On the afternoon of October 18, 2018, the College of Management and Economics (CoME) of Tianjin University held a congress of teachers and cadre. On behalf of the Party Committee of Tianjin University, Mei-rong Zhao, the standing member of the Party Committee, head of the Organization Department and the United Front Work Department of the Party Committee, announced that Professor Bao-feng Huo had been appointed dean of the College of Management and Economics.

Professor Bao-feng Huo’s Inaugural Speech

I thank my alma mater very much for trusting me! I feel it a heavy responsibility that I have been given such an important job from my alma mater.

CoME has made great achievements, successfully ranking among the first-class economic and management colleges in China and has laid a good foundation for further development in the future under the leadership of successive leading groups, with the efforts of all faculty and staff, and with the support of alumni and all sectors of society. Thank you very much for your contributions!

Today, we live in a brand-new world. New thoughts, new ideas, new models, new technologies and new tools are emerging endlessly and dazzling. In this new world facing the future, where is the future of CoME?

A hundred years from now, in 2118, people in the future will look back at our world today. I don’t think it will be a good impression: environmental pollution, rampant disease, frequent wars, a stagnant economy. What is more terrible is that in our age, toxic prejudices, shackles and chaos still dominate our minds.

As a member of society, how can CoME make the next 100 years better? What should we do?

First, we need passion and dedication. A hundred years ago, in 1918, at the celebration of Planck's sixtieth birthday, Einstein said that there were three kinds of people in the palace of science,” many people love science because it gives them a pleasure because of intelligence beyond ordinary people. Science is the lively experience they seek in this entertainment and the satisfaction of their ambition. There are also many people who dedicate their intellectual products to the altar for purely utilitarian purposes. However, there still are some people that their daily efforts do not come from thoughtful intentions or plans, but directly from passion.” Without passion and dedication, we can also accomplish some daily work very well, but we cannot accomplish those tasks that require hard work. Let us be transcendent or truly reflect the meaning and value of our lives.

Secondly, we need integration. Our College of Economics and Management is nested in all fields of university and society. Even a sub-department within CoME, is also nested in various peer departments. We share the same fate and breathe the same air, rather than being isolated islands. We have to work together! Therefore, we should have the ability to integrate internal and external resources, establish strategic cooperative relations with partners in all aspects, fully share their resources, coordinate activities in all fields and create a better future together. For example, we should integrate the knowledge of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and art, develop  economics and management with an interdisciplinary approach, and build a TJU School of economics and management. We should integrate scientific research, teaching and service, truly combine industry, education and research, and create the value of "1 + 1 > 2". Further, we need to integrate inheritance and innovation. Because we are facing a brand-new future, a constantly changing and increasingly complex future. We need to constantly adjust our concepts, standards and ways, constantly explore new ideas and methods, summarize the past and create the future. We should integrate theory with practice, because on the one hand, theory without practice is a castle in the air, which is nothing. On the other hand, practice without theory is blind and narrow. Only by integrating resources and comprehensive development can our college have vitality and sustainable development. We should understand that only a good society makes a good university, a good university makes a good college, a good college makes good teachers and students, and vice versa. Therefore, we should constantly enhance our relations with others, with the world. We should promote social progress with our partners.

Finally, we need truth, goodness and beauty. The university motto, seeking truth from facts, enables us to build to last and retain vitality. Goals of looking at the whole world, forging ahead, integrating knowledge and practice and keeping the world in mind enables us to have benevolence and perseverance. Beauty, the harmony between man and nature, the unity of heaven and man, is our good wish of building a comprehensive university and a harmonious world. It is also the most precious thing to our College of Management and Economics.

I would like to build our beautiful College of Economics and Management and create a better future together with you.

Thank you!

Introduction of Bao-feng Huo 

Dr. Bao-feng Huo is the dean of the Tianjin University College of Management and Economics,  a lecture professor in operation management, a winner of the National Outstanding Youth Fund, and a Chinese highly cited scholar of Elsevier. He holds a Ph.D. in Operation Management from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a master’s degree in management science and Engineering and a bachelor’s degree in information system and Management from Tianjin University. He researches and teaches operations management, logistics and supply chain management. More than 50 high-level academic papers have been published in international journals about operations management, logistics and supply chain management, production management, production economics, engineering management, information management, data management, quality management and service management. He is also the deputy editor of the Journal of Operations Management, member of editorial board of Production and Operations Management and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, editorial advisory board member of IJPDLM and IMDS.

By: College of Management and Economics

Editor: Chang Liu, Qin Mian and Keith Harrington