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 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.
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:
Additionally, OGE oversees the review process for course credit transfers from institutions and programs back to DKU.
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.
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.
Dean of Undergraduate Studies
marcia.b.france@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies
paul.stanley@duke.edu
Director of Academic Advising
marco.valadez@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Director of Global Education
christopher.van.velzer@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Director of Signature Work
benjamin.bacon@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Assistant Director of UG Studies
xueshuang.liu@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Undergraduate Program Assistant
siyu.shen@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Senior Coordinator
Academic Activities
jiawen.cai@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Academic Activities Coordinator
yongyu.zhu@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Undergraduate Studies Coordinator bingyao.hu@dukekunshan.edu.cn