NOVEMBER 2011 UNITED BOARD FOR CHRISTIAN HIGHER EDUCATION IN ASIA THE GIFT OF EDUCATION Ricky Cheng joined the United Board I worked in the commercial fi eld for with our current and potential donors in October 2010. As Vice President 21 years before joining The Chinese and friends the achievements and the for Development, he strengthens University of Hong Kong in 2003. signifi cant impact of our work. The the community of supporters for the That was a great opportunity for me United Board has done marvelous United Board’s mission and programs. to combine my business skills with work in Christian higher education in my personal interest in education. I Asia for nearly 90 years, but it is only established the Offi ce of Institutional known to a small community! Our Advancement to help raise funds newsletter, our website, and personal for the university. And we had great visits give us opportunities to tell our success – we were able to substantially story. This helps us expand our circle increase fi nancial support and renew of friends and hopefully increase the the commitment of alumni. much-needed resources for our work. HOW DID YOU FIRST LEARN ABOUT DOES THE UNITED BOARD NEED THE UNITED BOARD? RESOURCES? I got to know the United Board We are fortunate to have built up through its programs. While I was at an endowment over the years. But TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR Chinese University, I was invited to the need is far, far greater. By raising BACKGROUND. share my experience in fundraising at more resources from our donors, our I have always had an interest in seminars for the United Board Fellows programs can have much greater reach education. I believe that the best Program and the Asian University both in breadth and depth. We can way to help people is to give them Leaders Program. Over the years, as I welcome more colleges and universities an education, so that they can met many of these current and future into our network. We can have more choose their own path. Give them leaders, I came to admire the work promising young Asian scholars in our an education, and they will have a the United Board is doing in Christian programs. We can increase our impact, lot more options in life. And there is higher education. at a time when the needs and potential a ripple effect; education not only of higher education in Asia are growing Most of the colleges and universities changes their life, but also the lives exponentially. of their children, grandchildren and in the United Board network are many people around them. smaller than the Chinese University. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE DONORS That appeals to me, because if I can TO KNOW? help the United Board raise money, it Inside this issue: The United Board’s work focuses will have a signifi cant impact on these on building great Asian educational 1 The Gift of Education smaller institutions even with modest institutions through leadership and 2 Asian Fellows, Texas Welcome amounts of money. faculty development, and also providing much-needed resources for our 3 Lady Doak College: Nurturing WHAT IS YOUR ROLE AT THE UNITED program initiatives. I would like every Student Interest in the Environment BOARD? donor to know that their donation 3 United Board Friend: Mrs. Therese My foremost role is fundraising for the Wang (Yang Chi-ying) or bequest will go a long way to help United Board’s programs that greatly nurturing future Asian leaders with 4 Program Calendar benefi t some 80 partner institutions. 4 Did You Know? But to do that, I need to communicate continued on next page THE GIFT OF EDUCATION continued from page 1 good values and principles who will be an us in other ways as well. They can help America, I am never more than a day integral part of the global community. spread the story of the United Board away. So I look forward to meeting to their friends. They can help build our more of our donors and friends. They should also fi nd comfort in reputation and let more people know knowing that the United Board does not the good work we are doing. apply administrative charges on these Go Online gifts: 100 percent of every donation Mostly, I want a chance to get to know Go to unitedboard.org benefi ts institutions in Asia. And we will our donors! I am based in Hong Kong, for more information on ways look after these funds as carefully as the but I am often in the United States. of giving to the United Board. donors themselves! Donors can support Whether our donors are in Asia or North UNITED BOARD FELLOWS PROGRAM ASIAN FELLOWS, TEXAS WELCOME the logistics of housing, immigration Baylor community and the individual processes, banking and shopping, Fellows that they get involved in Baylor so that Fellows can hit the ground life so easily,” Dr. Bennighof notes. CIE’s running. At the same time, a faculty or weekly newsletter guides Fellows to a administration mentor stands ready to wealth of opportunities to connect with introduce them to academic life. faculty and students. CIE hosts “Popcorn and Culture” lectures to introduce “This program is an opportunity for an international students and visitors to individual to grow,” says Vice Provost faculty from different departments and for Academic Affairs and Policy James their research interests. “Fellows want to Bennighof, who selects the appropriate learn about American culture and embrace mentor for the Fellow and, on occasion, opportunities to do so,” Treva Hall of CIE United Board Fellow Zhang serves as a mentor himself. “So if I’m Hanbo enjoyed Texas says. So they might attend church services working with a Fellow, I want them to hospitality at Baylor University. or family meals, or take a trip off campus to witness as broad a range of issues as see a rodeo or to tour NASA. WHEN Baylor University possible.” With this mission in mind, representatives greet arriving United he might set up appointments for the The Fellows Program prepares mid-career Board Fellows at the airport, it’s almost Fellow to meet the dean of graduate Asian faculty and administrators for like seeing a familiar face. “What makes studies or the vice provost for research, or future leadership at their home colleges it special is that we have already been encourage them to observe interviews and universities through four-month communicating with them for months,” of prospective faculty members or placements at institutions in Asia and says Treva Hall from Baylor’s Center for watch a meeting of the faculty senate. in the United States or Australia. Since International Education (CIE). “Now we Fellows can attend large lecture classes 2002, over 110 Fellows have benefited can give them a big Texas welcome and or small seminars, within their academic from the program. It also gives faculty, introduce them to staff and faculty.” specialties or in the realm of general administrators and students at host institutions the opportunity to connect education. It’s a formula that’s proven Baylor, a private Baptist university in with educators from Asia and, in the effective for Fellows in recent years Waco, Texas, has been hosting United words of Baylor’s International Student at Baylor with interests as diverse as Board Fellows since 2005. Meticulous Advisor Alexine Burke, to rediscover theology, family medicine, literature, preparation is just one reason the that “we are alike in so many ways.” finance and ecology and from places experience has been so rewarding for such as China, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Fellows and hosts. Baylor’s “Texas Thailand and the Philippines. Go Online welcome” extends from logistical Go to unitedboard.org for arrangements, to intellectual pursuits, to Far from home, Fellows seek a sense of more information on this social activities. The Center facilitates community as well. “It’s a tribute to the program. MISSION NEW YORK OFFICE HONG KONG OFFICE The United Board for Christian 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1221 1/F, Chung Chi College Administration Building Higher Education in Asia works New York, New York 10115 The Chinese University of Hong Kong to support a Christian presence in 212.870.2600 Shatin, Hong Kong 2 www.unitedboard.org colleges and universities in Asia. [email protected] 852.3943.4215 PARTNERS UNITED BOARD FRIEND LADY DOAK COLLEGE: A SINCERE HEART: NURTURING STUDENT INTEREST IN THE MRS. THERESE WANG ENVIRONMENT (YANG CHI-YING) AT Lady Doak College, students fi nd THERESE WANG arrived an academic ecosystem that nurtures their at Tunghai University in interest in the environment. “The environment the fall of 1956, one of 200 is not only a focus for the sciences at Lady Doak members of the new school’s College,” according to Dr. Mercy Pushpalatha, Class of 1960. “It was such a the principal of this women’s college in Madurai, small campus,” she recalled, India, “it’s also part of the humanities and “but I received a big education.” Fifty years business programs.” As importantly, after graduation, the lessons from her environmental issues connect the classroom Environment and health undergraduate years at Tunghai continue to with the local community through service awareness program at guide her. “Tunghai equipped me at a human learning programs that bring students and local Lady Doak College. level, as well as intellectually. It inspired me residents together to look at common concerns. to contribute to the community, not only at the time, but throughout my life,” she said. Dr. Pushpalatha’s enthusiasm for environmental studies is understandable: prior to becoming principal in 2008, she was a chemistry professor and Tunghai’s liberal arts education taught a course on environmental chemistry.