From Mar. 8-16, Guoxian Bao, Honorary Dean, Wensheng He, Dean, and Xuejun Wang, Associate Dean of LUSM visited partner universities in the US and discussed issues such as student development, research, exchange of faculty and cooperation in running schools under the background of“Double-First Class” initiative with its US partners. The visit has achieved fruitful results.

On March 8-9, the delegates visited Indiana University Bloomington, School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) which was ranked No. 1 in public affairs for several years by US News. At SPEA, the delegates were received by Michael McGuire, Executive Associate Dean, and Chemain Nanney, Director of International Programs and Student Services. The two sides touched on topics like joint training of doctoral students, developing Undergraduates Model Program of Leadership and Social Responsibility, student exchange and hosting small international conference, and agreed to sign agreements at the right time. Professor Guoxian Bao were invited to give a talk at SPEA and discussed issues such as the relationship between government performance governance theory based on public values and collective action, collaborative governance and performance governance with Lisa Amsler, Keller-Runden Professor of Public Service and other American scholars. The two sides expressed willingness to conduct collaborative research on these issues and produce high-level research results.

On March 13-14, the delegates visited the College of Business, University of Nevada, Reno, which has been cooperating with LUSM for many years and had talks with Mark Johnson, President of the university, David Zeh, Dean of the Graduate School, Greg Mosier, Dean of the College of Business and Associate Dean Elliott Parker and Kambiz Raffiee. President Johnson expressed his continuous support for the collaboration between LUSM and Reno and hoped to further expand cooperation areas. The delegation informed the college about the "Double-First Class" construction and recent plans of LUSM. Except that, the two sides discussed issues such as international MBA programs of common interest, joint training of doctoral students, cooperative scientific research, co-sponsoring academic conferences, and promoting "3+2" degree programs. During the visit, the delegation held various lunches and other forms of exchange activities with nearly 20 department heads and professors of the college, expressed positive attitude in further sharing information and promoting the sustainable development of cooperation at the faculty level and invited them to visit Lanzhou.

On March 15, the delegation visited the Hanfield School of Government, Portland State University which is an important partner in the public administration of the School and talked with Birol Yesilada, Acting Dean of the Hanfield School of Government, Phil Keisling, Director of the Public Service Center and Douglas Morgan, Director of the EMPA Center and visiting professor of LUSM, to jointly hold the 6th International Conference on Government Performance Management and Leadership, jointly promote the establishment of the International Government Performance Association, continue joint training of doctoral candidates, and promote the “2+2” undergraduate program and has formed a preliminary plan.

On March 16, Guoxian Bao and Xuejun Wang went to Seattle and met with Scott Young, Dean, and Wing Fok Associate Dean of College of Business and Economics, Western Washington University. The two sides communicated the challenges currently faced by Sino foreign cooperation in running programs in the field of supply chain management and next steps. They also exchanged opinions on specific issues such as faculty and student exchange, WWU’s MBA students studying in China, and cooperative research.

In addition, during March 10-12, the delegation participated in the American Society for Public Administration’s 2018 Annual Conference which was held in Denver, Colorado and held extensive exchanges with some of the scholars and doctoral students attending the conference and invited them to visit Lanzhou and conduct academic activities. During the time at the US, the delegation also met with several teachers and Ph.D. students of the School of Management in the United States.