Updated Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Zhu's Harvard Experience May Prove Valuable
First HGSE Alumna, Doctoral Student in Recent Memory to Become SGA President
By Andrew K. Mandel

Inevitably, students end up wanting to kiss Cheng Zhu.

Zhu, the perpetually smiling, recently elected president of the Student Government Association (SGA), credits the intricacies of the Chinese language with this reaction.  As an instructor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Zhu has had to teach her students the subtle difference between the words “kiss” and “ask.”  (A slight shift in the sound “maah,” and you may end up calling someone’s mother a horse.)

But Zhu is so attuned to the importance of communication that she might just earn genuine student affection by year’s end.

Uniquely qualified for her new leadership role, the Beijing native and Cronkhite Graduate Center resident has been around the Crimson block: Zhu received her masters degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) in 2002 at the age of 22, immediately after which she became a member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences when she landed the post of Instructor of Chinese.

Now, as a second-year doctoral student in Human Development and Psychology, Zhu is poised to buck the trend of student leaders who gain an awareness of critical campus issues just soon enough to graduate and leave Cambridge.  The Office of Student Affairs cannot remember the last time a doctoral student served as the SGA president.

Zhu believes being an alumna of the Arts in Education program gives her a strong perspective on how HGSE can improve.

“I only came to realize the problems once I was on the outside,” said Zhu, noting that she is heartened by news that HGSE is considering a two-year masters program.  The one-year program is simply not enough, she said.

Diversity is also a strong plank in Zhu’s platform, just as it has been in her academic life. Interested in being a “cultural ambassador between the East and the West,” Zhu has always been intrigued by Western behavior but has concluded that “the differences are superficial…we all tend to think in very similar ways.” 

Still, cross-cultural understanding is critical to the success of HGSE, Zhu asserts, noting that lessons abound when studying international education.  She points to the “testing culture” in China, a tradition that she says “puts a lot of faith in student scores.” 

The fierce competition for college admission, buffeted by a generation of parents who were withheld formal education during the Cultural Revolution, has reared its head in the form of “depression, anxiety, anger, suicide and other mental problems,” Zhu reflected.

The history in China is a cautionary tale to an American system hitched to the wagon of the No Child Left Behind Act and high-stakes testing.

“I really hope people do not repeat that history here,” Zhu said.

The only child of a government official and a medical doctor, Zhu is familiar with the pressure.  With six pairs of eyes on her – both sets of grandparents, plus her parents – “I’m the only hope of the family,” she acknowledged. 

Zhu has jumped through hoops successfully – first at what has been called the “Harvard of China,” Beijing University, and then at Harvard itself.  When she graduated with her masters in 2002, a newspaper in China printed a large color picture of Zhu in her Commencement gown with two deans by her side.

She now says she’s ready to take on the next rung of leadership.  As SGA president, she will resume the legacy of her predecessor, Minnie Quach, by working to ensure that student voices are heard on HGSE’s move to Allston and lobbying for increased faculty diversity. 

But there are new issues that have cropped up: a striking lack of diversity among students this year (including only two new African-American doctoral students), and doctoral students disoriented by HGSE’s reorganization.

 “At the beginning of the fall semester, quite a few doctoral students did not know where to check their mailboxes and whom to ask questions as there are no administrators for the three academic areas any more,” Zhu noted.  “Some students were confused about whether they have fulfilled course requirements and have met certain academic milestones.”

It is an open question as to the potential impact that student government can make on the administration, with members of last year’s SGA having expressed occasional frustration about their relationship with HGSE Dean Ellen Condliffe Lagemann.  

Zhu says previous SGAs have often advocated certain positions before “having a comprehensive view of the entire picture.”  Her approach will involve taking time to build a team and research issues thoroughly before acting, which she hopes will gain the SGA credibility with both the student body and the administration.

But Zhu, who is also the president of the Chinese Student Association, says she’s also aware that the clock is ticking.

“I’m accepting many torches,” she says.  “I hope I don’t burn myself.”

Related Story:
Cheng Zhu Named SGA President

Andrew K. Mandel, an Ed.M. candidate in Technology in Education, is a member of the Appian Board of Editors.