Allan Su, doctoral graduate in human ecology with a specialization in food service and hospitality management, coordinated the event.
Front Row (seated): Carol Shanklin and Chwen Sheu
Second Row: Show-Ing Shieh, Huan-Lin Luo, Shyh-Mijng Chen, Shih-Yen (robin) Lin, Hong-Chuan (Sharon) Lin, Jane Yang, Frank Yang, Ming-Hsiang Chen and daughter, Ming-Shan (Molly) Chen and Ching-Wen (Bil) Cheng
Back row: H.K. Chou and Allan Su
The groups shared memories from their time at K-State and discussed forming at K-State alumni club in Taiwan.
“I was very pleased to see the turnout for the alumni reunions. The attendees were extremely excited about the events,” said Sheu. “Over the last 20 years, the university has always maintained the connection with Taiwanese alumni…I expect that Taiwanese alumni will contnue to be valuable and loyal Wildcats.”
Shanklin also presented the keynote address at the 2014 Conference on Science, Technology and Society June 7 at Chung Hua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Her presentation, “Food and Agrotourism Trends,” discussed how these trends were influencing the growth of tourism and their economic impact and importance of food safety.
While in Taiwan, she also visited six universities and met with university officials. She gave seminars to student groups at four universities about U.S. graduate education and reasons to study at K-State, and presented lectures on sustainability in food service operations at two other universities.
Upcoming alumni networking opportunity
Shanklin will be traveling to Oregon to participate in the Council of Graduate School’s Summer Workshop and would like to network with alumni near Corvallis (July 10-11) and Portland (July 12-15). If you are interested in visiting with her, please email her at shanklin@ksu.edu.