HKUST Genesis = 同創, Volume 2, Number 3

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Deve!opn1ent and Perspectives

Office

of

Public Affairs: Communicating with

Different Publics

t\Jewsletters, prospectuses, brochures, press releases,

videos, slide shows, exhibitions, scl1ool visits, news confer-ences, T-shirts, sweatshirts, Christmas cards,

and-Gene-sis. Tlie Office of Public Affairs is certainly busy, but what goal stimulates such activity, and what common thread jus-tifies such diver.sity?

The answer, in a single word, is communication. The mission of the Office of Public Affairs (OPA) is to establish and maintain mutual understanding between the University and its publics. In this context, a "public" is a particular segment of a community, and the OPA has identified many groups-many publics-both local and international, with which the HKUST should maintain good relations.

At the same time, the OPA serves groups within the University-faculty, administrators, and staff-which it col-lectively terms its "clients." Helping clients communicate with publics, and helping clients communicate among them-selves is a tall order-particularly for the OPA of a university just establishing itself and its identity.

As HK UST moves toward its Opening, the OP A's agenda becomes a kaleidoscope of regular and special programmes: Publications. The Office regularly writes and produces the quarterly Newsletter, keeping people throughout the world posted on developments at HKUST; our monthly

Genesis; and the composite booklet, HKUST Today. It

assists other Offices in producing University publications to meet specific needs as, for example, a staff housing bro-chure for the Estates Office and a folder on the academic Departments for Personnel. In addition, with desktop lishing, writing and editing skills, the OPA turns text into pub-lications-producing prospectuses, the Annual Report, and other Reports.

Audio, Visual, & Audio-Visual Productions. The OPA has produced, and is now updating, a...Jide show with commentaries in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. Like the two careers expositions held in November and the post-graduate exhibition to be held in May, more exhibitions involving posters, slides, computers, and taped talks are in the planning.

Souvenirs. The line of HKUST souvenirs will expand. Wind breakers, pens, possibly a jigsaw puzzle, and a coHee table book to commemorate the Opening will join

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T-shirts, sweatT-shirts, ties, scarves, Christmas cards, and posters which now comprise UST's souvenir series.

Local Outreach. Programmes reaching the community are a high priority. This year's faculty visits to local secon-dary schools were so successful that the OPA \viii expand the programme next year. In addition, the Office is organ-ising monthly lectures by faculty at the Museum of Science, and is creating a 'speakers' bureau' of faculty willing to speak to the public. To celebrate the Opening the OPA will produce and send a series of posters depicting the devel-opment of HKUST to 350 schools, libraries, regional cul-tural centres, and district offices for exhibition.

Media Outreach. The OPA also has a vigorous pro-gramme in the sphere of conventional "PR". Writers aim to place at least one article in the press per week and one item in the electronic media per month. As the Opening ap-proaches, site visits for writers and reporters from different magazines and newspapers will be organised.

From the Office of Public Affairs' collection of i11ustrations, an artist's concept of HKUST's Entrance Atrium

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Steven Kong Shiu-ming, Admin

-istrative Assistant. Born 30 Janu-ary in HK; single. Attended Dioce-san Boys School; graduated from the U. of Wisconsin at Madison with a BS in Geology; from Prince-ton with an MA and PhD in Geo-physics. Dr Kong joined HKUST soon after graduation.

As assistant to the Director of Public Affairs, Dr Kong's work varies. He regularly liaises with new faculty, coordinates the Newsletter, organises school visits, and helps organise exhibitions. He also serves on the Social Club's Management Committee.

Dr Kong's favourite pastime is table tennis. Those who lost to (Men's Champion) Dr Kong in HKUST's T.T. Tour-nament should feel vindicated when they learn he cap-tained Princeton's T.T. team for two years, and chaired its T.T. Club for four.

Timothy Ngan Chung-wai, As-sistant Public Affairs Officer. Born 31 October in HK; single. Attended secondary school in the UK; gradu-ated from the Univ. of London with a joint BSc in Computer Science and Electronic Engineering. In 1988 Mr Ngan returned to HK to work for Gilman's Business Systems in Customer Support.

At HKUST, Mr Ngan produces audio-visual programmes, from slides to computer animation, and provides computer support to the Public Affairs Office. He is currently working on updating the HKUST slide show.

When asked about his favourite leisure activity, Mr Ngan replied immediately with one heartfelt word, "Sleeping!"

Martha Dahlen, Writer/Edttor. Born 20August in the US;singie. Gradu-ated from Purdue with a BS in Horticulture, then worked at a farm museum. In 1977, she vistted HK-decided to stay, earned a PhD in Botany from HKU, and continued working there as a Demonstrator and as a Tutor in a girls' hall of residence.

At HK UST, Dr Dahlen writes and/or edits public relations and some academic material, in English. Editing Genesis

and research proposals are her regular responsibilities. Dr Dahlen has diverse extra-curricular interests. She has written a book on Chinese vegetables and is chairman of the HK Complementary Medicine Society. Bicycling and soccer are her favourite sports.

Mary Lau Mun-yee, Writer/Editor. Born 3 October; married. Gradu-ated from HKU with a BA in Phi-losophy and Comparative Litera-ture; earned a diploma from the International Institute for Journal-ism in West Berlin.

Before joining HKUST, Ms Lau worked for the newspaper Wen Wei Po as a correspondent, first in

HK, then briefly in London; she then spent four years in Beijing helping to establish the newspaper's bureau there. Now, Ms Lau sits on the other side of the reporter's desk, liaising with the Chinese press, organising press confer

-ences, and writing articles about HKUST in Chinese for local publications.

In her spare time Ms Lau edits the cultural section of the Contemporary News Weekly, a local liberal magazine;

she belongs to Green Power, and serves as a Standing Committee Member of the University of Hong Kong's Convocation.

Catherine Tse Kit-Ian, Technician. Born 31 January in HK; single. Graduated with a Cert. in Graphic Design from the HK Polytechnic. In her first job as art supervisor for a wine and spirit company, Ms Tse designed all their promotional materials, from newspaper ads to exhibitions. She subsequently worked for Gilman's Business

Systems as Graphic Design Advisor in Technical Support. At HKUST, Ms Tse designs many of HKUST's printed materials. Her credits include Prospectuses, Christmas Cards, and Newsletters.

Without a doubt, Ms Tse declares, her favourite pastime is reading. Once inside a bookstore, she gravitates toward the graphic design and/or Chinese literature sections, and can spend hours there without food or water.

Bobby Sham Ka-ho, Technician. Born 5 August in HK; married. Graduated from the HK Polytech-nic with a BA in Design. Mr Sham worked briefly as a photographer's assistant then as an animator for a film company producing special effects. At HKUST, he is a graphic designer, working on projects such as exhibitions and the HKUST

poster, and on publications such as HKUST Today.

Outside office hours, Mr Sham performs in productions of the dance-theatre company Zuni Icosahedron; experi-ments with computer graphics; and watches movies, par-ticularly Russian films which, he says, have a style ''visually and structurally quite different" from ordinary run- of-the-mill movies.

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Transport to Clear Water Bay Campus

Will Include HKUST Bus Service

Following the Transport Forum on 1 March in which staff seemed to favour an independent HKUST service rather than partnership in the TVB scheme, the General

Admini-stration & Business Office has been examining both options carefully. "Our goal is to provide the best transport service possible," said Mr Macpherson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Administration & Business. "So we will have our own serv-ice-for at least the first three months on an experimental basis." Details of routes, pick-up points, times, fare costs, passenger volume, and administration all must be factored into the equation determining final arrangements.

As the situation stands, a private company has been asked to submit a detailed proposal of the service it could provide, including routes, pick-up points, and fare costs. At the same time, details of the proposed extended TVB

service are being determined. When all information is in hand, a survey will be circulated among staff, the results of which will heavily influence decisions concerning transport arrangements to the new campus. In view of this, every

member of staff is urged to complete and return this

transport survey promptly when it appears.

Report from the Forum

In the Forum, Director of Administration George Scott presented the current status in transport arrangements to the new campus in Clear Water Bay. There are three routes

of access: (1) via Choi Hung; (2) via Lam Tin; and (3) via Sha Tin. Through negotiations involving Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (KMB), the Sai Kung District Board, the Transport Department, and TVB, transport will be available along all of these routes.

As described in the January Genesis (q.v.), KMB will

continue its current two bus services past the campus (91, 91 M), and will divert 91 M to stop on campus. They may add a third route if need warrants. In addition; two minibus services pass the campus, and the Sai Kung District Board is considering adding another, between Sai Kung and Po Lam in Junk Bay. Meanwhile, TVB contracts Citybus to operate (1) a 24-hour service between Choi Hung MTR station and Jts studios on Clear Water Bay Rd, just beyond the campus, and (2) a peak hour service between Shatin and its studios. They welcome HK UST to join the scheme, and offer to extend the service to Hong Kong island and to other parts of Kowloon. A flat rate of $3.50 would be charged for any journey.

Discussion at the Forum focused on whether HKUST should join the TVB scheme, or whether it should establish its own service. Mr P.K. Chiu (Personnel) argued for the latter on the grounds that it would be more convenient and economically viable. He suggested that, as HK UST would be a small part of the TVB service, they might not accom-modate our needs. At the same time he cited CUHk as an example of a tertiary institution running its own self-support-ing bus service. Dr Wong Yuk-Shan (Biology) pointed out

3 March 1991

that getting to campus is only one factor; time and efficiency should also be considered. "With our own bus there are likely to be fewer stops and we can determine our own pick-up points," he said.

The Forum closed with Mr Scott's promise to look into all of these suggestions and alternatives as discussions continue.

Developments Since the Forum

In an interview following the Forum, Mr Macpherson emphasised that all options were being carefully consid-ered. Those working on transport arrangements had thor~ oughly investigated the CUHK service-before the Forum, in fact-and had information as to number of routes (8), fares, times, and pick-up points. He pointed out that CUHK,

with a staff of m.ore than 2000, is significantly larger than HKUST, with a staff of less than 400. This means that the number of routes which HK UST could run would necessar-ily be fewer in the early days. As in the CUHK service, there would be only one bus in each direction on each route.

Mr Macpherson noted that the TVB option should still be considered as it had its attractions, i.e., the number and extent of the routes, the frequency (especially the 24-hour service to Choi Hung), and the flat fare of $3.50 per trip which he described as "almost too good to be true" and "certainly lower than anything other operators will be able to offer."

Nevertheless, Mr Macpherson assures all staff that HKUSTwill remain committed to providing reasonable staff transport and to proving that '1he campus is only a few miles away-it's not on the other side of the moon."

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Mrs. Catherine Lu (General Admin) laments her inadequate )

.. · .. ;... .·.· ... ·.·.·:-:-: command of the Chinese. language--an i nad.eqwuy she feels all ~ j:

the more strongly after joinjng HKUSTwhere schol1ZTS versed

in both Chinese and English abound. In her frustration, she tries lo adapt a cosmopolitan outlook and to leani what she

c.alls "the language of lcmorraw"-camputer language.

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HKUST in Action

The Educational Technology Centre has the following equipment available for loan to any Department or Office. To make arrangements for borrowing the equipment, call Tracy Chick on

Ext. 1593. , VHS multi-system (1) Super VHS camcorder (1) Super VHS stereo VCR (1) 25" colour television ( 1) 3M overhead projector (1) Carousel slide projector (3) In addition, the Centre has the follow-ing production services available:

35mm slides shot from original art work or from books/periodicals, etc.

Graphics design/desktop publishing with slide output (35mm colour) or laser printer hardcopy.

Thermof ax overhead transparencies, (vu-graphs), made while you wait in any of the following colour schemes:

Black on clear

Colour on clear: green, blue, red, purple

Black on colour: on yellow, green, blue, red

• Some 20 academic staff, including the Vice-Chancellor, visited the Royal Observatory on 28 January to meet the staff, tour the facilities, and discuss future contact on issues of mutual interest for research (such as computa-tional methods).

• Prof. Hiraoka (Chemistry) delivered a seminar entitled "Photochemical Surface Reactions of Polymeric Sys-tems: Lithographic Applications" to the Department of Applied Science at City PolytechnTc on 15 March.

• Dr. Eddie Kwok (CCST) presented a paper entitled "Evaluation of Structure Charts: A Logic Programming Approach", at the Second Australian Conference on Da-tabases and Information Systems held at the University of New South Waies, Australia, 4-5 February.

• Prof. N.T. Yu (Chemistry) delivered a seminar entitled "Resonance Raman Study of Ligand Binding to Allosteric Hemoproteins" at CUHK on 8 March.

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Graphically Speaking

by Danny Yung ·--

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People are the Funniest Animals

(Survival Tips for Managers, Lesson II)

I wrote an earlier column on dealing with paRer

(Paper Chase) that was rather well received, so I te~it is time to share a few more ideas about surviving as a manager. Today's topic is dealing with people, in particular with those folks for whom your operation provides what is laughingly called a 'service.' For lack of a better term, let us call them your clients.

Rule number one is have a sense of humour, but to

try to keep a straight face. Your clients will often come to you with the most ludicrous requests and you will be able to deal with them much better if you can see the humour in the situation. But do your best not to laugh in the client's face and tell him how ridiculous his request really is. You have to keep in mind that these idiots are dead serious about these things.

Rule two: if your office reviews proposals or requests made by other offices, a neat trick for dealing with dumb ideas without actually turning them down is to return them with only vague or ambiguous comments about areas that need further work. Let the poor devils guess

at what it's going to take to make the proposal accept

-able. Used with skill, this technique can delay action until the initiating office is headed by someone with better ideas.

And now a special note for dealing with academics, for those former academics who fell from grace and be-came administrators: You must understand that when your clients, who used to be your colleagues, tell you that you don't understand the academic viewpoint, they are right. When you were an academic, you were introduced to administration at an early stage through

the committee work that academics west-e spend so

much time on. This exposure planted within you the embryo of an administrator just as surely as that crab-like thing in the movie Alien left a tiny monster inside

John Hurt. As soon as you took up your first manage

-ment post, that monster burst forth, and you became the enemy within. As Walt Kelly said through the medium of his Pogo comic strip, 'We have seen the enemy and he is us.' Once you accept this, you won't necessarily deal any more effectively with academics, but you won't be so hurt by the fact they don't understand you. Face it: you don1 understand them either.

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Social Club News

HKUST Hoop-la at Kowloon Park

With some 20

en-thusiastic players,

bas-ketball seems 10 be

catching on at HK UST.

The first match was held

20 February, the sec

-ond 13 March. At both,

the lion's share of

play-ers came from CCST,

the Library, and Finance

Office, with a nearly

equal showing from

aca-demic departments.

The Vice-Chancellor joined and, in the

sec-ond match, three female

A lrnse rr.cmer.t on tr.e rourt i.s Micr..oc/

Tang reccit>C:! a p;.s.s. Players ,re, left to

right: Mic.~o.1£1 Cr.mg (Fir.Gr.Ce); Mich.,el

Tang (CCST); Don W"ssink (library);

Tony O.ung (ETC)-<.lrr.ost hidden; Lo

Wai-hcng (Finana); Cwrge Cbn

(CCST); MicJ-o.1d Oo.1n (CCST)-<.lso

barely visible; ,r.d Jmy Dor.en (Libmy).

players added yet another dimension to the mixed teams.

Could basketball become the first regular feature of

HK UST extra-curricular activities? Yes, according to Social

Club Management Committee member fviichael Cheng.

The greatest obstacle seems to be booking the court, as this

can only be done by lining up at 7 a.m. 7 days in advance at

the Kowloon Park Office.

Spring Diners Revel Until Midnight

"Birds in the Wilderness" wiit for dinner Oeft to right): Grace Wong (EstJ;tC$), Elke

Hui (Gen. Admin), Elena Chu (Gen.

Admin), Timmy Yuen (an ex-member of staff sec.anded from Government dun'ng the

pLinning phase), Ste/Li Oum (PVC-AB).

Nearly 50 staff joined

the Spring Dinner on 8

March, held at the

Mil-lion Town Restaurant.

With bridge at one table,

mahjong at five, and a

choir of ten karaoke

en-thousiasts, the air was

filled with merry-making.

A Cantonese seafood

dinner brought a brief lull, then singing contin-ued until midnight.

Welcome Aboard to New Staff!

School of Science: Miss Wong Mi-sai, Clerk II.

Depar1-ment of Electrical & Electronic Engineering: Miss Yuen

Kit-ling, Loretta, Executive Officer (EO) II. Department of

Accounting: Dr Danny S. Wong, Reader; Miss Li Yin-lung,

EO II. Language Centre: Mr John l\'iilton, Senior Instruc

-tor; Mr Lam Wai-ming, Clerk II. Centre of Computing

Services & Telecommunications: Mr Chiu Kwok-yan,

Computer Technician I; Miss Fung Lai-ping, Wendy, Clerk

II. Educational Technology Centre: lvir Lam Wai-leung,

Tony, Principal Audio-Visual Officer (AVO) (Video); Mr Ng

Wang-kuen, AVO (Graphics); Mr f<oo Tak-ming,

Assis-tant Secretary; Miss Lai Tik-shan, Sana, EO I. Library: Mr

Law Ying-wo, Clerical Assistant. Estates Management

Office: lvir Yau Chat-long, Senior Technician; lviiss Law

Yee-wah, Sandra, Personal Secretary (PS) II. Finance

Office. Mr Liu Chu-po, Assis1ant Finance Manager (Ac

-counting); Miss Chan Siu-lai, Clerk II; Miss Chan \f\la

i-kuen, Eva, Clerk II. Genera/Administration & Committees

Office: Miss Leung Lai-wah, Clerk II; lvir Siu Kam-hung,

Chauffeur II. Personnel Office: Miss Cheng Yin-ling,

Rainbow, PS If; Miss Wong Yuk-kit, Kitty, Clerk II; Ms

Chan Suk-yin, Carrie, Clerk II. Student Affairs Office: lvirs

Ng Chan Siu-ching, Carmen, Clerk II.

Resignations

Centre of Computing Services & Telecommunications:

Miss Wong Mun-yi, Clerk II. Finance Office: Miss So

Wai-king, Clerk II. Personnel Office: Miss Chim Sau-ling,

Ronney, Clerk II.

Promotion

Mr Wong Wai-lun, from Clerk II in Dept of Mathematics to

Clerk I in Office of Laboratory Services. ·

1565.

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Freecom computer monitor, paper white,

$150;

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dot matrix Star Nl-10 printer, $500. Both in good

working order. Phone Martha on Ext.

1475.

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Home Affairs

.:. 5 The following sign was spotted

in a hotel lobby. With a minor alteration it would have served the MTR well on the day of the power failure:

• Raymond Tang Wal-man (Finance)

announces the birth of his first child, a

daughter, Tang Ho-yan, born on

14

February. The lift Is being fixed for the next

day. During that time we regret

that you will be unbearable.

• Kent Tam Siu-fu (ETC) announces

the birth of his first child, a son, Tam

Pak-chun, born on 6 February.

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