winners of Inspiring Mentorship Awards 2009. Prof Yuen and Prof Leong will be receiving the award at a ceremony on 11 July that is held in conjunction with a luncheon to welcome new alumni.

Organised by National University of Singapore’s Office of Alumni Relations, the annual Inspiring Mentor Awards recognises NUS faculty and administration staff members who have made a difference to the lives of alumni during their student days on campus. Nominations are invited from alumni for mentors and teachers whom they feel have made exceptional impact on the alumni and have helped change and influence the course of life of the alumni.

Prof Yuen (right in photo), who retired in 2007 amid an outpour of tributes from generations of his students, made yet another big contribution on his retirement, donating over S$74,000 from his Academic Staff Provident Fund to the School to reward academic excellence and support needy students. In a tribute on his retirement the School Management noted of Prof Yuen: “With his vision of the potential impact of information technology on society, he introduced information systems education into the curriculum, expanded student enrolment eightfold…” Read the tributes to Prof Yuen here

Prof Leong (left in photo), who is going strong in his role as teacher and mentor, is a familiar name to many cohorts of students. The new award reaffirms the recognition among his students, both past and present, for his impact on their time with the University. In 2008, he was named the sole winner of the University Scholars Programme (USP) Award for 2008, for his outstanding contribution to the University Scholars Programme, of which NUS School of Computing is a participating faculty.