WSU Confucius Institute staff member wins leadership award

Jiawei (Jessica) Dong, a WSU Confucius Institute staff member from 2015-16, was awarded a prestigious Scholarship and Leadership Award on Oct. 29 by the Committee of 100 in Beijing for her accomplishments at the WSU Confucius Institute.

The Leadership Scholarship Program was launched in 2005 in partnership with over ten prominent Chinese universities to recognize and foster the global leadership potential of Chinese graduate students. The scholarship awardees are selected based on dedication to social responsibility, academic distinction and community leadership. Partnering universities include Fudan University, Jilin University, Nanjing University, Nankai University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Sichuan University, Sun Yat-Sen University, Tianjin University, Tsinghua University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, University of Science and Technology of China, Wuhan University, and Zhejiang University. Since its inception, the program has recognized nearly 300 students for their outstanding achievements.

"I was awarded this scholarship because of the experience at the WSU Confucius Institute, especially because of the experience of organizing all those events and activities such as the Chinese New Year Gala, Michigan China Quiz Bowl, CLAM and so on," said Dong. "I received the award from Dr. Frank H. Wu, the current Chair of the Committee of 100 who used to be the Dean of Law School of Wayne State University.

In 2016, the partnering universities increased from 14 to 16, scholarship recipients increased from 28 to 32 and the scholarship was raised from 10,000 RMB to 15,000 RMB (about $2,400). This is the first year that Huazhong University of Science and Technology joined the program. Dong, is the first and the only graduate student from HUST to win this prestigious award and scholarship.

"I am so grateful for the year I spent in the US and feel so lucky that I was one of (the WSU-CI) staff," said Dong.