On October 29, Tsinghua and Temple Universities celebrated the 17th annual commencement of the Beijing Master of Laws (LLM) program. Tsinghua law Dean Shen Weixing and Temple law Interim Dean Gregory Mandel presided over the ceremony, conferring degrees to 49 graduates.
Tsinghua law Dean Emeritus and Professor Wang Chenguang delivered this year’s commencement address. Dean Wang recently published a comprehensive work on legal education in China, and he shared some highlights of his research and teaching with the graduates. He encouraged the class to continue to serve Tsinghua and Temple law schools once they enter their professional careers, as law and legal education must always serve the other. A copy of Dean Wang’s book, The Vision of Legal Education, has been donated to the Temple law library.
This year’s graduating class included judges, prosecutors, and government officials from the public sector, as well as lawyers, corporate counsel, and new graduates from the private sector. Many of the faculty who taught this class remarked that it is one of the strongest classes ever.
Temple Executive Vice President and Provost JoAnne Epps attended the ceremony, as did a cohort of Tsinghua and Temple faculty and administration. Tsinghua Vice President and Provost Yang Bin met with Provost Epps the day before to express his support for the program and offer suggestions for its continued growth and development.
Temple Law professor Mo Zhang received particular recognition. As the rule-of-law program’s inaugural director, both Tsinghua and Temple leadership recognized his contributions to making the program a success. Professor Zhang teaches in both the Beijing LLM program and Tsinghua’s LLM in Chinese Law for international students.
Professor John Smagula, the current program director, hosted the reception after graduation to congratulate the newest group of alumni and celebrate their achievements. Professor Mark Aronchick, who taught constitutional law and torts in the program, sent long-distance remarks through a video that was aired at the reception.
The Tsinghua-Temple LLM program is a 15-month program in American and international law. To date, 634 students have graduated from the program, over half of whom are in the public sector. For more information, please visit law.temple.edu/BeijingLLM.
Temple expresses tremendous gratitude to Tsinghua University, our partner of over 15 years, for their great support and friendship.