HBU Holds Appointment Ceremony for the Academic Committee of the Institute of Regional and Country Studies

On October 14, the appointment ceremony for members of the Academic Committee of Hebei University’s Institute of Regional and Country Studies and a thematic symposium were held on the Wusi Road campus. President Meng Qingyu attended the meeting and presented a letter of appointment to Professor Alfred Hornung. The event was chaired by Zhang Jinhong, Director of the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences at Hebei University, and was attended by several researchers from the Institute of Regional and Country Studies and student representatives.

Meng Qingyu extended a warm welcome to Professor Alfred Hornung and briefly introduced Hebei University’s history of development, current status, and the background to the establishment of the Institute of Regional and Country Studies. Meng emphasized that Professor Hornung, as a distinguished scholar in the global field of regional and country studies, has achieved notable results in promoting civilizational dialogue and Sino-American cultural relations and has played a leading role in fostering cross-cultural understanding and academic cooperation. Professor Hornung’s affiliation will bring international, cutting-edge academic perspectives and research experience to the Institute, further supporting the university’s efforts to enhance its level of internationalization.

In his remarks, Professor Alfred Hornung reviewed his deep academic ties with Hebei University and expressed his honor at being appointed a member of the Institute’s Academic Committee. He stated that he will further deepen academic exchanges and cooperation with Hebei University and will fully support the university’s development.

Following the appointment ceremony, a thematic symposium on “The Necessity of Civilizational Exchange and Mutual Learning” was held. The symposium was hosted by Professor Ye Huijun, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages and Director of the Department of Public Foreign Language Instruction at Hebei University, with Professor Alfred Hornung serving as the keynote speaker. Professor Hornung provided a systematic account of the transmission of Confucian thought in Europe and North America and its influence on the European Enlightenment and the founding structures of the United States. Drawing on the concepts of the Global Civilization Initiative and the Global Civilization Dialogue ministerial meetings, he outlined concrete and feasible approaches for civilizational exchange and mutual learning in the twenty-first century. Attendees engaged in in-depth exchanges and discussions on related topics.

Professor Alfred Hornung is a member of the European Academy of Sciences, a member of the Advisory Board of the Harvard University Institute for World Literature, a professor at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany, founding director of the Obama Transnational Studies Institute, president of the German Association for American Studies, chair of the German University English Evaluation and American Studies Review Committee, and president of the European and American Multiracial Studies Association, among other positions. He is dedicated to the study of Confucian cultural transmission and Sino-American cultural relations, and several of his research achievements have been translated into Chinese. The successful convening of the appointment ceremony and thematic symposium represents a pragmatic measure by Hebei University to deepen educational openness and actively serve the country’s broader diplomatic agenda. It also provides strong support for the university’s acceleration of its “Double First-Class” discipline construction and the development of a high-standard platform for regional and country studies.