On the morning of September 18th, the SFL held a solemn and warm retirement symposium to honor Professors Wang Zhenping, Xia Tongzhi, and Han Weizhu, who are retiring in 2025, for their dedication to education and to pass on the torch of teaching excellence. SFL leaders, faculty representatives from various departments, and young faculty representatives attended the event. The symposium was chaired by Vice Dean Wang Yi.

At the symposium, young faculty representatives formally presented flowers to the retiring professors, conveying their profound respect and gratitude to these educational pioneers in a simple yet heartfelt manner. SFL leaders presented commemorative gifts inscribed with the message “Your students flourish worldwide, your nurturing like rain and dew enriching spring”, a tribute symbolizing the school’s high recognition of the retirees’ decades of dedicated service on the front lines of teaching and education, and their quiet, steadfast contributions.

Retiring professors Wang Zhenping and Xia Tongzhi spoke emotionally, recalling their years of teaching at the SFL. They shared their teaching insights and life philosophies, expressing their deep love for the educational profession and their affection for the school. Young faculty members Liu Fang, Wang Youjia, Tang Jie, and Liu Jingyi expressed their admiration for the retiring professors and their gratitude for the guidance received. They pledged to inherit the educational spirit of their predecessors and to bravely advance on their own paths of teaching and research. Faculty members from various departments also joined the conversation, expressing their thanks to the senior colleagues.

Party Secretary Zeng Zhaoye expressed his gratitude for the three colleagues’ decades of unwavering commitment on the front lines of education and their dedication to the school’s development. She encouraged the retirees to continue to follow the progress of the university and the school and to “come home often”. Dean Chao Luomeng, reflecting on the school’s development journey, recalled the moments when the retiring faculty grew and strove alongside the school. He emphasized that the school’s progress is inseparable from the relayed efforts of generations of educators.

The symposium concluded with a group photograph, capturing this warm and meaningful moment on camera. This retirement event was a high tribute to the retiring faculty’s professional careers and also served as a vivid lesson in educational inheritance. The SFL will continue to promote the fine tradition of respecting teachers and passing on knowledge, further enriching the connotation of “Top Tust Culture”, and contributing its strength in foreign languages to the construction of a multi-disciplinary, distinctive, high-level research university.