DEAN Alumni

Andrew Cheon
Founder, President 2007-2009 | Trinity '09

Born in Seoul, Republic of Korea, Andrew immigrated to Canada at the age of 10. Before he left for North America, his father, who was actively engaged in the toy business at the time, brought him wonderful souvenirs from neighboring countries and showed him the benefits of learning their languages. Andrew brought his passion for East Asia to Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, where hyphenated-identities are common and opportunities for cross-cultural dialogues numerous. At Duke, he longed to bring together a group of fellow students who share an interest in the region. While spending his summer in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, studying Japanese, he met Ning Ai, the editor of Harvard Asia Pacific Review (HAPR), who provided a helpful template for what would eventually become Duke East Asia Nexus. Back on campus, Andrew's brief involvement in Duke Student Government (DSG) as an academic affairs senator provided a platform (and a much needed impetus) to bring this idea to fruition. In 2007, Andrew and a group of talented Duke students launched a student organization that maintains an online academic journal and holds various East Asia-related events on campus. Seeing Ellen Sun's prototype for the website, receiving DEAN's first printed banner, holding ad hoc meetings in Crowell, tabling at various campus events, having dinner with Mr. Keisuke Horikoshi who visited from Yale to talk about differences in history education on World War II across East Asia, and learning from a panel discussion on the financial crisis of 2007-08 with Professors Bai Gao and Edward Tower are some of Andrew's favorite memories from his tenure as DEAN's president. The best part for Andrew, however, is that he found lifelong friends among fellow DEAN members, both past and present.

Read more about Andrew here

Emily Feng
President 2014-2015 | Trinity '15

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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.

Read more about Emily here

Jiakun Jack Zhang
Editor-in-chief | Trinity '11

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Jiakun Jack Zhang is a PhD student in the Department of Political Science at UC San Diego. His dissertation investigates the impact of interstate conflict on multinational firms operating in belligerent countries as well as the political strategies that these firms adopt to influence the policies of home and host governments. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science and a certificate in East Asian studies from Duke University, where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of Duke East Asia Nexus and was a co-founder of the Duke-UNC China Leadership Summit. He currently serves as senior advisor to UC San Diego’s China Focus Blog. Prior to coming to UC San Diego, Jack worked as a China researcher for the Eurasia Group in Washington, DC. Follow him on Twitter @HanFeiTzu.

Read more about Jack here