Jumpstarting Duke's efforts at internationalization, President Nan Keohane escaped Durham's early summer heat to spend 12 days in three Asian cities: Hong Kong, China; Taipei, Taiwan; and Tokyo, Japan.
Unlike typical University development trips that feature foundation and alumni association appearances, the inaugural trip to Asia by a Duke president focused on raising the University flag through press conferences, media appearances and meetings with political and business leaders.
Most notably, Keohane spoke before the prestigious Asia Society and participated in a daily radio talk show in Hong Kong, met with President Lee Teng-hui in Taiwan and spoke before the Foreign Correspondents' Club and the American Chamber of Commerce in Tokyo.
University development officers felt the publicity-oriented focus was necessary in light of the University's small supporter base in Asia: They estimate Duke has about 150 alumni, parents and friends in Hong Kong, 150 in Taiwan and 350 in Japan, said Assistant to the President for International Development Bob Booth, who accompanied Keohane, as did Executive Director of University Development Bob Shepard.
Keohane attributes these low numbers to three factors.
First, University efforts to recruit
Second, few Asian leaders have ties to Duke, so networking is minimal.
Finally, the University does not offer need-based financial aid to international students. This policy, however, might be changed using funds generated by the Capital Campaign, she said.
Keohane and Booth added that one of this project's major challenges is to develop relationships between the University and long-term residents.
"We just don't have a whole lot of people whose entire lives have been lived in a community and who know all of its members because they grew up there," Keohane said, "so we don't have the same kinds of legacies that other schools have."
She added that this problem is not as acute in Taiwan because of the Medical Center's close affiliations to the Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center.
Keohane credited the center's head-Dr. Andrew Huang, a Duke professor of hematology and medical oncology who completed his residency at the Medical Center in 1969-with making her tour in Taiwan particularly successful.
"[Our Medical Center affiliates] have magnificent links to the leadership of their country," she said, "so I had a chance to talk to most of the major business and political figures."
Keohane plans to build on these initial meetings by returning to Asia within the next two years, possibly also visiting South Korea, which narrowly missed inclusion in this trip.
Keohane noted that she has no current plans to visit mainland China because alumni groups there are still in their formative stages; if the University strengthens its fledgling affiliations with Chinese schools, however, this country will be added to the list.
Duke parent Steve Nichols, a 13-year resident of Hong Kong and Keohane's primary contact there, stressed the importance of the continued contact Keohane has pledged.
"In some markets, namely European markets, things tend to take a lot longer to get done. People really have to warm up to you.
"But in Asian markets, things tend to happen at a good clip," Nichols noted, explaining that Duke could therefore bolster its profile in a short amount of time.
"But relationship building is very important," he added.
Before a return to Asia, Keohane intends to travel to Mexico and Panama in early 1999. The Latin America trip's motives are similar to those of the Asia trip: Very few Duke students hail from this region. Presently, Booth estimated, the University has 80 supporters in Mexico and 40 in Panama.
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