Duke Kunshan University Welcomes Its Largest Class Ever

Nearly 500 students come from 38 countries, including 55 from the United States

Sara Salazar, a student from Texas, addresses the Class of 2028 during the opening convocation at Duke Kunshan University.
Sara Salazar, a student from Texas, addresses the Class of 2028 during the opening convocation at Duke Kunshan University. Sara and her sister Ally are both new students at DKU. Photo courtesy Duke Kunshan University

A sea of nearly 500 new students, all wearing white T-shirts with the Duke Kunshan University (DKU) logo, filled the campus’ indoor stadium on Aug. 16 as its Class of 2028.

“The next four years are going to be the most revealing of your life. You're going to learn more than you ever thought possible,” Executive Vice Chancellor John Quelch told the university’s largest undergraduate class to date.

Among them was Sara Salazar of Texas, who gave one of the convocation speeches. She and her sister Ally, who is joining her at DKU, have been studying Mandarin for 12 years.

“We have come from literally all corners of the world. And this is not a coincidence,” said Sara Salazar. “This was done on purpose to provide us all with a unique learning experience to take forward with us, because each one of us contributing to our own communities will make a global impact.”

Member of the Class of 2028 celebrate at convocation.

The Class of 2028 is comprised of 349 Chinese and 141 international students from 38 countries including Germany, New Zealand, Morocco, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Mongolia and several other countries across five continents. For the first time, students from the Czech Republic, Israel, Latvia and Trinidad and Tobago have joined the DKU student body.

Nearly 10,000 students from 123 countries applied for admission.

Emberleigh Pauley-Brown, one of the students featured in our series on new Devils, is another of the DKU students from the United States. She said she was won over by how welcoming everyone has been.

“Everyone has been kind and willing to help and wanting to get to know you,” Pauley-Brown said. And while she’s done some research about China, “I am excited to learn more about the Lunar New Year and traditional customs.”

DKU Chancellor Yaolin Liu also was among those speaking at the convocation. He said more than 80 percent of DKU’s undergraduate students continued their studies in graduate programs at the world's best universities.

A video recap of the Duke Kunshan opening convocation for the Class of 2028.
Video address to the DKU Class of 2028 by Alec Gallimore, Duke provost and chair of the DKU Board of Trustees.

“Thanks to the efforts of those pioneering students and the many others who stand behind them, DKU has established itself as one of the best global universities,” Liu told the crowd. “Duke Kunshan strives to prepare future global leaders who are both globally conscious and deeply rooted in their own cultures.”

In a recorded message, Duke University Provost and DKU Board of Trustees Chair Alec D. Gallimore encouraged students to take advantage of the next four years “and to continue to step outside of your comfort zones, to learn from each other, to challenge your assumptions and to always think about applying what you are learning in new and different ways.”

The DKU Class of 2028 photo.
The DKU Class of 2028 photo.