Fulbright University Vietnam announced the expansion of its Board of Trustees by adding two members who will bring a wealth of experience to the university.
The additions to the board include H. Kim Bottomly. From 2007 through June 2016, Dr. Bottomly served as the 13th president of Wellesley College, a prestigious private liberal arts college for women located near Boston, Massachusetts.
During her time at Wellesley, Bottomly is credited with launching many important new initiatives, including creating the Madeleine Korbel Albright Center for Global Affairs, laying the foundation for an innovative model for career education rooted in the liberal arts and sciences, undertaking an ambitious renovation of the college’s historic campus, and formalizing a three-way partnership with the Olin College of Engineering and Babson College.
A renowned immunobiologist, Bottomly was a professor at Yale University for many years before assuming the presidency of Wellesley, and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the National Academy of Inventors.
“I am delighted to join the Fulbright University Vietnam board,” said Dr. Bottomly. “Among the many aspects of the Fulbright initiative that I find exciting is the focus on pedagogical and technological innovation.
There are many opportunities for a start-up university to adapt and learn from the changes that are remaking the higher education landscape. I am very much looking forward to working with my fellow trustees, with President Thuy, and with the entire team to create a university that will prepare Vietnamese young people to make a difference in their country and in the world.”
Professor Edward Miller of Dartmouth College has also joined the Fulbright board. Professor Miller is a leading historian of the Vietnam War. He first travelled to Vietnam in 1995 and has lived, worked, taught, and conducted research there on many occasions since then.
Professor Miller is the author of Misalliance (Harvard University Press, 2013), a history of the rise and fall of the U.S. alliance with South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem.
He is also the founding director of The Dartmouth Vietnam Project, an oral history and experiential learning program for Dartmouth undergraduates. He has worked on numerous public history projects in both the United States and Vietnam.
“As a former Fulbright Scholar in Vietnam, the chance to serve as a founding trustee of the first international university to bear the Fulbright name is especially meaningful,” Professor Miller said.
“As a historian of both the United States and Vietnam, I am privileged to contribute to the building of a university that I believe will strengthen the ties of memory, culture, and cooperation between our two countries.”
Ms. Dam Bich Thuy, Fulbright’s founding president, said, “Fulbright is extraordinarily fortunate to welcome Dr. Bottomly and Professor Miller to the board.
They are joining us at a pivotal moment in the university’s development and there are so many ways they will be able to contribute, from advising on the expansion of our leadership team and faculty, to the design of our flagship undergraduate program in engineering and the liberal arts and sciences which we will launch in 2018.”
