Promptly at 2:30 p.m. on June 12, the conferring ceremony took place in spite of the continuous drizzles common for this time of the year. At the International Conference Hall, President Chen was on hand to confer an honorary doctorate degree to Mr. Jen-Shyong Ho. Seventy-some invited guests were present to witness the ceremony, including the former NTHU president Dr. Chung Laung Liu, and Mr. Chin-der Ou, CEO of the Taiwan High-speed Rail Co.

In the President Chen's speech, he mentioned that NTHU began conferring honorary doctorate degrees in 1996, and the candidates must satisfy one of the following conditions: 1. The candidate is a leader in his/her own field, and has made significant contribution toward the betterment of the society; 2. one must have made significant contributions to the world's cultural, academic and peace affairs; and 3. one has made special contributions to NTHU. Dr. Ho, nominated by the College of Engineering, meets more than one of the criterion and is the 24^th person to receive such honor. President Chen welcomed Dr. Ho to the NTHU family and declared that Dr. Ho would now work side by side with NTHU to help bring the university to the top spot in the Greater China Region.

Dr. Ho in return thanked NTHU for such an honor. He said he was indebted to the selection committee for his nomination and final conferment. He said that NTHU, ranked 11th among the world's universities with less than 700 faculty members according to UK's TIMES, has accomplished much, and he is a firm believer of the NTHU's motto "To Oneself Be True; Give Nature Its Due ", and now he is proud to find himself being a member of the NTHU family.

Dr. Ho emphasized in his speech the importance of education. It prepares the talented to contribute to the good of the society. For instance, he said, in the steel industry, one of the pressing issues is the pollution problem. Coal burning, being a necessary process in the refinement, will inevitably cause air pollution. Consequently, how to reduce coal use and yet to keep the cost down becomes a challenging task. In the process, or at least throughout the history of steel making, humans tended to be self-centered, and resources were poured into making better steels; as a result, the environment has been neglected and eventually we became the victim of the "progress" we made. He was glad to see that NTHU is dedicating its resources to environmental protection technologies, and with NTHU's exceptional accomplishments in the past 100 years and with its balanced education, he has great hope that NTHU will continue making important contributions to the world as a whole.

Dr. Ho received his undergraduate degree from National Taiwan University in economics, and his M.A., also in economics, from Indian State University. He is the CEO of Tung-Ho Steel Company that has a clearly defined motto "Discipline, Learning, and Optimism" and is among the best companies in Taiwan. His enterprise has contributed generously to international economic exchange programs as well to domestic institution of education. His Tsing-Twei Ho Foundation has provided funding to basic science education, material science research, metallurgy studies, environmental protection and green building technologies.