Shawn Chen ’87, founder and chairman of Sias University, received an honorary degree at the 2024 Commencement, which was held May 26. He also served as the commencement speaker, giving an address that highlighted the impact Linfield played in his career and how it will continue to guide the graduates’ lives in the future.
Chen, who holds a master’s degree in education from Linfield, founded Sias University in Zhengzhou, China. The university was designed to incorporate Western liberal arts traditions in a Chinese higher education setting. Since its founding in 1998, it has grown to more than 36,000 undergraduate students.
In addition to his work at Sias University, Chen is a leader within the United Nations System, as the president of the UN’s World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA). WFUNA works to strengthen and improve the UN through training programs, events and partnerships, including many Model U.N. programs around the world. He is also president of the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP) and the co-founder of Plug and Play China, a subsidiary of the renowned Plug and Play venture capital incubation company in Silicon Valley. He has established incubation centers throughout China.
More recently, Chen was instrumental in signing a memorandum of understanding between Linfield University and Sias University in September 2023 that calls for the development of a joint-supervision dual degree program and possible student, faculty and curriculum exchanges.
