Skip to main content

Duke Announces Three Senior Appointments for China Initiatives

Duke has named three academic leaders -- William C. Kirby, Mingzheng Shi and Nora Bynum -- to senior positions with responsibility for Duke's ongoing work in China and the development of Duke Kunshan University 

Duke University has named three academic leaders to senior positions with responsibility for Duke's ongoing work in China and the development of Duke Kunshan University (DKU), a new institution created by Duke, Wuhan University, and the city of Kunshan, China.

The appointments of William C. Kirby, Mingzheng Shi and Nora Bynum were announced Friday by Duke President Richard H. Brodhead and Provost Peter Lange.

Kirby, the T.M. Chang Professor of China Studies and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard University and Harvard's former dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, is one of the world’s leading scholars of modern China. He will join Duke as a senior advisor for China programs. He will continue his work at Harvard, and advise faculty and leadership on the development of Duke's engagements with China, including DKU, on a part-time basis.

Shi, the founding director of New York University in Shanghai, will serve as executive director of the DKU initiative, responsible for planning campus operations and working with Duke and its partners to develop and implement academic programs at DKU.

Bynum, who until recently served as Duke’s director of global strategy and managed the development of the three-way agreement to form DKU, has been promoted to associate vice provost for global strategy and programs and managing director for DKU and China initiatives.

"Bill Kirby is one of the foremost students of modern China and specifically, the evolution of Chinese higher education," said Brodhead. "He knows many Duke faculty and has taken a special interest in Duke's China projects. He has already been generous in sharing his wisdom, connections and expertise, and we are delighted to welcome him as our senior advisor.

"Mingzheng Shi's experience as a scholar and administrator for an American university in China is unique, and he will represent Duke's interests and values as we enter a critical phase in the evolution of DKU.

"And Nora Bynum deserves enormous credit for managing our relationship with our partners in a constructive and creative way, facilitating the progress we have made so far," Brodhead said.

Added Lange: "Bill, Nora and Mingzheng will each play important individual roles as we continue to expand opportunities for Duke students and faculty members related to China. But equally importantly, each of them has already also demonstrated a commitment to both teamwork within Duke and the important partnerships Duke is developing in China."

Kirby also will work closely with the China Faculty Council, which brings together Duke scholars with expertise and experience in China and the region to advise the provost and Academic Council on program opportunities at DKU and elsewhere in China.

"Many universities are seeking opportunities in China, but Duke is unique in its steadfast commitment to not just creating opportunities for Duke students, but also partnering with China in the transformation of its educational system," Kirby said.

Paul Haagen, professor and senior associate dean for academic affairs at Duke's School of Law, and chair of the China Faculty Council, said he is looking forward to working with Kirby. "The depth of his knowledge and the acuity of his judgment about both China and contemporary higher education are extraordinary. He will be an important asset to Duke as it plans its engagement and programs in the region," Haagen said.

Claire Conceison, professor of theater studies and Asian & Middle Eastern Studies and an associate in research at Harvard's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, has known Kirby since she was a graduate student at Harvard.

"Bill is a leading China historian with a deep understanding of Chinese politics and society, and has very strong relationships with Chinese officials and academics,"said Conceison. "He is a talented administrator, wonderful colleague and has been instrumental in establishing Harvard's academic programs in China. His expertise will be immensely valuable as Duke develops its programs in China."

Bynum and Shi will work in close collaboration with Duke's partners at Wuhan University and in Kunshan to prepare DKU to offer Duke-quality academic programs, following approval of the joint venture university by the Chinese Ministry of Education. DKU will be housed on a campus currently under construction in Kunshan.

"I am honored and delighted to take on new responsibilities related to Duke's work in China, and to welcome Bill and Mingzheng to the Duke team," said Bynum. "We have come a long way, but still have much to do. I am confident that we have assembled a strong team to achieve the goals of Duke and its partners."

Michael Merson, Duke's interim vice president and vice provost for global strategy, said Bynum's "work with our partners and government agencies in China has been absolutely essential to moving forward plans for DKU. And Mingzheng is the ideal person to serve as our senior administrator on site in Kunshan. He's built an impressive academic and administrative career, is equally at home in the U.S. and China, and has a great vision in line with our goals for bringing Duke-quality educational offerings to China."

"The formation of DKU is a tremendous development in Chinese higher education," said Shi. "I look forward to being part of this exciting endeavor."

About Nora Bynum

Bynum has worked in international higher education program development in 12 countries in the Americas, Asia and Africa for more than 15 years. Her research interests include the scholarship of teaching and learning, particularly in experiential contexts, and the development of process skills, such as critical thinking and effective communication, in undergraduates. In addition to her current role at the Office of Global Strategy and Programs, she is adjunct professor at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment, where she has taught since 1995.

Previously, Bynum was associate director for capacity development and project director of the Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP) for the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History. She has conducted fieldwork in tropical forests in Indonesia, Peru, Costa Rica and Mexico, and has continuing research interests in the seasonality and phenology of tropical canopy trees, and primate ecology and conservation.

Bynum has served as a Fulbright lecturer in Mexico, and currently serves as chair of the board of the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research (ACEER), chair of the Education Committee for the Board of Governors of the Society for Conservation Biology, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Organization for Tropical Studies. Bynum received her undergraduate degree in anthropology from Duke and a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Forestry and Environmental Studies from Yale University.

About William C. Kirby

Kirby is a historian specializing in modern and contemporary China. He previously served as dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, and currently directs Harvard's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and serves as chairman of the Harvard China Fund. 

A graduate of Dartmouth College, Kirby received master's and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard, and honorary degrees from the Free University of Berlin and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has received honorary appointments at Peking University, Nanjing University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Chongqing University, East China Normal University, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and National Chengchi University. Kirby has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Heidelberg and the Free University of Berlin. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Kirby's scholarship examines China's business, economic and political development in an international context. He has written on the evolution of modern Chinese business (state-owned and private); Chinese corporate law and company structure; the history of freedom in China; the international socialist economy of the 1950s; relations across the Taiwan Strait; and China's relations with Europe and America. His current projects include case studies of contemporary Chinese businesses and a comparative study of higher education in China, Europe and the United States.

About Mingzheng Shi

Born and raised in China, Shi earned his undergraduate degree at Peking University, his Ph.D. in Chinese History at Columbia University and a master's degree in American Studies from the University of Connecticut.  He built a successful academic career at U.S. institutions including the University of Houston and University of Hawaii, Manoa, before returning to China in 2000.

Shi has taught extensively in the areas of Chinese history and culture and urban studies at NYU's campuses in Shanghai and Abu Dhabi and at the Council on International Educational Exchange Study Center in Shanghai. He held senior management and program administration roles with the Council on International Educational Exchange and NYU in Shanghai.

Shi also has served as a research fellow with the National Program for Advanced Study and Research in China, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

About Duke and China

More Duke undergraduate and graduate students hail from China than any other country outside of the United States. Duke's engagements in China include study abroad and civic engagement programs for Duke undergraduates, extensive student and faculty research, and degree and continuing education programs from many Duke schools and institutes.