SMU snags NUS don, making her first woman provost here

From September, Professor Lily Kong will be appointed as SMU’s new Provost, making her the first woman provost of a publicly funded university in Singapore. Prof Kong, who has spent 24 years at NUS and is currently its Vice-Provost of academic personnel, will also be holding the concurrent appointment of Lee Kong Chian Chair Professorship of Social Sciences in SMU. Announcing the move on May 25 at a press briefing, SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer said that Prof Kong will help to enrich SMU’s social sciences and humanities offerings. Prof Kong will be in charge of all academic aspects ranging from research, teaching and continuing education, and raised the possibility of introducing humanities into SMU undergraduates’ foundation core modules at the briefing. She said that this will allow SMU students to develop a “rich and complex understanding of the past so that they might be able to operate well in the future”. Prof Kong also intends to look into introducing new majors and strengthening the students’ ability to handle big data, as well as foster more international collaborations between SMU and overseas universities.