November 12, 2016 has been designated as the date for the 39th Commencement exercises of Payap University.  I would like to extend a cordial welcome to all graduates who are back on campus for rehearsals beginning on November 9.  This year is unusual in that we will be congratulating our graduates while in a time of mourning for the passing of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Therefore, we are dedicating this year’s Commencement to His Majesty because, throughout his reign he supported having people acquire a high quality of education to gain knowledge in order to develop the country’s prosperity to the utmost.  I am confident His Majesty would congratulate you graduates on your success. The Commencement Service is the largest annual event in the university. ...

Thai people have been immersed in grief recently as a result of the death of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.  We have seen various expressions of grief by individuals as well as groups.  The university has participated as far as we were able in activities conducted by the province and units.  The latest event organized by the Chiang Mai Provincial Government will be a memorial candle lighting service on November 2 beginning at 5 p.m. at the Royal Floral Park (near the Night Safari).  Payap has been invited to be the central organizer for the orchestra and choirs.  The Office of Public Relations with Organizations requested participation from various institutions.  Almost 200 singers and musicians were recruited.  They have rehearsed in the Sri Sangwan...

On October 13, 2016 I went to Bali, together with the Assistant for Internationalization and the Chaplain of the university, to participate in the annual conference and General Assembly of the Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia (ACUCA).  When we arrived and were able to access news we learned of the death of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.  This saddened us greatly.  The next morning, as part of the opening ceremony, the participants expressed their condolences and sympathy for those of us from Thailand, by standing in silence to commemorate His Majesty.  Our six delegates from Thailand greatly appreciated our colleagues sharing our grief.  During the ACUCA biennial General Assembly there was a transfer of leadership from Indonesia to...

Payap University’s “Internal Audit” of the institution for the past academic year 2559 (2015-6) conducted by an outside committee of examiners has been completed commendably.  Our leadership team has made continuing progress on many fronts.  Our overall internal audit score last year was 2.97.  However, for the year just concluded our score was 3.53.  This improvement is a source of great pride.  I want to thank our staff and faculty members for their concerted efforts resulting in our educational quality having earned a rating of “GOOD”.  But we will not rest at this level.  We will strive to acquire a rating of “Outstanding” in the future. This past Saturday the Payap University Support Committee [Trans. Note:...

On September 30, 2016 a group from N.C.C. Management and Development Co., The Queen Sirikit National Convention Center [Bangkok], led by the Vice Chair for Management, Activities Division, met with university administrators to explore possibilities for mutual academic collaboration, to support expert presenters to disseminate knowledge to students and personnel as requested by universities, to receive students to do field education in all departments, and to hire students part-time when there are events in Chiang Mai.  In this regard, in the past when the company has accepted students to help with international conferences the experiences of our students have been impressive in gathering insight and job abilities, English ability, good character building, discipline and good will. ...

On September 17 Payap University invited 6 alumni who have been successful in business to meet with the university executive committee so we could hear their ideas and suggestions about how the university should operate.  We especially wanted to hear about ways of producing graduates to meet the needs of society and developing the university’s resources to the best advantage.  The university thanks these 6 alums for generously giving up their valuable time to make suggestions of many kinds that will be of benefit. The alumni felt that it was important for the university to emphasize producing graduates who are “sharp” rather than “clever”.  This means cultivating students to be ready to create jobs in every vocational area.  When they graduate,...

Those of you who use the driveway onto the campus from the Ring Road have no doubt noticed changes being made to the grounds next to the underpass.  I would like to inform everyone that the university has received permission from the university’s Board of Trustees as well as the Foundation of the Church of Christ in Thailand to let investors lease a tract of 4 rai and 11 square wa (about 1 2/3 acres) of land for 30 years for the construction of a gasoline service station and related buildings by PTT.  It is expected that the construction will take about 12 months.  When construction is completed PYU personals, students and the surrounding community will have more convenient access to petrol and to other businesses on the site.  Aside from that, the grounds on that...

I have recently received many comments about the Payap entrance road that is full of potholes.  There is concern that this will be dangerous to students and personnel especially at night.  Please be aware that Payap University is not unconcerned about this, and is looking for ways to correct the situation.  The fact is that when Payap bought the large tract of land for the new Mae Kao Campus this access road was built later to make it convenient to come and go.  As traffic increased the road was damaged.  If the road were to be rebuilt from scratch it would cost 10 million baht which we cannot afford. We have been in contact with the municipality to ask for assistance with the costs, but they cannot help because the land is owned privately.  The municipality suggested...

This past Saturday administrators met with student representatives of the dormitories to build mutual understanding and to listen to suggestions from the students about changing operations to make the dorms more attractive places to live.  I want to thank the students for their proposals and for the projects and activities they will undertake this academic year.  I hope the students will accomplish the things they have suggested which should be of great benefit to the student residents in the dorms. During the first month of this year 2016-17 the students have already promoted the reputation of the university in athletic competitions, as mentioned on the Payap University website.  I want to congratulate each of the students who have earned awards.  I have hopes that this...

In the past week there was a post in the online social media from a parent who attended commencement last November.  The parent praised the consideration of our pharmacy students in that there had been a mistake in making reservations for a place to stay.  The family had no place to stay.  As the parents were in the food center considering what to do the pharmacy students were eating there and overheard the issue, thereupon volunteering to help find a place and then took the stranded folks to it.  After the post there were other comments congratulating the students.   Payap University is very proud of these students.  We hope our personnel and students all will be models and all of us will be steadfast in TRUTH AND SERVICE that we help implant from the very...