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Overview

The Office of Undergraduate Studies oversees the Undergraduate Program at Duke Kunshan University. The Office’s mission is to ensure the highest quality of the undergraduate academic program and the students’ educational experience. The office houses the Office of Academic Advising, the Office of Global Education, and the Office of Assessment. In addition, the office supports all aspects of the undergraduate teaching program, including providing for faculty teaching needs, arranging class field trips, hosting visiting faculty and classroom speakers, and organizing class activities.

The Office of Academic Advising

The Office of Academic Advising is committed to providing a signature advising experience that promotes holistic learning and understanding of the integrated and multi-discipline curriculum and prepares the next generation of scholars and leaders. Academic advising provides undergraduates with academic strategies that reinforce a research-oriented liberal arts and sciences education inclusive of how students learn and develop in pursuit of their academic and career endeavours.

The Office of Global Education

DKU’s Office of Global Education (OGE) oversees all credit-bearing outbound study away for current DKU students, in addition to inbound non-degree visiting students studying away at DKU on semester or summer programs. DKU students will have the opportunity to study away for only one regular semester in the junior year. Four primary study away options are available to DKU students:

  • Duke University semester or summer term
  • DKU GO (Preapproved Programs)
  • DKU GO-FLEX (Petitioned Programs)
  • Exchanges

Additionally, OGE oversees the review process for course credit transfers from institutions and programs back to DKU. 

The Office of Assessment

The Office of Assessment at Duke Kunshan University (DKU) provides leadership and oversight of assessment activities for the purposes of program development and improvement, institution effectiveness, and compliance with accreditation standards. We work closely with faculty, staff, and administrators on designing and executing strategies to assess DKU highly integrated and interdisciplinary curriculum through the lens of student learning outcomes. We advocate and foster a culture of assessment, in which the university practices evidence-based and data-informed strategic planning and decision-making that leads to responsible and effective solutions and changes.

  • Leveraging expertise from the University Assessment Committee to establish clear, effective and sustainable university-wide assessment policies and processes.
  • Providing assessment services and resources to build up assessment capacity within programs to design and implement meaningful and manageable assessment.
  • Working closely with the University’s Center for Teaching and Learning to provide guidance to faculty on interpreting and applying assessment results to improve student learning.
  • Working with campus academic leadership on planning and coordinating periodic program reviews.
  • Streamlining reporting processes and coordinating assessment efforts across campus to meet internal and external assessment and accreditation needs.
  • Managing and coordinating the collection and storage of all assessment data in an online assessment management tool.

The Signature Work Office

The Signature Work office supports the two-year student journey and development of their SW projects. Duke Kunshan University graduates will have experience addressing complex problems outside the classroom as well as within, developing these skills through “Signature Work”. Signature Work encourages students to seek creative alignments between curricular pathways and to engage in experiential learning that leads to the creation of knowledge and products for scholarly, private sector and public audiences.

 

Signature Work calls for each student to identify one or more questions, problems, or issues that are of particular importance to him or herself and to society, and to investigate these through a combination of curricular and related co-curricular experiences. Students develop guided pathways, identify questions, and undertake projects early in their academic career. During the sophomore year students work with their advisors and faculty mentors to begin identifying the major questions, problems, or issues on which they would like to work, and to develop a pathway that includes three thematically linked courses drawn from students’ interdisciplinary studies, disciplinary studies or electives, one or more co-curricular or experiential activities, and two capstone courses in which a student creates a substantial scholarly or creative signature product. Experiences derived from the co-curricular experiential learning component should establish, build on, solidify, or enhance academic work aligned with the Signature Work project. These experiences should help DKU undergraduate students prepare for their next steps beyond DKU. Experiential learning activities might include, but are not limited to, internships, practica, laboratory work, creative arts-based project, entrepreneurship-based project, community-based fieldwork or other civic projects.

 

The Signature Work Project will vary across fields and disciplines, but will always include substantial scholarly writing,  reflection  on learning,  and  publicly   visible   results.   A student’s Signature Work topic will be identified by the end of the sophomore year, at the latest. In the junior and senior years,   a   student   will   create   an   e-portfolio   that   captures   both   the Signature Work Product a student has produced and a narrative explaining the larger inquiry informing their Signature Work Project. Further information is available in the Signature Work Guide.

Meet The Team

Marcia B. France, Ph.D.

Dean of Undergraduate Studies
marcia.b.france@dukekunshan.edu.cn

Paul Stanley

Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies
paul.stanley@duke.edu

Christopher Van Velzer

Director of Global Education
christopher.van.velzer@dukekunshan.edu.cn

Benjamin Lee Bacon

Director of Signature Work
benjamin.bacon@dukekunshan.edu.cn

Rebecca Liu

Assistant Director of UG Studies
xueshuang.liu@dukekunshan.edu.cn

Siyu Shen

Undergraduate Program Assistant
siyu.shen@dukekunshan.edu.cn

Jiawen Cai

Senior Coordinator Academic Activities
jiawen.cai@dukekunshan.edu.cn

Isaac Zhu

Academic Activities Coordinator
yongyu.zhu@dukekunshan.edu.cn

Headshot

Bingyao Hu

Undergraduate Studies Coordinator bingyao.hu@dukekunshan.edu.cn

Contact Us

  • Location: Academic Building (AB) 2nd Floor, Office of UG Studies
  • Contact staff members directly
  • Email: ugstudies@dukekunshan.edu.cn
  • Phone: +86-(0)512-3665-7559
  • We always welcome your feedback and suggestions on the undergraduate program on the Feedback From