Two SCU Staffs Win Awards for Contributing to Friendly Campus

As the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced in December, 2018, the winners of its “Friendly Campus Awards,” two of Soochow University’s staffs were recognized for their outstanding works in campus counseling and student affairs in the Academic Year of 2017-18.

Shu-Wen Yao, director of the Health and Counseling Center, received the MOE’s “Friendly Campus Award for Special Contribution,” and Yin-Chun Chou, Senior Staff of Socialization and Aesthetics Education Center, was named the “Outstanding Student Affairs Personnel” in “Friendly Campus Award for College with Excellent Performance.”

Joining Soochow’s faculty in 1992, Yao has been dedicated to the protection of woman and children in addition to the prevention of intimate partner violence on college campuses for 27 years. As a social worker, she often has the feeling that current laws and regulations, as well as available resources are not effective enough to solve related problems, which is why advocacy for more changes is needed. While Yao is grateful for receiving the award, she will just continue striving for her ideals regardless of whether she is recognized for her work or not.

With a B.A. degree in Social Work at Soochow University, Chou has been working at her alma mater for the past ten years, in charge of social organization counseling and assistance, and facility rental services in addition to her other administrative duties. The more she interacted with the students, Chou said, the more she realized that she not only gave but also received. She expressed gratitude for the award, but oftentimes a simple, heartfelt “thank you” from those she helped could be more than anything.