On May 25, SMU announced the appointment of Professor Lily Kong as its new Provost beginning in September. Prof Kong is currently the Vice-Provost of academic personnel at NUS, where she has worked for the last 24 years. SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer said that Prof Kong, whose research interests and training include religion, cultural policy, and heritage and conservation, provides a “nice complement” to the University's management focus, and that SMU is hoping to beef up its social sciences discipline by including more humanities courses. Prof Kong hopes to tie the two areas of business and management “in fundamental ways that allow the students and faculty to draw from interdisciplinary perspectives”. Meanwhile, Professor Rajendra Srivastava, whom Prof Kong will replace, will continue to serve as the Senior Vice-President of SMU's International Office.