T.T. Ch'en ( (Ch’en Ta-tuan 陳大端), joined the Princeton faculty as as instructor in 1959 and became a Full Professor in 1973, was instrumental in the development of the Chinese language and linguistics programs at Princeton University and at the Middlebury College Summer Language Schools.  At Middlebury, he was the founder of the Chinese Language School and served as its director for twelve years.

Born in Peking, China in 1921, Dr. Ch'en earned degrees in history from the University of Nanking and the National Taiwan University, and his Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1963.

He was the author of several historical studies on relations between China and Liu-ch'iu (Ryukyu) Islands and of two widely used textbooks for the study of Chinese language.

In 1983 he was asked to serve as a consultant for the Dodge Foundation's China Initiative, which sought to promote the teaching of Chinese in U.S. high schools.  He was the author of Chinese Primer, a textbook now published by the Harvard University Press and used in colleges and approximately 30 high schools.  After his retirement in 1987 he remained very active in the academic world and served on the Advisory Board of Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange.