Launch spells ‘SUCCESS’

Lian Ji, president of Inner Mongolia University (IMU) and vice-governor of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR), led a delegation to visit ASU last summer. His primary goal was to find out what this New American University was all about and how sustainability can be a centerpiece of university development.

Lian’s successful visit has led to the establishment of the Sino-U.S. Center for Conservation Energy and Sustainability Science (SUCCESS) in Inner Mongolia. The center formally launched Dec. 2, 2007 at IMU, Hohhot (the provincial capital of IMAR).

Rob Melnick, associate vice-president for economic affairs, represented ASU at the ceremony and presented an agreement signed by ASU President Michael Crow regarding ASU’s commitment to engage in research on issues of environmental, social and economic sustainability with faculty from IMU and scholars from other Chinese universities who will also work with the new center. Professor Jianguo (Jingle) Wu was appointed as the funding director of SUCCESS.

More than 150 people attended the opening ceremony, including more than 15 senior provincial government officials and mayors and about 20 renowned experts in sustainability from the public and private sectors across China.

The opening ceremony was followed by an international forum on sustainability science, chaired by Wu and attended by more than 400 professors and students from IMU and other universities in Inner Mongolia.

“The SUCCESS Center creates another important opportunity for collaboration between ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability and leading research universities throughout the world,” says Jon Fink, the Julie A. Wrigley director of the Global Institute of Sustainability (GIOS) and ASU’s chief sustainability officer.