On the afternoon of July 11, 2026, a warm and heartfelt atmosphere filled Meeting Room 1615 of Guanyun Building on the Chengguan Campus of Lanzhou University. Sixteen alumni from the Class of 2012 Environmental Engineering program traveled from afar to revisit their alma mater. Professor Guan Qingyu, Associate Dean of the School and Head of the Department of Environmental Engineering, together with seven faculty representatives—Professors Zhang Mingquan, Zeng Zhengzhong, Zhang Youxian, Tao Yan, Hou Zongdong, and Cheng Xiuwen—attended the event. They gathered joyfully with the returning alumni for a teacher-student exchange symposium commemorating the tenth anniversary of their graduation. Seated together, they reminisced about their student years, discussed developments in the environmental protection industry, and explored new ideas for disciplinary advancement. Amid the joy of reunion, they also offered their sincere congratulations in advance for the School's upcoming 80th anniversary later this year.
The symposium opened with a class memory video, where old photographs and clips of campus life instantly awakened fond memories of youth for all teachers and students. This was followed by lighthearted and warm interactive games, during which alumni freely shared amusing classroom anecdotes, dormitory life stories, and internship experiences. Each alumnus took turns recounting their professional journeys and life reflections over the past decade: some had dedicated themselves to ecological and environmental research institutes, some had taken up front-line administrative roles in ecological and environmental protection, some had joined environmental enterprises in R&D or pursued doctoral degrees overseas, and several had become educators at universities. After ten years of trials and growth, these once-youthful students had matured into pillars of the environmental protection field. Laughter and warm exchanges filled the room, carrying the deep emotion of a long-awaited reunion.
To provide the returning alumni with a comprehensive understanding of the School's recent developments, Prof. Guan Qingyu delivered a special presentation titled "Achievements in the Construction of Environmental Science and Engineering at Lanzhou University". He traced the thirty-year development trajectory of the Environmental Science and Engineering discipline, systematically presenting recent advances in faculty staffing, research platforms, talent cultivation, and scientific output. He also outlined the discipline's key contributions to the national ecological civilization initiative and detailed new measures in program upgrading, industry-academia-research collaboration, and student internships and employment. The alumni listened with great attention, beaming with pride at the remarkable progress of their alma mater and its disciplines, and expressing admiration for the University's continuously strengthening educational capacity.
The teacher-student exchange session was the core agenda of the event. Each of the esteemed professors took turns speaking, recalling memorable moments from classroom teaching and internship guidance in years past. They also offered heartfelt advice for the alumni's career growth and long-term development, drawing on current trends in the ecological and environmental protection industry, encouraging everyone to remain true to their original aspiration of environmental stewardship and to fulfill the mission of ecological civilization in their respective posts. Subsequently, the alumni actively engaged in discussion, sharing their firsthand experiences and practical challenges from the front lines of the environmental industry. They offered constructive suggestions on professional talent cultivation, practical internship systems, university-enterprise cooperation, and alumni liaison mechanisms, providing numerous practical and feasible ideas for the School's disciplinary advancement. The open and in-depth exchanges between teachers and students fostered consensus through intellectual dialogue, further strengthening the bond between the alumni and the School.
After the discussion, all returning alumni came to the stage one by one to present small gifts to the attending faculty members, expressing their gratitude for the four years of nurturing they had received. To commemorate the School's 80th anniversary, the School presented each returning alumnus with a newly compiled School Chronicle. This volume, carrying the 80-year legacy of the School, chronicles the endeavors of generations of scholars in the field of ecological and environmental protection, leaving the alumni with a lasting mark of their identity as members of the Lanzhou University community.
Following the gift-giving ceremony, all teachers and students gathered in the lobby on the 14th floor of Guanyun Building for a group photo, capturing this precious reunion after a decade apart.
This 10th reunion symposium for the Class of 2012 Environmental Engineering graduates is a signature alumni engagement activity organized during the School's preparatory period for its 80th anniversary. Alumni are the School's most valuable resource. This decade reunion built a warm platform for teachers and students to reconnect and for classmates to renew their friendships, while also opening a two-way communication channel between front-line industry practice and on-campus talent cultivation. Looking ahead, the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences will continue to improve its regularized alumni liaison mechanisms, systematically organize various alumni exchange activities, fully leverage alumni resources across regions, deepen the industry-academia-research collaborative education model, and consolidate the collective strength of faculty, students, and alumni. Together, they will drive high-quality and innovative development of the environmental disciplines on the new journey of ecological civilization construction.
