New and renamed departments
The Senate approved the renaming of two departments and the creation of a new one at its 74th meeting. The Department of Building and Construction will be renamed as the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, and the Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management as the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management. The Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering will be established under the College of Science and Engineering. All changes will take effect on 1 July.

New appointments
Professor Christian Wagner has been appointed as Associate Provost (Quality Assurance) with effect from 1 June. Professor Wagner previously served as Professor in the Department of Information Systems and transferred to the School of Creative Media on 1 June. He received his PhD degree in management information systems from the University of British Columbia and joined CityU in 1996. His duties as Associate Provost will include assisting the Provost in overseeing the University's academic development, particularly in the area of quality assurance.

Professor Xue Quan has been appointed as Associate Vice-President (Innovation Advancement and China Office) from 1 June 2011 to 31 May 2014. He will assist the Vice-President (Research and Technology) in coordinating the strategic planning, development and management of all aspects of CityU's innovation advancement work and China initiatives. Professor Xue received his master's and PhD degrees from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. He joined CityU in 1999 and currently holds the rank of Professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering.

Town Hall meetings
Professor Way Kuo, University President, and Mr Simon Tang Siu-kee, Director of Finance, will update faculty and staff on the 2011–12 University Budget and the latest developments on campus, including the performance-based pay review and the implementation of the 4-year curriculum, at Town Hall meetings on 16 and 17 June.

Multi-media Conference Room naming
The Multi-media Conference Room will be renamed the Connie Fan Multi-media Conference Room in honour of the mother of notable alumnus Mr Andrew Fan Ka-fai, Regional President of the Greater China Region for Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., in recognition of his generous contributions to his alma mater. The naming ceremony will be held on 24 June. Mr Fan graduated in 1988 from CityU's first cohort of the Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies programme. He was an Elected Councillor in the first and second CityU Students' Union, and was Chairman of the 2nd Students' Union Council. He was appointed as Chairman of the Provisional Standing Committee of the Convocation and a Member of the Council of CityU in 2007. Mr Fan is also an Honorary Fellow of CityU.

Maritime Law Scholarship Scheme
The School of Law (SLW) has received $3.5 million from the HKSAR Government in support of the Hong Kong Maritime Law Scholarship Scheme. In appreciation of the generous support of the government, a cheque presentation ceremony will be held on 10 June. Officiating guests will include Ms Eva Cheng, JP, Secretary for Transport and Housing and Chairman of the Hong Kong Maritime Industry Council; the Hon Leung Chun-ying, GBS, JP, Council Chairman; Professor Way Kuo, University President; and Professor Wang Guiguo, Dean of SLW.

Toxicity symposium
The 15th International Symposium on Toxicity Assessment organised by the Department of Biology and Chemistry will be held on 3–7 July. The symposium will bring together researchers, professionals, administrators, regulators, NGOs and policy-makers to exchange ideas, identify research and resource needs for the better management of ecosystem health and minimise the risk of public health.

AI for MTR
A new Engineering Works and Traffic Information Management System (ETMS) riding on the award-winning artificial intelligent engine developed by Dr Andy Chun Hon-wai, Chief Information Officer at CityU, will be developed for the MTR network. The new ETMS will manage the complex matrix of railway maintenance and project work required each night for the nine heavy rail commuter lines, the Airport Express Line and the Light Rail system.

SEARC workshop
A workshop on 17 June titled "Chinese Investments in Southeast Asia" organised by the Southeast Asia Research Centre (SEARC) will explore trends and patterns of investment links between source regions and Southeast Asia, and the diverse impact of Chinese investments on host countries in Southeast Asia.

Inaugural book review seminar
Professor Zhang Longxi, Chair Professor of Comparative Literature and Translation, will discuss the book Historical Treatments of "China": A Reconstruction by Professor Ge Zhaoguang, Director of the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Fudan University, on 16 June at the first Book Review Seminar organised by the Humanities Research Group of the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics. Professor Ge and scholars from local and overseas universities will attend the seminar. The series aims to promote humanities research activities.

Kudos
Professor Chen Jie, Chair Professor of Electronic Engineering has been elected as Fellow of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) in recognition of his seminal contributions to the theory of performance limitations in feedback systems and to robust identification and control. IFAC is an international professional organisation consisting of 51 national member organisations, representing engineering and scientific societies concerned with automatic control of the member states.  

Mr David Santandreu, Associate Director of the Office of Educational Development and General Education, has been elected Fellow of the United Kingdom Higher Education Academy, the first person in Hong Kong to receive this award.

Tsoi Ho-yin, Year 1 student in the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, won the bronze medal for taekwondo in the 68-kilogram-class at the 2nd Asian University Taekwondo Championship in Almaty, Kazakhstan.