University Leadership

Dr. Shu-Park Chan, Ph.D.
Founder/President Emeritus

Merging his own successful Silicon Valley educational experience with his father’s dream, Dr. Shu-Park Chan retired early in 1994 to found ITU. He previously served as a professor and Dean of the Engineering School at Santa Clara University (SCU) for 30 years. He was the first endowed and most celebrated professor at SCU. Professor Chan began his career with merely 50 students in electrical engineering. Under his direction, the department reached a height of over 1,200 students. Professor Chan has personally taught over 10,000 students graph theory and network topology, bridging the electrical engineering and computer science fields. His doctoral students include the founders of ATMEL, Cadence, Microelectronics Technologies, Oak Technology and many other corporate pillars of Silicon Valley.

Dr. Chan received his doctoral degree in electrical engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana. He was the first Asian American appointed by President Bush to sit on the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship Board.

Yau-Gene Chan, MFA
President & CEO

Yau-Gene Chan was appointed Executive Vice President to run ITU and carry forward his family’s vision. Mr. Chan took ITU from running on a deficit of $300K to generating an operating surplus of $4.2M at the end of 2008. In addition to teaching technical writing and public speaking courses at ITU, Yau-Gene Chan has taught Acuflo (a movement and alignment technique) and acting classes for fine arts Master’s programs at University of Southern California (USC) and University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Mr. Chan was part of the founding team of USC’s Integrated Media Systems Center, which applied for and received an $88 million National Science Foundation grant to become one of five national Engineering Research Centers. Mr. Chan has Hollywood film and television acting credits in Absolute Power, The Pest, Replacement Killers, Baywatch, NYPD Blue and X-Files.

He graduated with honors from University of California, Berkeley with a bachelors degree in sociology. He received his Master’s of fine arts in acting at UCLA, where he also received the Jack Nicholson Prize and the Edna Yu Han Fellowship. Mr. Chan’s first conference paper on Dual Motive Theory and its application to Chinese rule in the Warlord era of the 1920s-30s was delivered at an ITU panel presented in the Western Economic Association International’s Pacific Rim Economic Conference in Beijing, China.

Dr. Gerald A. Cory, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President (Asia)

Named “Legend of Silicon Valley” by the Association of Start Up Entrepreneurs (SVASE) in 2005, Dr. Cory has published many books, articles and scientific papers on Dual Motive Theory. Dr. Cory’s research developed the foundations of this theory, which is the tension between our early self-preserving mental wiring and our later-developed mental affections. Dr. Cory has tested the Dual Motive Theory by serving as President and CEO of Tandem Computers in Japan (now owned by Hewlett-Packard), co-founding the University of Phoenix, organizing US Festivals in San Bernardino, California and founding the Center for Behavior Ecology in San Jose, California.

Dr. Cory received Master’s and doctoral degrees in political science from Stanford University. He currently serves as a Senior Fellow of Graduate Studies and Research at California State University and mentors promising entrepreneurs.

Dr. Gregory O’Brien, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President (USA)

Gregory O’Brien received his Ph.D. and Master’s degree in social psychology from Boston University. Dr. O’Brien held the title of Distinguished President Emeritus of the 19 campus Argosy University and Argosy Education Group (2004-07). Before joining Argosy Education Group, Dr. O’Brien served as Chancellor of the University of New Orleans for over 16 years (1987-2003), where he taught psychology andpublic affairs. Dr. O’Brien also served as Interim Superintendent of New Orleans Public Schools in 1999. He was inducted into Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame in 1999 and has received the US Navy’sINTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY Meritorious Service Award.

Most recently, Dr. O’Brien served as Vice Chair and Member of the Board of Directors for the Council for Higher Education Accreditation from 2003 to 2009. Currently, Dr. O’Brien brings his experience and leadership to ITU as Dean of Advanced Graduate Studies and Research, as well as playing a major role in ITU’s Academic Quality Control (AQC) Committee and Doctoral Program Council.

Topical highlights of Dr. O’Brien’s publications and presentations include: higher education, organizational social psychology, mental health and human services, international business and management, and information and research utilization. Previous positions include Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of South Florida, Provost of the University of Michigan-Flint and Dean of the School of Social Welfare at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and Associate in Psychiatry at the Laboratory of Community Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Mikel Duffy, Ph.D. Candidate
Associate Executive Vice President

Mikel Duffy is a doctoral student at ITU, majoring in Consilience Science under Dr. Gerald Cory. Mikel manages many of ITU’s key operations, such as processing key administrative documents, building and managing various staff teams, and has also played a large role in the conceptualization and development of ITU’s centralized student database.

He earned his Bachelor’s degree in computer science with a focus in multi-media marketing from ITU and graduated Valedictorian. He has delivered three academic conference papers in the field of Dual Motive Theory and political economic development, including one as an undergraduate.

Dr. Liz Li, Ph.D.
Dean of Faculty & Chief Academic Officer

Dr. Liz Li earned her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in computer science from WuHan University. Dr. Li went on to earn her Ph.D. in Computer Science in Tokyo with a scholarship sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Education. This degree program was part of a joint collaboration between WuHan University and Keio University in Tokyo, Japan.

During her professional career, Dr. Liz Li has worked in various positions at high-tech companies such as Sony and Motorola. Beginning in 1996, Dr. Li worked at Sony as a Professional Researcher at Sony, after which, she shifted to the Senior Manager and Chief Software Architect of Strategic Office until 2004. Dr. Li was also the Chair of International Conference Technologies of Object-oriented Language and Systems, USA in 1998 and 1999. Additionally, Dr. Li taught at the International Software School of WuHan University where she held the titles of Vice-President as well as a Professor (2001 – 2005).

In 2005, Dr. Li joined Motorola Inc. as the Director of Engineering & Principal Architect. She directed her department until 2008 where she began her position as Executive VP of Marketing at McNair Technologies Corporation. During this time, Dr. Li joined ITU as a professor for the Computer Science department. At ITU, Dr. Liz became an integral part of the executive decision-making process, and currently is the Dean of Faculty & Chief Academic Officer of ITU, and key member of ITU’s Academic Quality Control