Lily L.L. 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: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the

Singapore Management University The Singapore Management University (SMU) is a public autonomous university in Singapore. The university is the only city campus in Singapore. It ranks third in Asia as a specialist university, behind Hong Kong University of Science and Techn ...

(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 public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

(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 ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) 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. Tho ...

from NUS in 1988. She then went on to complete a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

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 Asia. ...

, 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 fo ...

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 involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...

policy. Kong has also been a member of Singapore's Public Service Commission 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 owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

' 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 publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

), 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, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic project ...

and

Hong Kong University Press Hong Kong University Press is the university press of the University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine ...

). 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, globlisation 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 decoration instituted in 1963, is awarded to any person who has rendered valuable public service to the people of Singapore, or who has distinguished themselves in the ...

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

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

* 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 National University of Singapore alumni National University of Singapore faculty 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 Year of birth missing (living people) Women deans (academic) Presidents of universities and colleges in Singapore Women heads of universities and colleges