On the 18^th of last March, President Lih J. Chen had the pleasure to confer an honorary Ph.D. in Engineering to Mr. Minn Wu, Chairman of the Macronix International Co. Ltd. Judging from the number of officials and VIPs who made a special trip to come to congratulate Mr. Wu, it is clear and obvious that Mr. Wu is a highly respected and admired industrialist.

After conferring the honorary degree, President Lih J. Chen took the podium and praised Dr. Wu as an extraordinary and visionary business leader. He is not only respected for his great success in building up Macronix International from a modest beginning to that of an international giant, he is also admired for the great contributions he has made toward education and society in general. The Macronix Education Foundation which Dr. Wu established has provided numerous and generous supports in sponsoring seminars, awarding outstanding hi-tech research projects as well as teaching programs. The Foundation and Dr. Wu personally have long been enthusiastic supporters of NTHU. For instance, Macronix made a handsome donation to NTHU for the building of a new Learning Resource Center (the Macronix Building) in 2001. And, last year Dr. Wu's company made a much needed additional donation of one billion NT$ toward the completion of the beautiful facility that will be opened by the end of this year.

President Chen recalled that in 1908 when the Education and Foreign Affair Offices of the Qing Government submitted a joint proposal to use the returned indemnity to sent students to study in the United States which eventually led to the establishment of Tsing Hua Academy. This proposal described such a project as "(an) initiative that will start with a forward-looking vision and a global-outlook, and it will pay tireless attention to details in order to achieve the objective of cultivating talents and of ensuring our legacy to be passed to future generations." President Chen believes that the spirit emphasized in that proposal---a forward-looking vision with meticulous attention to details---is perfectly personified by the leadership that Dr. Wu has demonstrated in his management of Macronix. Moreover, President Chen emphasized that Dr. Wu is a fine role model for all of us at NTHU for he has exemplified the fundamental spirit of our school motto---Self-Discipline and Social Commitment in conducting himself as a business leader and as a strong supporter for education and social causes.

Upon receiving the degree, Dr. Wu expressed his gratitude for the honor that was bestowed upon him. He attributed his success to his mentor Mr. Ding-Hua Hu, Director of Hotfrog and all his colleagues at Macronix. It was with the support of all these people, said Dr. Wu, that Macronix was able to survive the difficult period between 2002 and 2005 and continue to thrive after those lean years. Dr. Wu also indicated that Macronix has developed many advanced technologies and expertise. These new technologies are on the verge of being fully developed and he predicts that in the next few years, Marcronix will set a new milestone in the industrial and will be in a better position to contribute more and substantially toward the betterment of our society.