Dr. Jane Goodall, an internationally renowned primatologist and animal conservationist, has dedicated her life to the study of chimpanzee. Her ground-breaking research findings have changed anthropologists' definition of human as "tool-maker", and enhanced the growth and development of primatology. On November 10^th, NTHU held a conferment ceremony at Cheng Kung Lakeside to award an honorary doctorate to Dr. Goodall. The event was attended by a large group of distinguished guests and visitors.

President Lih J. Chen stated that Dr. Goodall has established 22 Jane Goodall Institutes around the world to continue the study of chimpanzees in Africa and to promote animal welfare and environmental conservation. For the Roots & Shoots Program, Dr. Goodall has made year-round trips around the globe to cultivate young people's care for the environment, respect for animals, and understandings of diverse cultures. Her contributions to humankind are profound and she is highly respected as a researcher and natural lover. Dr. Goodall's spirit resonates with NTHU's motto: "To Oneself Be True; Give Nature Its Due." President Chen urges that all NTHU persons should take Dr. Goodall as a role model and carry forward her life-long dedication to animal conservation, her educational spirit, love and respect for other.

"Dr. Goodall is a living legend," President Chen asserted. Her study of chimpanzees altered humans' perceptions of themselves and redefined "humanity." She is regarded as a model among her peers and is one of the ten most influential women in history. President Chen further indicated "Dr. Goodall has hope for, and faith in humanity. She believes that during our one billion years of evolution, humans are still in the process of acquiring moral character. People can gradually reduce evil and become animals that possess true souls. However, she is concerned with humankind’s ongoing collective destruction of nature. Citizens of developed countries take excessive consumption for granted. The exploding global population makes one wonder whether we would have sufficient time to complete our journeys before going extinct."

To begin her acceptance speech, Dr. Goodall greeted the audience by imitating the chimpanzee greeting--- "Uh! Uh!" for which she received a thunderous applause. She shared the fact that her love for animals began when she was little, and told the audience that out of curiosity she once hid in a hen house for 5 hours just to watch how hens laid eggs; and when her family found her, they patiently listened to her new discovery. Dr. Goodall said to the audience "as a little girl, I had the spirit of a scientist. I kept raising questions, conducting experiments, and starting over again when failed." She further encouraged the audience by sharing what her mother had told her "if you want to achieve your dream, you must seize every opportunity, work extremely hard, and never give up." With the support from her mother, Dr. Goodall audaciously pursued her dream. Instead of obtaining a college education, she worked hard to save money for a trip to Africa. Later, she met Dr. Leakey, a world renowned anthropologist, and took the opportunity to conduct field research on chimpanzees. By immersing herself into a chimpanzee troop and observing their daily lives, rather than adopting conventional research methods, Dr. Goodall put herself into the wild, recognized each chimpanzee as individual and named each of them, and became a member of the troop. The findings were astonishing! She discovered that chimpanzees can select and make tools for hunting, they gather in groups, and even wage wars. These findings provided novel information for anthropological studies and ethological research. In 1965, Dr. Goodall obtained her Ph.D in ethology from Cambridge University. Dr. Goodall believes that the future lies in the hands of the youth. In her autobiography, Reason for Hope, A Spiritual Journey, published in 1999, Dr. Goodall indicated that she has high hope for the future because she believes in human intelligence, the resilience of nature, the passion of the youth, and humanity's persistence.