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Archive of Reflections

Chang-Lin Tien: Anecdotes

Richard Atkinson | John F. Cummins | C.D. "Dan" Mote Jr.

"This was the dinner before the Big Game, which was being held at Berkeley at the chancellor’s house. Gerhard Casper, the president of Stanford, got up and he said something like, 'Here are two of the greatest universities in the world, Stanford and Berkeley, and we're all very proud of those two great universities. But where else in the world could these two great universities be led by two individuals who talk funny?'"

Richard Atkinson
President, 1995-2003
University of California

"His sleep patterns were astounding. He could get by on very little sleep. But he had an ability to sleep kind of on demand. Whenever he had an opportunity, he could fall asleep.

There was an event at the Greek Theatre. It was a big fundraiser. It was one of the earliest things we did, and all of the best restaurants in the Bay Area came and prepared all the food. And then following this dinner, there was all this entertainment, really good. There was the Berkeley Symphony, and Bobby McFerrin, and they were using the Greek Theatre as a place to do this. We went together, my wife and Di-Hwa and Chang-Lin. And right at 8 o'clock -- I’ll never forget this -- right at 8 o'clock, we had the dinner, we're sitting there, and the first part of the performance was the Berkeley Symphony. They come out, they sit down. Before they can play one note, it starts raining. The timing could not have been worse. And so the event is delayed. I’d say it was probably an hour before they got started because then they had to improvise. They had to create a kind-of tent. But for that interim period, he was sitting right in front of me with Di-Hwa. She was holding the umbrella. He was sound asleep in the rain. I said, 'Now this is amazing, this is really astounding.' And he could do it.

He was kind of well known for this. He'd work here until 12, 1 o'clock in the morning, then he'd go over and he'd meet with his students in the Ph.D. program or post-docs, whatever. If he had a trip to Washington that was coming up in the morning, he'd work all night, get on the plane, and fall asleep on the plane, and he’d be fine. And I traveled with him from time to time, and it was astounding to me. I never saw him tired. He was always meticulous in his dress, always shirts perfect, white shirts perfectly ironed, starched, perfect tie, everything. It was just amazing to see that.

And again, this was all planned. This wasn't any, 'I like staying up late’ or anything. It was all efficient use of his time. For example he flew frequently to China and when he returned, I remember one trip in particular, it was this incredible trip where he went I think to Beijing on a Sunday, to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on a Tuesday, flew to Princeton on Thursday because he was on the Board of Trustees there, flew to Washington Friday night, had meetings Saturday, and came back here on Sunday. And in this there was some part of this trip where he flew into the Bay Area at 9 o'clock at night, Di-Hwa picked him up at the airport, brought him back to the office so he could go through the paperwork on his desk, got back in the car, drove to the airport, got on a plane. I’ve never ever seen anything like it. As I said, you never would see any indication that he was fatigued.

He had a habit, a practice of having a clean desk at the end of everyday. I mean, his desk wouldn't look like mine. He would have whatever he was working on and it would be done. At the end of everyday the out box would be completely done. All phone calls returned, all correspondence read, there'd be elaborate notes on it, etc. He only failed once. And I gave him a hard time for that. It was astounding. It was absolutely astounding to me that anybody could have that much energy, focus, discipline. He told me, for example, that when he got up in the morning –- this was monastic -– he got up in the morning and he would review his calendar for the day and he'd think about it in the context of what his priorities were, overall goals, objectives. Before he went to bed at night, he'd review the day's calendar and think about whether those meetings were necessary in order to meet those goals, objectives. It was astounding, just astounding, just an amazing guy."

John F. Cummins
Associate Chancellor - Chief of Staff
University of California, Berkeley

"In 1991, the Golden Bear football team went to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, to play Clemson. I was asked to introduce Chang-Lin at a banquet for hundreds of avid fans the night before the game. Not having been to one of these events before, I attended a coach's luncheon that day to learn how to introduce him properly. At the luncheon the players of both teams were introduced something like this: 'Right tackle, Jim Jones, height 6'7", weight 315 pounds, bench press 425 pounds. Right guard, Al Philips, height 6'8", weight 305 pounds, bench press 450 pounds,' and so on. So that night I introduced him like this: 'Chancellor, Chang-Lin Tien, height 5'5", weight 145 pounds, bench press--the Berkeley campus and the city of Berkeley to boot!' Everyone roared. And when he took the microphone his first words were: 'I'm 5'6"!' Once again setting me straight."

C.D. "Dan" Mote Jr.
President
University of Maryland, College Park

Photo of Chang-Lin Tien by John Blaustein, courtesy UC Berkeley

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