Tan Tai Yong

Tan earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from the National University of Singapore. He then earned a PhD in South Asian history from Cambridge University, under the supervision of Anthony Low.

Tan was a Deputy Head of the Department of History at NUS from 1998 to 1999. He also served the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences as Sub-Dean (1994-1999), Acting Head of the Department of History (2000), Head of the History Department (2001-2003), Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (2001-2003), Dean of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (2004-2008), Vice Provost of Student Life (2010-2014) overseeing student matters, University Town and the Residential Colleges, the Centre for English Language and Communication, as well as the Office of Student Affairs and the Halls of Residence.

He was the Founding Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies, and served in this position from 2008 to 2015. He served as Co-chair of the joint Yale and National University of Singapore committee in 2011.

Tan was appointed to the Singapore Social Sciences Research Council in 2016. From August 2018 to May 2019, Professor Tan was the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS)’ 6th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore.

He is a member of the National Library Board (NLB) and the National Heritage Board (NHB), where he is also Honorary Chairman of the National Museum, co-chair of the Founders’ Memorial Committee and Chair of the National Collection Advisory Panel.

Tan was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2009, and the Public Service Medal in 2020.{{Cite web |last=Auto |first=Hermes |date=2022-07-19 |title=Prof Tan Tai Yong appointed president of Singapore University of Social Sciences {{!}} The Straits Times |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/parenting-education/prof-tan-tai-yong-appointed-president-of-singapore-university-of-social-sciences |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=www.straitstimes.com |language=en}}

Tan also served as Executive Vice-President (Academic Affairs) at Yale-NUS College from 2014 to 2017, before serving as its President from 2017 to 2022.

He is currently serving as the President of Singapore University of Social Sciences since 1 January 2023.{{Cite web |title=Key Academic Leaders {{!}} SUSS |url=https://www.suss.edu.sg/about-suss/who-we-are/key-academic-leaders |access-date=2023-03-31 |website=www.suss.edu.sg}}

Tan's research interests are in the areas of Sikh diaspora, civil-military relations, social and political history of colonial Punjab, and the partition of South Asia. Lately, he has shifted his attention to Southeast Asia, and has been exploring issues of networks formation and the place of maritime cities in the region.

• The Idea of Singapore: Smallness Unconstrained, Singapore, 2019.
• Singapore: Seven Hundred Years – A History of Singapore, Singapore, 2019. City (with Kwa Chong Guan and  Derek Heng and Peter Borschberg, 2019
• A 700 Year History of Singapore. From Classical Emporium to World City (with Kwa Chong Guan and Derek Heng), National Archives Singapore, 2009.
• Creating "Greater Malaysia": Decolonization and the Politics of Merger{{cite book| author = Tai Yong Tan| title = Creating "Greater Malaysia": Decolonization and the Politics of Merger| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ue77C4zp4pcC| year = 2008| publisher = Institute of Southeast Asian Studies| isbn = 978-981-230-747-7 }}
• {{cite book| author = Tan Tai Yong| title = The Garrison State: Military, Government and Society in Colonial Punjab, 1849–1947| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xbXYDP3qnuwC| year = 2005| publisher = SAGE| isbn = 978-0-7619-3336-6}}
• {{cite book| author = Gyanesh Kudaisya|author2=Tan Tai Yong | title = The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=O5zEtBxk72wC| year = 2002| publisher = Taylor & Francis| isbn = 978-0-203-45060-4}}
• Beyond Degrees: The Making of the National University of Singapore (with Edwin Lee). Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1996.
• Singapore Khalsa Association. Singapore: Times Books International, 1988. (Second Edition, published by Marshall Cavendish, 2006)

Some of the prize and fellowship awards received by Tan Tai Yong includes:

• Moncado Prize for outstanding essay published in the Journal of Military History, 2001
• British Academy Visiting Professor, 2003 (attached to Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College London).
• Overseas Commonwealth Fellowship and Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College and Centre for South Asian Studies, Cambridge University, 1999
• Shell Medal in History, NUS, 1986
• Straits Steamship Book Prize, 1985
• 6th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore at the Institute of Policy Studies (Singapore).{{Cite web|url=http://theindependent.sg/on-yale-nus-course-cancellation-we-are-committed-to-operating-within-singapore-laws-tan-tai-yong/|title=On Yale-NUS course cancellation: "We are committed to operating within Singapore laws" – Tan Tai Yong – The Independent News|language=en-US|access-date=1 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201112247/http://theindependent.sg/on-yale-nus-course-cancellation-we-are-committed-to-operating-within-singapore-laws-tan-tai-yong/|archive-date=1 February 2020|url-status=live}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110120052220/http://www.nus.edu.sg/aboutus/management/tytan.php Homepage at NUS]
• [https://www.yale-nus.edu.sg/about/leadership/tan-tai-yong/ Yale-NUS College Profile Page]

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Category:Historians of South Asia

Category:Singaporean people of Teochew descent

Category:Yale-NUS College

Category:Academic staff of the National University of Singapore

Category:Singaporean Nominated Members of Parliament

Category:Living people

Category:National University of Singapore alumni

Category:Singaporean historians

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)