Mr. Yan Xiaozhe(Swallow Yan), Executive Director of Chinese Association of Iowa backed to his Alma Mater---ZJSU on Sep. 28th. His school-visit trip was warmly welcomed by Mr. Jiang Chengyong, Secretary-General of ZJSU Party Committee and Mr. Zhang Renshou, Vice President of ZJSU. During his short stay in ZJSU, Yan also went back to his teachers and students in School of Computer Science and Information Engineering.

Yan worked in ZJSU a couple of decades ago and moved to U.S. in the 1990s. When he was in the states, Yan worked as an information technology specialist at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and an Executive Director of Chinese Association of Iowa. His endeavors in bridging Sino-U.S. relationship in higher education cooperation marked a great achievement that was deeply appreciated by Chinese Societies as well as American Government. His hard work and dedication to incorporating the Chinese community into the fabric of Iowa is invaluable that gained the opportunity of meeting with American President Barack Obama, the former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton (now the Secretary of State), the former Vice President Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale, and the House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, etc.

On the invitation of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, Yan's back trip was especially for the 60th Anniversary Ceremony of the founding of People's Republic of China. In the year of 2004, Yan was ever invited to the ceremony of the 55th anniversary of the founding of PRC, and met with national top leaders: Mr. Wu Bangguo and Zeng Qinghong.


source: International Affairs Office, Alumni Office