Arizona State University's Denis Simon will replace Mary Brown Bullock as executive vice chancellor of Duke Kunshan University starting August 1, Provost Sally Kornbluth and President Richard Brodhead announced Monday.
Simon served as an adviser for China-related strategic initiatives at ASU and has also held similar positions within the private sector and at other universities. His appointment comes as DKU looks forward to its second year after controversy and delays during its inception. Simon is also the latest in a string of replacements among top-level University administrators.
"I could not be more thrilled to join the amazing teams at Duke and DKU who have been working closely with Wuhan University and the city of Kunshan to build out this highly innovative academic joint venture," Simon said in a Duke News release. "I continue to be thoroughly impressed by DKU’s transformational potential in the Chinese higher education system."
Simon, who speaks and reads Chinese, has worked extensively on US-China relations, focusing especially on the role of science and technology. He received the China National Friendship Award from the Chinese government in 2006.
“Denis Simon has a lifetime of experience and expertise in China, where he has shown success both in visualizing ambitious projects and in working out their operational details,” Brodhead said in the release.
Simon's appointment concluded a search that began in February when Bullock announced her intention to retire. The search was led by Randall Kramer, deputy director of the Duke Global Health Institute and professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment.
“Denis Simon has impressive experience building substantive higher education partnerships between U.S. and Chinese universities,” Kramer said in the release.
Having dealt with several construction delays during its inaugural year, DKU administrators expect to shift their attention from campus planning to curricular development in the upcoming years, which will also see the creation of a full four-year university.
Simon is the second key administrator to join DKU since the start of 2015—in January, James Dobbins was named associate vice provost and director of the DKU Program Office.
The announcement of Simon's arrival comes during a period of high turnover among upper-echelon leaders throughout the University. Along with DKU director of the Program Office and EVC, the positions of provost, chancellor for health affairs, dean of the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, dean of the Nicholas School and dean of the School of Nursing have all been filled by new administrators since June 2014.
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