Board of Directors

In addition to leading Griffith University’s internationalisation activities, Professor Todd is an appointed member of the Queensland Government’s International Education and Training Advisory Group (IETAG), a member of both the Universities Australia and Innovative Research Universities (IRU) International Committees, Deputy Chair of the Study Gold Coast Board, and a member of the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA), and MSquare Media Boards. She is a Director of the Foundation for Asia Japan Studies and serves as a member of the Association for Commonwealth Universities (ACU) International Steering Group.

Professor Obi is the Vice-President for International Collaboration at Keio University, Japan. Prior to this, he served as the Dean of the International Center at the university, where he was heavily involved in developing various international programs, including double-degree programs offered to both students at Keio and its partner institutions around the world. He has a Bachelor (BSc) and Master of Science (MSc) in mechanical engineering from Keio University, and a Doctor of Engineering (Dr.-Ing.) from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany.

Professor Dixon directs global engagement at the University of Auckland, along with responsibilities for alumni and development, marketing and communications, and stakeholder relations within New Zealand. She has driven a strong focus on the Asia-Pacific region and has oversight of the North Asia Centre for Asia-Pacific Excellence, hosted by the University. She leads University membership of APAIE. Professor Dixon is in the process of taking up a secondment role as Provost, Universitas 21.

Director, Northeast Center for Chinese International Education

Dr Zhang received her Ph.D. in world economy in 2006 at Jilin University, China. She is an Associate Professor at Northeast Asian Studies College, Jilin University, with research interest in Northeast Asian Regional economic cooperation, population studies of Russia and international cooperation of higher education. Dr Zhang is also Vice President and Secretary-General of Branch for Introducing Foreign Intelligence, China Association of Higher Education; Deputy Secretary General of Chinese Plus; Member of the 7th Board of Directors of China Education Association for International Exchange (CACIE); Member of Board of Directors and Deputy Secretary-General of “Double First-class” University Network, CACIE; Member of the 2nd Board of Directors of Jilin Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries; Member of Board of Directors of Academic Association for International Cultural Exchange; Executive Member of the 2nd Board of Directors, Jilin University Alumni Association.

Professor Du Peng received his post-doctoral degree at Duke University and has been teaching at Renmin University of China (RUC) since 1992. He was Deputy Director of Department of Population, Director of the Research Office, and Director of the Organization Department, RUC. He became Vice President of RUC in 2017. His main research fields are aging population, policy on aging issues, population and development. Prof Du served as Chair of Asia and Oceania Region, International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics from 2009 to 2013.

See full biography.

Prof. Wong obtained her PhD from Stanford University. She was a recipient of the US National Academy of Education Spencer Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award and is a Distinguished Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Her primary interests are the sociology of education, higher education, and comparative sociology, and much of her works relate to the role of education in the construction of modern nationalism and identity formation.

Rian Beise-Zee is a professor at the College of International Management, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan. He holds a Master’s Degree in Engineering and a Doctoral degree in Economics from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany. Prof. Beise-Zee joined APU in 2012. Currently, he is the Dean of International Cooperation and Research. Before, he was the Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Management of APU for five years. He was previously an Associate Professor at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand (2006-2012) and a research fellow at Kobe University, Japan, and City University of Hong Kong. Before his university career he was a senior researcher at the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim, Germany, for nine years (1994-2003). He has published over twenty articles in peer reviewed journals such as Research Policy, Organization Studies, Ecological Economics and Small Business Economics as well as six books in a variety of fields. He is a member of the Editorial Board of IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. His main teaching area is innovation management and marketing.

Reuben Wong joined the Global Relations Office as Academic Director in January 2019, and was appointed Associate Vice President (Global Relations) in January 2021. Reuben is an Associate Professor jointly in the College of Alice & Peter Tan (CAPT) and the Department of Political Science in the National University of Singapore.

Prior to joining academia, Reuben was First Secretary in the Singapore Embassy in Paris (1995-1998). He has written widely on the EU’s foreign policy and relations with ASEAN and China, and was appointed the first Jean Monnet Professor in Singapore (2013-2016). A former Fulbright scholar, Reuben has served on the Council of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA), and is currently a Senior Research Affiliate at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.

Professor of Information Systems (Education)

Venky Shankararaman is a Professor of Information Systems (Education) and Vice Provost (Undergraduate Matters) at Singapore Management University. He holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. His current areas of specialization include business process management and analytics, enterprise systems architecture and integration, and education pedagogy. He has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry in various capacities as a researcher, academic faculty member, IT professional and industry consultant. Venky has designed and delivered professional courses for government and industry in areas such as business process management and analytics, enterprise architecture, technical architecture, and enterprise integration. He has published over 90 papers in academic journals and conferences.

See full biography: https://sis.smu.edu.sg/faculty/profile/9637/Venky-SHANKARARAMAN

Professor Yoon received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been a faculty member in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Hanyang University since 2003. His research interests are mainly focused on energy storage and magnetic materials, and microstructure characterization using transmission electron microscopy. 

In January 2021, Professor Yoon became President of the Korean Association of Foreign Student Administrators (KAFSA).

Dr. Hikyoung Lee has been a professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at Korea University (KU) since 2002. Before joining KU, she was an assistant professor in the Department of English at Mississippi State University, USA. Dr. Lee’s main research interests are in sociolinguistics, language policy, and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Dr. Lee has held a number of administrative positions at KU, serving as the undergraduate chair and the chair of the graduate program in the Department of English Language and Literature twice, and the director for the Center for Teaching and Learning, among others. Prior to becoming Vice President for International Affairs, she served as the director of the Institute of Foreign Language Studies, which oversees foreign language education and the Korean Language Center.

SunKu Hahn is a professor at the School of Economics, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. He acquired his B.A. in Economics from Seoul National University in 1991 and his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 1998. Former positions include Associate professor at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (1998-2002), Associate Dean of College of Business & Economics at Yonsei University (2009-2013), Associate Dean of Admission’s Office at Yonsei University (2014-2015), Associate Dean of Graduate School of Economics (2018-2019) and Secretary of the Korean Economic Association (2014). He has published over twenty articles and five books.

Associate Professor Dhirathiti is now serving as Vice President for International Relations and Corporate Communication at the Office of the President and also Associate Professor in Public Policy and Public Administration at the Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Mahidol University, Thailand. She obtained a PhD degree in Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick (U.K.) and a Master’s degree in Politics of the World Economy from LSE, University of London (U.K.). Her current research interest is on co-production in public policy focusing on lifelong learning for elderly people as well as other areas of education policy. The work experience she has is much related to the harmonization and internationalization of higher education. She was the Senior Specialist at SEAMEO Regional Centre For Higher Education (2007-2009), Senior Programme Officer ASEAN University Network Secretariat (1998-2000) and also a consultant and a resource person to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the UNESCO.

Chih-Wen Kuo received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Texas at Austin and is a Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Institute of Communications Engineering of National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU), Taiwan. He has held various administrative positions in the university including the Deputy Director of Center of Creativity and Innovation, Director of the Institute of Communications Engineering, Acting Secretariat General of the Office of Secretariat, and Special Advisor to the President.

He has been the Vice President of International Affairs of NSYSU since 2012, taking charge of international student exchange program which consists of both inbound and outbound student mobility, international degree-seeking students recruitment, and Chinese Language Center. The latest effort involves the establishment of the Taiwan Education Center (TEC) in the Philippines in 2017, promoting Study in Taiwan to Filipino students and offering Mandarin Chinese classes.

Professor Kuo is also actively involved in the city development of Kaohsiung, the city where NSYSU is located at. He has been a Mayor’s Advisor from 1999 to 2016, through terms of different mayors of the city.

Dr. Sutton served from 2013-2020 both as Assistant VC and as Dean of the School of Pacific and Asian Studies at UH Manoa. From 1982-2013 he was professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, teaching ethnomusicology and directing the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. He is the author of four books and over 40 articles on music and culture in Indonesia and Korea. He also serves as UH Manoa’s Senior Staff representative for the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU).

Dugan O’Neil is SFU’s Vice-President Research and International (pro-tem). As such, O’Neil leads SFU’s strategic research initiatives and facilitates international opportunities that foster research collaborations and student exchange. His work focuses on facilitating research excellence and helping the university respond to new opportunities. He works with members of SFU’s eight faculties to ensure they have the support and resources required to conduct excellent cutting-edge research in all its forms. Building on his long-standing leadership and research experience, he works with faculty, students and staff to secure research partnerships within the community and industry.

A key element of O’Neil’s role focuses on knowledge mobilization by facilitating opportunities to transfer the results of SFU research to society. This collaborative role allows for an interplay between research and innovation to enhance social, economic and environmental wellbeing.

O’Neil’s background is as a professor of physics. His research has focused on the search for new particles and interactions at high energy particle colliders at Fermilab and CERN.  His research relies on big computers to study tiny particles. From single top quarks to Higgs bosons, his contributions have tended to focus on the “big data” problem of extraction of small signals from large backgrounds.