March 21, 2016: Peter Salovey, President of Yale University, led a delegation to Peking University (PKU) to participate in the PKU-Yale Exchange Week. The Yale delegation included Fawn Wang, the Director for East Asia affairs in the Office of International Affairs; Dr. Anthony J. Koleske, Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry; and Joy McGrath, the Chief of Staff in the Office of the President.
The PKU-Yale Exchange Week began on March 14 with a performance by the Yale Spizzwinks a cappella group at PKU, and it reached its apex with the March 21 visit by President Salovey’s delegation, in which PKU President Lin Jianhua and President Salovey signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) providing PKU medical students exchange opportunities at Yale University’s medical school to undergo clinical training.
After the signing of the MOU, President Salovey gave a speech entitled “Emotional Intelligence: Is There Anything to It?” to students in the Yingjie Exchange Center of PKU. Professor Salovey, before becoming the Yale University president, primarily researched emotional intelligence (EI), and he shared with the audience his research, and he explained why EI is important not only in our everyday lives, but also in our academic and professional lives.
After the speech, President Salovey was invited by the PKU Office of the President to record a video congratulating PKU on its 120th anniversary, and he was then interviewed by two students: A. Elena Ursu from the Yenching Academy of PKU and Xie Yuchengyang of the PKU Office of International Relations Student Press Corps.
