Dr. Kuo Ping Wen (1880-1969) was born in Shanghai, China and studied with George D. Strayer and Paul Monroe at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he received his M.A. degree in 1912 and his Ph.D. in 1914. He was the founder of National Southeastern University in Nanjing, China and Shanghai College of Commerce in Shanghai, China, co-founder of the China Institute in America, and President of the Sino-American Cultural Society in Washington, D.C., an organization he founded in 1958. Dr. Kuo was the Chinese representative to various important international conferences and was selected as the Deputy Director General and Chief Secretary of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. In 1943 as Vice Minister of Finance, Dr. Kuo was the Chairman of an eleven-member delegation at the United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture.
Ann D. Thornton, Vice Provost and University Librarian, Eugenia Lean, Director of Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Lening Liu, Director of Columbia Confucius Institute, Xin Peng, Executive Director, Columbia Global Centers, Dianne Sadnytzky, Director of Academic Administration, Department of International & Transcultural Studies, Mun Tsang, Director of Center on Chinese Education, Teachers College, and Carolyn Hsu, Grandniece of Kuo Ping Wen joined and gave remarks. York Lo, Associate in Research, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University, Yanqiu Zheng, Ph.D. candidate in modern Chinese history at Northwestern University, Ryan M. Allen, Doctoral Fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University and Ji Liu, Doctoral Fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University joined the panel.
Table of Contents:
- Introduction: Kuo Ping Wen: scholar, reformer, statesman / Ryan M. Allen and Ji Liu
- Chapter 1. Kuo Ping Wen and his family's involvement with Christian education, the Commercial Press, and their contributions to the development of education in modern China / York Lo
- Chapter 2. Kuo Ping Wen and the University of Wooster / David Gedalecia
- Chapter 3. The first Chinese doctoral student and his learning experiences at Teachers College, Columbia University / Huimei Zhou
- Chapter 4. Kuo Ping Wen's groundbreaking Teachers College dissertation / Gita Steiner-Khamsi
- Chapter 5. Contributions of Guo Ping Wen to China's higher education reform / Yechun Song
- Chapter 6. KuoPing Wen and the China Institute in America / Yanqiu Zheng
- Chapter 7. Kuo Ping Wen as a statesman and advocate for China and Chinese Americans / Ryan M. Allen and Ji Liu
- Conclusion: Kuo Ping Wen and his legacy to the world / Ryan M. Allen and Ji Liu
- Appendix. Kuo Ping Wen on Christian education in China