Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 2006

Chinese University Bulletin Autumn · Winter 2006 32 New Colleges Renowned College Masters and a Green Environment T he Council of The Chinese University of Hong Kong announced on 15 August the appointment of Prof. Sir James Mirrlees and Prof. Samuel Sun Sai-ming as the Masters-Designate of its two new colleges —Morningside College and S.H. Ho College. Prof. Mirrlees is a Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences while Prof. Sun is a world authority on plant molecular biology. Prof. Samuel Sun Sai-ming, S.H. Ho College Master-Designate Currently professor of biology at CUHK, Prof. Samuel Sun is the first scientist in the world to clone a plant gene. He is also the principal investigator of a UGC- supported Area of Excellence project entitled ‘Plant and Fungal Biotechnology’, which has made important contributions to solving the world’s food shortage problem. Prof. Sun is a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Prof. Sun is gratified to know that themission of S.H. Ho College is to cultivate commitment to personal responsibility and integrity. Prof. Sir James Mirrlees, Morningside College Master-Designate Prof. Sir James Mirrlees was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1996 in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information. He was knighted in 1997. Prof. Mirrlees studied at the University of Cambridge and has taught at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge for more than 40 years. Oxford and Cambridge were the pioneers of the college system, which has been in place for over 800 years. Prof. Mirrlees fully appreciates the benefits of non-formal education within a college system. In colleges, he says, strong and valuable friendships are formed that continue for the rest of life. As Distinguished Professor-at-Large at CUHK, he provides academic leadership for the University community. He also delivers public lectures. Prof. Mirrlees identifies with the educational ideals of Morningside College, which are the pursuit of knowledge and service to the community. He believes that ‘a good college should within itself generate discoveries, creations and new understanding’.