DEAN Alumni Feature: Emily Feng

Emily Feng is the Chief Education Officer at Three Guineas Academy, a feminist and socially-minded educational consulting service based in Beijing. She recently graduated with highest honors from Duke University with degrees in Public Policy and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. As well as being DEAN President, for three years she directed the Duke-UNC China Leadership Summit. Emily has worked and done research in China for the last few years, including public policy research on migrant education and migrant workers in Beijing. In part based on her research, she has taught and designed a college-level course on urbanization in China, which she taught at Duke University. In her teaching, she focuses on fostering discussion and self-reflection, as well as an awareness of broader global issues and matters of social justice.

Please elaborate on your current occupation (research interests/ ongoing projects/graduate school/etc.).

I am currently a reporting intern with The New York Times in Beijing. I also work in PR for a big multinational firm that helps other companies localize their products and services around the world. Before all this though, I helped found a feminist education group in Beijing as well. If it sounds chaotic, that's because it is, but I'm at that "figure-it-out-as-you-go-along" stage right now.

How did you become interested in East Asia*? What do you find most fascinating about studying the region?

My interest in East Asia definitely has to do with my cultural heritage. I'm Chinese American, and my parents moved from Zhejiang province in the 1980s to attend grad school in the U.S. I was always enamored with the stories of Chinese history and politics that my dad regaled me with, and my trips back to the motherland nurtured an innate love of travel and immersing myself in unfamiliar places. East Asia was a natural place to pursue those lifestyle choices because I finally fit in somewhere (I can look Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Thai, depending on where I'm traveling) and because of my Mandarin language background. When it came time to choose a major in college, I actually chose Public Policy, figuring that it was broad enough to take me anywhere in the world. I ended up graduating with an Asian and Middle Eastern Studies degree in addition to Public Policy, largely by accident. The classes in AMES were so interesting that I ended up taking ten in a row without planning to.

What was your experience with DEAN like? Are there any interesting anecdotes that you’d like to share?

A professor of Chinese history originally recommended that I join DEAN. I remember going to the first meeting and meeting the DEAN leaders then, who have long graduated, and immediately being taken in by the passion and leadership of these people. Duke has a lot of active student organizations, but DEAN felt for real; these people were going to make things happen. Over the next four years, I began directing CLS and then finally became DEAN president. DEAN always felt like family, a family of friends, and did spend quite a lot of time working together.

One of my favorite stories about DEAN is the time that President Brodhead was supposed to deliver the closing address at the 2013 CLS on a Sunday, but he had forgotten about it. One of our team members, Adam Roth, had a car, so he drove to Brodhead's house on campus and just knocked on the door. Brodhead emerged in his pajamas, realized he had forgotten his commitment, and promptly changed into a suit. We drove him in and he delivered the address. You really gotta give him credit for being able to recover so well and deliver a very eloquent address.

What do you think a student organization like DEAN can bring to dialogue on international affairs/ East Asian studies?

First, I think there's a lot of value in hearing student perspectives when it comes to international relations and East Asian studies. Commercial organizations are starting to realize that too. For example, Foreign Policy's Tea Leaf Nation got its start with student contributors and has been rolling out a great series on student perspectives on US-China relations. Students personally experience a lot of the dynamics going on in the US-China relationship - exchange students, people studying the language, still young enough to be on the ground and actually living some of the things that academics, pundits, even journalists are writing about from a more distanced position.

Second, you need some kind of platform to bring all these student perspectives together and enable better future collaborations and interactions. That's where DEAN comes in. I'm really proud of how we've been able to combine so many disciplines and modes of dialogue into one cohesive brand. Whether it's a conference, events, discussions, publications online and offline, DEAN does it, and we aim to the be the first thing people think of when it comes to highlighting student work on East Asia.

How has your Duke experience shaped your trajectory? Advice for current Duke students?

Duke has made me who I am today. I say that with absolutely no exaggeration; if I had stayed in the Northeast, where I grew up, for college, I doubtless would be a very different person. Duke gave me much more of a relaxed, entrepreneurial spirit. I am better to accept change and risk because I surrounded by such spirited people who were all pursuing very different passions at college. You also become very good at getting along with anyone you meet, regardless of background and whether you see eye to eye. As a naturally uptight person, that was really valuable. Living in the American south was also the first time I felt truly connected to the place I was living in. North Carolina is a complex, conflicted state, and there is so much to love (and hate) about it. That search for community, for the same "Duke spirit" after graduation is what partially gave me the push to move abroad to Beijing.