TROY – Troy University officials will travel to the People’s Republic of China to conduct the fourth commencement ceremonies for the Sino-American 1-2-1 Dual-Degree Program.

The ceremonies, scheduled for June 27 in Nanjing, will award degrees to 48 students. The 1-2-1 program allows Chinese students the opportunity to begin university studies at their home institution, transfer to the Troy Campus for two years and return to China to complete a final year of studies. Upon completion, the students receive both a degree from TROY and their home institution. To date, 11 of the 1-2-1 students have returned to TROY for graduate school.

Among those from TROY attending the commencement are Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins Jr., Jerry Johnson, chairman of TROY’s art and design department, Larry Strickland, an Andalusia-based artist, Dr. Curt Porter, associate vice chancellor of international programs and Debbie Davis, director of international student life.

This year’s graduating class represents Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology and Soochow University.

Commencement isn’t the sole reason behind the University’s trip, however. TROY will take part in “The Fourth Seminar on Credit and Degree Recognition between Chinese and American Universities.” This seminar brings TROY together with seven other American universities, Chinese universities, various accreditation agencies both U.S. and China based, representatives from the U.S. Embassy and the government of the People’s Republic of China.

Dr. Hawkins said art was another purpose of the trip. Johnson and Strickland will work with a Chinese sculptor to reconstruct the molds used to make the Trojan statue on the Troy Campus. Once reconstructed, three Trojan warriors will be cast in bronze for campuses in Dothan, Montgomery and Phenix City.

Johnson said the trip also offered the opportunity to continue work to establish an academic partnership between TROY’s DTI – design technology industry – program and Xi’an University of Science and Technology for 1-2-1 students who major in DTI.

“We’ve been discussing a newly proposed 3D Public Design contract at TROY that complements Xi’an’s architecture degree,” he said. “We already have two TROY DTI alumni who have graduated from Chinese universities whoa re coming back to America to on master’s degrees in architecture and landscape architecture.”

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