The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) presented its second ‘President’s Outstanding Service Award’ to pay tribute to dedicated non-academic staff members for their outstanding performance and contributions to the University. The three awardees are Mr Tze-kin Cheung, Senior Technical Officer of the Materials Characterization and Preparation Facility, Mr Michael Choi, Security Manager of the Facilities Management Office, and Ms Julie Shing, Executive Assistant to the Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies.
Prof Yuk-shan Wong, Vice-President for Administration and Business and Chairman of the Selection Committee for ‘President’s Outstanding Service Award’, said that the bedrock of the University’s success is the quality of its teaching and research as well as the distinguished and comprehensive support including administrative, laboratory and computing systems management to make this success possible. The ‘President’s Outstanding Service Award’ scheme serves to recognize non-teaching staff members who have demonstrated their exceptional service, innovative thinking, commitment to excellence, as well as contributions to the betterment of their work units and the University as a whole. Prof Wong highlighted that all 28 staff members nominated for 2011 Award are very outstanding. The Committee was having a tough time discussing and narrowing the nominations down to 10 finalists and three individuals were chosen as the final winners. Prof Wong encourages colleagues to press ahead for greater achievements and to rise to the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Profiles of the three awardees:
Mr Tze-kin Cheung, Senior Technical Officer of the Materials Characterization and Preparation Facility
Mr Cheung has served the Materials Characterization and Preparation Facility for nine years. Tze Kin provides consistently outstanding service in transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and contributes to building the TEM laboratory as the best performing one for characterization of advanced materials and nanomaterials in Hong Kong. He maintains the TEMs in the best working conditions, providing excellent support to research projects in Science and Engineering, and helps keep the down time of the TEM-related machines low, enhancing research efficiency. Through continuous self-learning, he has been able to successfully restore research equipment to working condition on more than one occasion, thus preventing interruption of service. He is enthusiastic in training postgraduate students and other users.
Mr Michael Choi, Security Manager of the Facilities Management Office
A loyal and long-serving employee, Michael oversees the security operations at the University with utter professionalism and dedication. Serving the University for 20 years, he is often the first to arrive and the one to take the University’s security concerns home with him, especially before major campus events. He has set a very high standard and the model for the security force for local tertiary institutions. Under his watchful eye, HKUST has enjoyed a reputation as a campus community of safety and harmony. He jealously guards the University’s image and carries out his duties as if the institution was his own business. Under his leadership, HKUST was awarded the Best Partner Property by the Regional Crime Prevention Office of Kowloon East in 2010-2011.
Ms Julie Shing, Executive Assistant to the Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies
Ms Shing has been serving the Office of Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies (VPRGO) for close to 16 years. Described as a selfless, low-key and uncomplaining executive assistant, Julie is considered a gem of the University. She has served a number of Vice-Presidents for Research and Development (now renamed Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies), always steering the office smoothly through all these transitions with only a lean team of support staff. She has the ability of quickly grasping the significance of research strategy and of helping to sharpen its implementation plans and working with different units under the Office of the Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies to deliver desired results. She is generous with her time, often discussing difficult issues late into the evening and brainstorming sessions over long weekends. She is looked up to as the anchor for the R & D operations and is the living embodiment of institutional memory.
For media enquiries, please feel free to contact :
Mavis Wong
Tel: 2358 6306
Email: maviswong@ust.hk
