Tan Tai Yong

Tan Tai Yong (Chinese: 陳大榮; pinyin: Chén Dàróng)) is a Singaporean academic and politician who serves as the President of Yale-NUS College. He is also Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies, an autonomous university-level research institute in NUS. He was a former Nominated Member of Parliament and served from 2014 to 2015.

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.

He has been a faculty member of the Department of History at NUS since 1992. He also served as the Sub-Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, NUS (1994–1999), Head of the History Department (2000–2003), Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (2001–2003), and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He served as Co-chair of the joint Yale and National University of Singapore committee in 2011.

He was appointed to the Singapore Social Sciences Research Council in 2016.

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.

• 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
• Tan Tai Yong (2005). The Garrison State: Military, Government and Society in Colonial Punjab, 1849–1947. SAGE. ISBN 978-0-7619-3336-6.
• Gyanesh Kudaisya; Tan Tai Yong (2002). The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia. 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. 
• The Wolfson College (Cambridge) Fellowship.
• Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine Fellowship.
• British Academy Visiting Fellowship.
• Overseas Commonwealth Fellowship.
• 6th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore at the Institute of Policy Studies (Singapore).

Tan Tai Yong, is a member of the under-listed bodies:

• Indian Heritage Centre Advisory Board.
• Editorial boards of Modern Asian Studies.
• Indian Review.
• Journal of Southeast Asian Studies.
• Singapore Bicentennial Advisory Panel.

At the 2009 National Day Awards, Tan was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) award and was also the recipient of Teaching Excellence Award in 1992 and 2000. He is an Honorary Chairman of the National Museum of Singapore.