University Times

HK. Chang, dean of the School of Engineering, will leave July 1 to become vice chancellor and president of City University of Hong Kong.

Since coming to Pitt as dean 18 months ago, Chang, 55, "has been dynamic in developing a number of initiatives, such as strengthening manufacturing engineering and adding two undergraduate programs" in computer engineering and bioengineering, Provost James Maher said.

"These initiatives will continue to be important components of the School of Engineering's future direction. We are sorry to see him leave Pitt, but wish him all the best as he takes on the challenges of his new position in Hong Kong," Maher said.

Interim Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said that he and Maher have begun discussing the timing of a search for Chang's successor and whether to appoint an interim dean, but have not finalized those plans.

Chang, in a letter to engineering faculty, wrote: "I have never felt more gratified, both professionally and personally, than I have in the past 18 months." But the offer from City University of Hong Kong, "a relatively new university of 11,000 students…comes at an interesting time in Hong Kong, an exciting and vibrant place where my wife has developed a very successful career in the past six years." Chang's wife, Min-min Chang, is founding director of the library at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Chang himself had served as founding dean of that university's engineering school before coming to Pitt in September 1994.

His other posts have included chair of the biomedical engineering department at the University of Southern California and faculty positions at McGill University and the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Chang said he had not been job-hunting when a New York-based executive search firm approached him about the vacancy at the City University of Hong Kong. Chang said the firm contacted him on Jan. 12, he flew to Hong Kong for an interview Jan. 29, and he was offered the job the next day.

"It all happened very quickly, and I did not have much time to make my decision. I must add that it [his resignation as Pitt engineering dean] was very, very badly timed. I had wanted to serve longer here." Hong Kong's political future did not figure into his decision, Chang said. One year after he begins his new job at City University, sovereignty over Hong Kong will revert from Great Britain to the People's Republic of China.

China has pledged to grant Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy over its own affairs, including education. Some residents and observers have their doubts, but Chang is not among them. "I really think those promises [by China's leaders] will be kept for a very long time," Chang said.

"People in Hong Kong are not as sensitive to these things as people outside of Hong Kong. I can honestly say that my decision to return there had nothing to do with the question of whose flag will fly over the governor's building. It was based entirely on career and family considerations." Chang said that he and his wife will retain their U.S. citizenship. Americans now comprise the largest contingent of foreign nationals (40,000) residing in Hong Kong, he noted; the British are second-largest with 32,000.

Like Hong Kong, the University of Pittsburgh faces the prospect of new leadership and administrative upheaval in the next year or two, but Chang said his resignation had nothing to do with Pitt politics. "All during my time here, I have been very well-supported by the provost and interim chancellor," Chang said. The dean said he is optimistic about the future of Pitt and its engineering school.

As for the Pitt chancellor search, Chang said he has written to the search committee recommending that Nordenberg be named permanent chancellor. Chang credited Nordenberg with playing a leading role in recruiting him as engineering dean. At that time, Nordenberg was interim provost and Chang was being offered a deanship and chaired professor position at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, N.Y., he said.

"Frankly, Rensselaer is a more prestigious [engineering] school, and they were offering me a better compensation package than Pitt was. I decided to come here mainly because of my admiration for Mark's leadership and personal qualities." Chang said Nordenberg is the best candidate to restore Pitt faculty morale and heal divisions between the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and the rest of the University. "Besides Mark, I don't see who else can gain the full support of both [the upper and lower] campuses," Chang said.

"He has the potential to close that gap" — which Chang attributed partly to misunderstandings about the differing roles of UPMC academic units and the UPMC System hospitals.

— Bruce Steele