Are you looking forward to sharing a meal with professors, academicians and doctoral supervisors and hearing their helpful tips and suggestions? “Luncheon party with experts” from the College of Chemistry and Molecular Science of WHU could offer exactly what you need!
These experts are academic idols in their respective fields, strict teachers on the stage but also, talkative and friendly “lunch mate” around the dining table. Over the previous 24 luncheon parties, 100 undergraduates have got the opportunity to have a face-to-face talk via this platform with 26 experts, including one academician, three “Changjiang Scholars”, seven recipients of the “National Outstanding Youth Science Fund”, one national teaching master, and 4 Changiiang Youth Scholars.
This program was first launched on March 15th after about six months of preparation and it has become a Tuesday and Thursday routine since its launch. Each time one expert is invited to have lunch with four undergraduates.
Students who had the honor to participate in the first luncheon party enjoyed a wonderful meal with Prof. Liu Zhihong, a popular supervisor in the College of Chemistry. The activity attracted a large number of freshmen. At their luncheon party, Prof. Liu emphazied unity and cooperation among schoolmates by sharing his own experience. He advised the students to be active participants in extra-curricular activities instead of being slaves of electronic devices. When it comes to academic research, Prof. Liu suggested students get involved in the research atmosphere as early as possible and get systematic training. Besides, reading literature is an important channel he advocated to keep oneself updated with the latest approaches and achievements of research.
Prof. Cheng Gongzhen, national outstanding teacher was invited to the tenth luncheon party. He started the conversation by sharing his own early learning experience; his passion for and understanding towards the connection between life and chemistry left a deep impression on the students. Then he illustrated his opinion on how to develop a newly generated good idea into a mature one. The students were highly inspired by the conversation with Prof. Cheng, “the winners of life are those who make quantitative change and turn them into the qualitative change through day-to-day accumulation”.
After the May Day holiday, another piece of inspiring news came to the students that Prof. Zhang Lina, the academician, would join the fifteenth luncheon party. During lunch hours, Prof. Zhang answered students’ questions such as how to memorize the mechanism of organic chemistry. She suggested that students should focus on understanding the theory rather than retaining what has been taught through memorization. From her perspective, only in that way could the theories be applied more flexibly and properly in their future study and research.
As was introduced, the decision on who is to be invited is in the hands of students. After the luncheon parties, both professors and students would receive online questionnaires for comments and suggestions. It is gratifying to note that about 98% of respondents are satisfied with the activity and hope it could be held routinely and more often.
The luncheon party with experts has already provided a new platform for professors to give instructions to young students in the College of Chemistry. It is one of a series of approaches to promote education through diverse ways of teaching, and is also a significant way to make all-around improvements among students by stimulating learning initiatives and enthusiasm.
The implications of this program are beyond the dining table because students still keep in contact with professors afterwards and the professors now act as students’ supervisors, counselors and instructors who are ready to offer help and support to them whenever they are in need.
Perhaps, the seeds of one luncheon party will sprout and blossom into students’ bright future.
Zhang Lina is having lunch with students
(Rewritten by Zhang Qiyue. Edited by Wang Hanxu, Shen Yuxi, Hu Sijia, Edmund Wai Man Lai.)