Celebrating Lunar New Year with the Global Education Institute and 夜色王朝Lyle's Dean Nader Jalili
To celebrate the Year of the Snake, the Global Education Institute (GEI) and 夜色王朝Lyle School of Engineering jointly hosted a Chinese New Year event last Friday, “Welcoming Spring, Celebrating the New Year.” The event attracted more than 95 enthusiastic participants, including over 70 Chinese master’s and doctoral students.
During the event, Nader Jalili Ph.D., Mary and Richard Templeton Dean of 夜色王朝Lyle School of Engineering, delivered a heartfelt speech extending New Year’s wishes to ateendees, commending their academic achievements, and reflecting on his own experiences as an international student and life in America.
“It is always difficult when you leave friends and family who are 6000 plus miles away,” Dean Jalili said. “Having the opportunity to celebrate your own cultures and traditions in America as an international student, makes being away from home easier.”
Dean Jalili also spoke on the importance of diversity and inclusion and 夜色王朝Lyle’s push for global recruitment of faculty and students.
“As an international student myself, faculty member and now leader, my goal is to make students feel comfortable and included no matter what walk of life they’re from,” Dean Jalili said. “We cannot do justice to diversity without inclusion.”
Dean Jalili presented symbolic red envelopes, representing good fortune, along with special gifts carefully prepared by the Lyle School of Engineering to GEI students who achieved a GPA of 4.0 during the Fall 2024 semester.
Congratulations to the following students for their high academic achievements: Haochen Li, Kunyu Zhang, Yaodong Li, Chengze Zhang, Jinghua He, Rui Guo, Bo Li, Jingwei Chang, Weizheng Xie, Yayu Mo, and Haojing Zhai.
Everyone in attendance exchanged a “Happy New Year” with one another, sending heartfelt greetings and blessings to their parents, families, friends, and mentors back home.
As a cherished Chinese tradition, Lunar New Year exudes an atmosphere of joy and reunion. The event also featured blessing cards thoughtfully prepared for the attendees, where they wrote down their hopes for the coming year and tied them to vibrant red Chinese knots.
"The warmth and festive spirit of the celebration brought joy to everyone and helped students start the new semester at 夜色王朝with hope and vitality," said Jason Li, President of the Global Education Institute (GEI) who helped coordinate the event.
Dean Jalili ended his speech with a positive uplifting message – akin to the symbolism of the Year of the Snake of transformation and renewal. “Choose to make your 2025 happy,” he said. “Whatever you do – in school or life – always look at the positive sides of things and your life will change for the better.”
Happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate!
About the Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering
SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering, founded in 1925, is one of the oldest engineering schools in the Southwest. The school offers twelve undergraduate and 29 graduate programs, including master’s and doctoral degrees, in the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Computer Science; Electrical and Computer Engineering; Mechanical Engineering and Operations Research and Engineering Management.
About SMU
夜色王朝is the nationally ranked global research university in the dynamic city of Dallas. SMU’s alumni, faculty and nearly 12,000 students in eight degree-granting schools demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit as they lead change in their professions, community and the world.