A former top scorer in Hong Kong’s public examinations has been named the 18th president of Northwestern University, becoming the first Asian American to lead the prestigious institution in 175 years.
Mung Chiang, who moved to Hong Kong from Tianjin at the age of 11 and attended Queen’s College before pursuing higher education at Stanford University in the United States, will take the helm from Michael Schill at the Illinois-based university on July 1.
He achieved top scores in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination in 1995, earning 10 straight As, and was named the South China Morning Post’s Student Linguist of the Year the following year.
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In an interview with the SCMP after receiving a student award in 1996, Chiang said he could barely speak Cantonese and knew very little English when he first arrived in the city. He attributed his success to hard work and enthusiasm, and hailed the support of his parents and teachers as “real inspiration”.
“I am honoured and thrilled to be Northwestern’s next president,” Chiang said in a statement on Monday (US time).
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“Now is the moment to protect and advance the freedom to seek truth, as is stated in our motto and featured in our University seal: ‘Whatsoever things are true’. Now is again the time to take a Northwestern direction and look to our future.”
The Trump administration froze US$790 million in federal funding for Northwestern last April amid congressional probes into the school’s handling of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and Gaza anti-war protests.