On March 2^nd 2012, NTHU President Lih J. Chen was elected as the 34^th Chairman of Phi Tau Phi succeeding the former Chair, Dr. Wei-Ling Chiang who was recently appointed as the Minister of Education. Chairman Chen indicated, upon assuming the Chairmanship, it is a high honor of his to be elected as the chair of this prestigious scholastic society and he thanked the former Chair, Minister Chiang, for having successfully promoted and elevated the visibility of Phi Tau Phi in our society.

Phis, Tau, Phi are transliterations of Greek alphabets. They stand for three academic disciplines: philosophy, engineering and science (philosophia, technologia, and physiologia). This Honor Society was first established in China in 1921 and re-established in Taiwan in March 1964. Currently, there are 53 chapters with more than thirty-five thousand honorary members.

President Chen indicated that as an Honor Society, Phi Tau Phi has been very successful in selecting and rewarding scholastic achievement, stimulating research, encouraging and nurturing scholarship. As the new Chairman, he is prepared to lead a group of his devoted and capable colleagues at NTHU to further the goals of this Honor Society. He would like, however, all his colleagues to be aware that while it is important to promote activities but a large number of activities does not necessarily amounts to high-level achievements. Likewise, an efficient organization is not necessarily equivalent to an effective organization. With the enthusiastic support of his colleagues at NTHU, Chairman Chen believes that they can build on the solid foundation established by previous administration and introduce new programs that will further heighten Phi Tau Phi's achievements and increase its effectiveness.