Students from Duke Kunshan’s inaugural undergraduate class were invited to share their ideas on a range of issues with board members at the annual meeting of the university’s Education Development Foundation this year.
In a special interaction session themed ‘Making an Impact to Improve the Lives of Others,’ students and directors worked together in groups on exercises designed to capture insights on key issues such as drawing social resources, internal governance and making investment policy.
Four students from the Class of 2022 ‘ Hao Yu, Zikang Jia, Haoyang Dong and Wanying He ‘ also gave presentations on their research and leaderships projects, and talked about their desire to make an impact at Duke Kunshan and beyond.
Members of the board said they were impressed by the students’ demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings as well as their strong sense of social responsibility.
Two directors also gave talks on their professional experiences.
Foundation board members work in groups with undergraduate students
Catherine Lu, president of Kingland Technology, explained how after graduating with a law degree she decided to pursue a career in private equity investment, urging students to strive to broaden their educational horizons.
Lin Ma, chairman of Beijing Jufeng Finance Technology, shared lessons learned early in her career and encouraged students ‘not to stop doing good things, no matter how insignificant they might seem.’
Developing talent lies at the core of Duke Kunshan’s mission, Chancellor Youmei Feng said in her welcome address, in which she thanked the directors for donating ‘resources, experience, energy, strategies and wisdom’ to the university.
During the meeting on June 21, Chancellor Feng was elected honorary chair of the foundation, and Helen Hu, the university’s chief financial officer, was welcomed onto the board and appointed vice chair of the investment committee.
Executive Vice Chancellor Denis Simon, Angela Lu and Catherine Lu were also re-elected to serve a second term.
In his progress report to the board, Simon said the 2018-19 academic year had been a ‘watershed moment’ for Duke Kunshan, adding that both the university and foundation will adopt more agile thinking and more effective strategies to address new challenges.
