History

On April 19, 1995, an anonymous proposal on Keda Alumni scholarship was posted on the USTC Bulletin Board (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). The main idea of the proposal was to establish a fund to help promising high school graduates to attend USTC and to put a brake on UTSC's declining. This idea was greeted with great enthusiasm from the alumni in the following days. A few follow-ups were posted to USTC network by LIU Dongzi (刘冬子 854) and Zhang Shangyou (张上游 771) was suggested to take charge of the donation. The reason is that Zhang Shangyou has been editing the USTC Directory and maintaining the USTC Bulletin Board for the past three years.

The idea of a USTC alumni foundation is not new. In early 1993, a group of 774 alumni had already discussed this issue. We believe other alumni may also have thought about this. This time, we have a simple and immediate goal -- helping outstanding high school students to attend USTC. This effort will also help USTC maintain its competitive edge as a first class university in China.

An e-mail list, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., was therefore set up in May 1995 and 21 people* signed up in two weeks. They formed a "preparatory" committee to discuss issues regarding the setup of the foundation. The committee has made the following decisions:

• The name of the foundation will be "USTC Alumni Foundation" and abbreviated as USTCAF. It will be independent of USTC and other USTC alumni associations.
• All members work for USTCAF voluntarily and will not be paid.
• The primary goal of the foundation is to raise funds to establish a scholarship that will pay tuition and other costs for outstanding high school graduates to attend USTC. A qualified student must be ranked in the top one hundred in his/her province in the National Entrance Examination for High-Education and must have USTC as his/her first choice.
• Some fund may be used in the future to assist best scholars to work in USTC for long or short terms, such as teaching summer courses. This plan may be more important to USTC, as pointed out by many alumni and discussed by the committee. However, the commiittee believes that this plan requires more work and thorough studies before being implemented. Therefore, the committee decides to focus on the scholarship at this time.
• After a sufficient number of alumni join USTCAF, an election will be held at the end of 1995 to set up a Board of Trustees. All members are qualified to be elected.
• A draft of Bylaws of USTCAF was passed and more revisions will be added.

Meanwhile, Xuan Changneng (宣昌能 839) of the committee wrote a letter to the president of USTC, Mr. Tang Hong-Gao (汤洪高), with 5 thoughtful suggestions. President Tang wrote back warmly and encourages us to do more concrete things for USTC.

After these preparations, the campaign was launched on June 20, 1995.

Dear friends, please donate as much as you can. Any amount will be appreciated. If you could not contribute more than the membership fee now, you are still welcome to join USTCAF as an affiliate member. With your support, USTCAF will be successful.

Reported by the Preparatory Committee

* These 21 people initiated USTC Alumni Foundation (note, some of them may sign up the list for curiosity and never did any work or donation.)

1 Zhang, Shangyou: Delaware (East of USA)
2 Liu, Dongzi: Chicago, Illinois (Midwest of USA)
3 Yu, Haibo: Chicago, Illinois (Midwest of USA)
4 Xuan, Changneng: Austin, Texas (South of USA)
5 Zhou, Zheng Zheng Houston, Texas (South of USA)
6 Zhang, Feng Minneapolis, Minnesota(Midwest of USA)
7 Liu, Chengjie Madison, Wisconsin (Midwest of USA)
8 Shi, Feng Cambridge (United Kingdom)
9 Zhang, Yang Champaign, Illinois (Midwest of USA)
10 Wang, Zheng Chicago, Illinois (Midwest of USA)
11 LU, Bo Houston, Texas (South of USA)
12 WANG, WEI Colorado (Middle of USA)
13 Zhao, Xinmin Philadelphia, PA (East of USA)
14 Tong, Guanshan Chicago, Illinois (Midwest of USA)
15 Yao, Wenbin Connecticut (East of USA)
16 Zhu, Yong Madison, Wisconsin (Midwest of USA)
17 Wen, Pingshan Illinois (Midwest of USA)
18 Jing, Ning ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ? )
19 Ren, Yuhui Champaign, Illinois (Midwest of USA)
20 Xu, Wenrong Boston, Massachusetts (East of USA)
21 Bai, Dawei Princeton, PA (East of USA)

-------------- ** The order is by the time each person signed up the email list.