Like a modern day Lu Ban, Professor Jun-Jie Huang of the Department of Wood Design has been refining his skills in traditional craftsmanship and training wood industry talent for 43 years. During this time, Huang has worked for more than half a dozen institutions, with the last 15 years spent serving at the NPUST Department of Wood Science and Design.
Now, as Huang prepares to retire, a special exhibition and book publication was organized, with the opening ceremony scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on December 26th at the Art Center on the third floor of the university library. Forty-five woodworking students from Huang’s first year of teaching in 1980 on through to the present date were invited to attend, and 100 works—each with its own representative meaning—were assembled for the exhibition. The book published by Huang gives focus to the “operation of basic mechanical woodworking tools”, and offers woodworking students many years of experience to draw on.
In his remarks at the ceremony, NPUST President Chin-Lung Chang said “the Department of Wood Science has been established for nearly 50 years. Its graduates have gone on to work at home and abroad as furniture and wood product professionals, interior designers, researchers, educators and more—always working to impress. Just as we saw in October of this year, with a gold medal win at the WorldSkills Competition. Such a hard-to-achieve outcome demonstrates the effectiveness of the teachers at the department when it comes to education, research, skills training, and coaching. Professor Jun-Jie Huang, with his rich teaching qualifications, has had the practice of interacting with industry for direction, so he could bring abundant knowledge and energy to the students in the department, and help them in their follow-up studies and their career development”.
Professor Huang said, “with 43 years in education, I believe that when students come to university, they should do more than simply pursue knowledge; they should also work to strengthen their own personalities and broaden their minds, so that they can find their own ways. In order to continue to pass on woodworking techniques, I encourage students to maintain hearts of moral craftsmanship and treat others with kindness. This way technical methods can continuously be improved upon, and the spirit can be passed on to younger generations”.
The way in which Professor Huang and all the teachers and students at the Department of Wood Design interpret technical education is based on the concept of “good craftsmanship, innovation and authenticity”. Because “working” is a skill upon which gradual developed can be made. Professor Huang often uses the Taiwanese phrase “ting-tsin” (earnest and attentive) to encourage students, hoping that they will be meticulous in their work, and will be absolutely responsible for everything while maintaining pure hearts. And after acquiring a whole body of skills, he believes that by passing them on and by combining design, technology, science, culture, economics, and strategy, students can be cultivated into people who will be welcomed by the industry.
