Professor Qian Yingyi, Dean of Tsinghua SEM, together with Mr. David Pan, Director of Tsinghua SEM Alumni and Development Office has visited Mr. Houghton Freeman, the member of Tsinghua SEM Advisory Board and his wife inVermont, theUnited Statesduring summer vacation time.

(Dean Qian with Mr. Freeman (right) )

Mr. Freeman, who is currently the Chair of the Freeman Foundation, has always been paying constant attention and giving supports to Tsinghua SEM’s development. Mr. Freeman has made a donation of $5 million in the name of his father Mansfield Freeman to Tsinghua Chair Professorship fund for supporting two positions of chair professor. Professor Bai Chong-en and Professor David Daokui Li at Tsinghua SEM had been conferred with the honor of Tsinghua chair professors.

Dean Qian had a full communication with Mr. Freeman during his visit to theUnited States. Each talk during their two formal meetings lasts for more than three hours. Freeman family has close ties withChina, especially with Tsinghua. Mr. Houghton Freeman was born at Tsinghua, whose father Mansfield Freeman had been a professor of philosophy and English atTsinghuaUniversityinBeijingduring early 20th century for nearly five years. In 1923,Mansfieldpartnered with C. V. Starr to manage a successful international insurance company, eventually called the American International Group (AIG). The company had been the largest one in the world, which now is still one of the largest insurance companies globally.

For generations the Freeman family has worked to find answers to some of the world's most pressing issues, both global and local. The Freeman Foundation has made tremendous contributions to supporting dozens of educational, cultural, and conservation projects all over the world. Both aged 87, the couple is still busy with issues for commonwealth. Each year, Mr. Freeman takes four months traveling around the world for inspecting sponsored projects and newly applied ones.