In his early teens,\u00a0WeiDong\u00a0Zhu\u2019s academic prowess surpassed that of\u00a0even\u00a0his parents.<\/p>\n
While they stressed the importance of education, neither Dr. Zhu\u2019s father, an accountant, nor his mother,\u00a0a custodian, graduated from college.<\/p>\n
He was learning at an advanced level, though, and approached 10th grade at a crossroads\u00a0built into China\u2019s education system: whether to concentrate his studies in science or the humanities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a moment when my chemistry teacher taught us how to look at chemical reactions,\u201d Dr. Zhu recalled. \u201cHe was teaching at a\u00a0university level when we were in high\u00a0school. And that was the moment that really captured me. I wanted to do science.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having\u00a0benefited\u00a0from\u00a0numerous\u00a0such examples in which someone\u2019s guidance and kindness influenced him in his own career, Dr. Zhu carries those experiences with him as he\u00a0approaches his duties as The University of Scranton\u2019s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.<\/p>\n
Dr. Zhu, Ph.D., assumed his position in July, following\u00a019\u00a0years at Saint Peter\u2019s University, a Jesuit sister institution in New Jersey, where he’d held numerous academic and administrative roles.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the years, a lot of people really helped me and a lot of people guided me\u00a0in\u00a0the right direction,\u201d said Dr. Zhu, who immigrated to the U.S. at age 25. \u201cI feel that I really owe it to them to pay it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
While at St. Peter\u2019s, Dr. Zhu\u2019s roles included professor of physics;\u00a0co-director\u00a0(and later director)\u00a0of the Center for\u00a0Microplasma\u00a0Science and Technology; chair of the Department of Applied Science and Technology; vice president and (briefly) president\u00a0of the faculty senate; dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; and, most recently, interim vice president for academic affairs.<\/p>\n
Dr. Zhu used his influence to advocate for faculty. He shaped policies and restructured academic\u00a0programs. He helped infuse Ignatian values into faculty development, core\u00a0revision\u00a0and high-impact practices.<\/p>\n
When necessary, though, Dr. Zhu also set aside major tasks to settle\u00a0small things;\u00a0like, for instance,\u00a0when a faculty member struggled to use a new software system and was initially seen as resistant to change. He then personally met with the faculty\u00a0member\u00a0and walked them through the process, resolving the issue and helping the faculty member become comfortable using the system.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my first year as interim dean (2018-2019), I came to the realization that, as an administrator, I can make a completely different impact,\u201d Dr. Zhu said. \u201cYes, there are struggles as an administrator.\u00a0I have to deal with difficult things involving faculty or staff.\u00a0But there are parts of this job that I really enjoy, that I can help people in\u00a0a different way. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of it distills down to communication, to clear\u00a0policy-making, to the willingness to train people, to go to their space, to meet them where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
A physicist by training, Dr. Zhu said he enjoys a challenge and examining problems from all angles \u2014 an approach he brings to his work as an administrator.<\/p>\n
While he is a relative newcomer to Scranton, Dr. Zhu, who was an accomplished youth gymnast,\u00a0learned how to ski at\u00a0nearby\u00a0Camelback Resort in the Poconos. He\u00a0has made\u00a0it\u00a0a point to explore campus daily, often scheduling meetings outside of his home base at St. Thomas Hall, and added that Scranton\u2019s Jesuit mission was a major factor in his interest in working at the University.<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard a lot about Scranton from colleagues at St. Peter\u2019s and they speak very highly about Scranton,\u201d Dr. Zhu said. \u201cThe campus also made a very good impression when I was doing my interview toward the end of February.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his early teens,\u00a0WeiDong\u00a0Zhu\u2019s academic prowess surpassed that of\u00a0even\u00a0his parents. While they stressed the importance of education, neither…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[8919,4784,7120,62270,115043,178,180,179,13275,1822,274,62272],"class_list":["post-273505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-academics","tag-administration","tag-faculty","tag-provost","tag-saint-peters","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-st-peters","tag-staff","tag-the-university-of-scranton","tag-weidong-zhu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}