Provost's Profile

PROFESSOR ALAN K.L. CHAN
SMU PROVOST AND KWAN IM THONG HOOD CHO TEMPLE CHAIR PROFESSOR OF INTER‑RELIGIOUS STUDIES AND HARMONY

EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Religious Studies, University of Toronto, Canada

Master of Arts (MA), University of Manitoba, Canada

Bachelor of Arts (BA), University of Winnipeg, Canada

AREA OF SPECIALISATION

Chinese Philosophy and Religion, Hermeneutics

PREVIOUS APPOINTMENTS

Prior to becoming Provost of SMU, Alan Chan was Provost and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where he also held the Chair of J.S. Lee Professor of Chinese Culture.

Professor Chan joined CUHK in 2020 from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) of Singapore, where he served as Toh Puan Mahani Idris Daim Chair Professor of Humanities, Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and from 2018, Vice-President responsible for Global Engagement, Alumni Relations and Institutional Advancement. Before joining NTU, he was Professor of Philosophy at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he also held several leadership positions, including Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and Associate Provost (Undergraduate Education). While at NUS, Professor Chan twice received the Teaching Excellence Award.

PROFESSIONAL AWARDS

Professor Chan has held visiting professorships and fellowships in North America, Asia and Greater China and served as a member of various editorial and other boards. He was a member of the Governing Board of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, member of the Board of Directors, International Confucian Association, and Director of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU). He is a member of the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Professor Chan’s research focuses on Chinese philosophy and religion, and hermeneutics. He has published widely in the areas of Confucian and Daoist philosophy, including articles on “Laozi” and “Neo-Daoism” in the award-winning Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Professor Chan was the invited speaker of the 36th Ch’ien Mu Lectures at CUHK, one of the most established lecture series in Chinese culture and history. While at NTU, he developed an online course on “Explorations in Confucian Philosophy,” which attracted over 10,000 learners on Coursera.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

1. “The Heshang Gong Companion to the Laozi,” in Dao Companion to the Philosophy of the Daodejing, edited by Xiaogan Liu. Springer, forthcoming 2025.
2. “Explaining the Laozi: Virtue, Emptiness, and the Governing Order of Things,” in Han Fei Zi Commentaries on the Laozi, edited by Eric Hutton. Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
3. Daozang Jiyao tiyao 道藏輯要．提要, 3 volumes, edited by Lai Chi-Tim. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2021. Taishang xuanyuan Daodejing jie 太上玄元道德經解, 364-69; Taishang Daode zhenjing sizi gudao jijie 太上道德真經四子古道集解, 370-73; Taishang Daode zhenjing zhangju xunsong 太上道德真經章句訓頌, 377-80; Taishang Daode zhenjing jizhu 太上道德真經集註, 381-85; Taishang Daode zhenjing jizhu shiwen 太上道德真經集註釋文, 386-87; Taishang Daode zhenjing zashuo 太上道德真經集註雜說, 388-90; Taishang Daodejing shici 太上道德經釋辭, 391-95; Taishang Daode zhenjing zhu 太上道德真經註, 396-401.
4. “Re-envisioning the Profound Order of Dao: Pei Wei’s ‘Critical Discussion on the Pride of Place of Being’,” in Dao Companion to Xuanxue, edited by David Chai. New York: Springer, 2020, 325–341.
5. “Neo-Daoism,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward Zalta, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neo-daoism/, Revised, 2019; first edition, 2009.
6. “Laozi,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward Zalta, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/laozi/, Revised, September 2018; first edition, 2001.
7. “From Uncrowned King to the Sage of Profound Greatness: Confucius and the Analects in Early Medieval China,” in Companion to Confucius, edited by Paul Goldin. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017, 249–267.