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The Teacher’s college of Columbia University is one of the most prestigious institutes in the world that trains teachers and its alumni can be found all over the world. Columbia University receives hundreds of recommendation of alumni every year and select 4 to 5 alumni who are outstanding and influential. These alumni will be given the Distinguished Alumni and Early Career Award. This year, the award was given to a Taiwanese alumni for the first time, Prof. Sheu, Tian Ming, who is the President of Taiwan’s National Academy for Educational Research and President of the National Academy of Educational Research. 

Sheu, whose expertise spans education psychology, school finance and management, Chinese literature, and mindfulness meditation, has repeatedly warned that East Asian countries, though stellar aggregate achievers on global assessments, have performance variations between and within their schools that are more pronounced than those in other countries.

 “I wish to continue TC’s glorious tradition of making a world of difference in Taiwan’s education,” said Sheu, “and I hope to fulfill President Fuhrman’s expectation for TC: to promote our social justice mission in such a way that education becomes the solution.”

In the award ceremony, Prof. Sheu address to TC, NTNU and the National Academy for Educational Research to show that his receiving of the award is not only a personal honor but meaningful to the education of Taiwan. Since the 20th century, many Taiwanese and Chinese students study at TC. Now these students are at important positions in the field of education. Taiwan is the only Chinese society that follows the spirit of Dewey, the educational reformer.