Lily Kong is a Singaporean

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

currently serving as

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

Singapore Management University Singapore Management University (SMU) is a publicly funded private university in Singapore. Founded in 2000, SMU is the third oldest autonomous university in the country, modelling its education after the Wharton School. The university is trip ...

(SMU). She is the first female and Singaporean academic to helm a Singapore university. Prior joining SMU, she was a faculty member at the Department of Geography of the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

(NUS) and had held various senior managerial positions at NUS.

Career

Kong graduated in 1986 from the

(NUS) with a bachelor's degree (honours) and obtained a

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

from NUS in 1988. She then went on to complete a Ph.D. in Geography at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

in 1991. A cultural geographer by training, she became a faculty member in the NUS Department of Geography in 1991 and served as the Dean of NUS's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences from 2000 to 2003. She also held other senior managerial positions in NUS, including Dean of the University Scholars Programme, Vice Provost (Education), Vice Provost (Academic Personnel) Acting Executive Vice President (Academic Affairs) of the

Yale-NUS College Yale-NUS College is a liberal arts college in Singapore. Established in 2011 as a collaboration between Yale University and the National University of Singapore, it was the first liberal arts college in Singapore and one of the first few in Asi ...

, Director of the Asia Research Institute, and Vice-President (University and Global Relations). In September 2015, Kong joined

(SMU) as Provost and Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Social Sciences. At the start of 2019, she succeeded Belgian academic

Arnoud De Meyer Arnoud De Meyer is a Belgian business academic at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business of Singapore Management University (SMU). He was previously President of SMU, Director of the Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge, and fou ...

as President of SMU, becoming the first woman and also the first Singaporean academic to helm SMU. As President of SMU, Kong has focused on enhancing the quality of the university's students and faculty, developing educational programmes, growing the impact of the university's research, and reforming the university's

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...

policy. Kong has also been a member of Singapore's

Public Service Commission Public Service Commission may refer to: * Public utilities commission ** Alabama Public Service Commission ** Public Service Commission (Indiana) ** Public Service Commission of Utah ** Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ** Public Utilities Com ...

since January 2009. In September 2020, Kong was announced as one of the 25 outstanding female leaders in the Asia-Pacific region according to

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

' list of 2020 Asia’s Power Businesswomen.

Research

Kong has served as an editor or member of international editorial advisory boards for over 15 journals, including ''Social and Cultural Geography'' and ''Dialogues in Human Geography''. She is also a series editor of ''Pacific Rim Geographies: Studies on Contemporary Culture, Environment, Cities and Development'' (

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

), Co-Chief Editor of the ''ARI-Springer Asia Series'', and Book Series Advisor for ''The Politics of Popular Culture in Asia Pacific'' (

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois System. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, thirty-three scholarly journals, and several electroni ...

and

Hong Kong University Press Hong Kong University Press (abbreviated as HKU Press) is the university press of the University of Hong Kong. It was established in 1956 and publishes more than 50 titles per year in both Chinese and English. Most works in English are on cultura ...

). She also has 19 books and monographs to her name, as well as over 150 papers in international refereed journals and chapters in books. Her research interests include religion, cultural policy and creative economy, national identity, globalisation and migration, and the social construction of nature and the environment.

Awards

Kong is a recipient of the following awards: ;Singaporean awards * NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Teaching Excellence Award * NUS Outstanding University Researcher Award * National Book Development Council of Singapore Book Award * Pingat Pentadbiran Awam (Perak) (Public Administration Medal(Silver)), 2006 *

Bintang Bakti Masyarakat The Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (English: Public Service Star) is a Singaporean orders and decorations, Singaporean decoration instituted in 1963. It is awarded to any person who has rendered valuable public service to the people of Singapore, or wh ...

(Public Service Star), 2020 ;International awards * Honorary

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

* Commonwealth Fellowship Award * Fulbright Fellowship Award * Association of American Geographers Robert Stoddard Award for Distinguished Service (Geography of Religion and Belief Systems)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kong, Lily Singaporean university and college faculty deans Singaporean women scientists 20th-century Singaporean women 20th-century Singaporean people National University of Singapore alumni Academic staff of the National University of Singapore Presidents of Singapore Management University Members of the Public Service Commission (Singapore) Alumni of University College London 20th-century geographers Cultural geographers Women geographers Recipients of the Bintang Bakti Masyarakat Singaporean people of Chinese descent Living people 1965 births Women deans (academic) Presidents of universities and colleges in Singapore Women heads of universities and colleges Recipients of the Pingat Pentadbiran Awam