NUS names Assoc Prof Leong Ching as new dean of students

SINGAPORE — The National University of Singapore (NUS) has named Associate Professor Leong Ching from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) as its new dean of students, starting from January next year.

She will lead the Office of Student Affairs, which oversees all aspects of student life outside the classroom, the university’s senior deputy president and provost Ho Teck Hua said in an email to students, faculty and staff members on Monday (Aug 26).

She will be dean-designate from Sept 1.

Assoc Prof Leong is the co-director of LKYSPP’s Institute of Water Policy and has been a resident adviser at the College Green Dunearn Road Hostel since Aug 2014, NUS said.

Her research interests include water policy, policy narratives and environmental behaviour.

Earlier in her career, she was a journalist with the Singapore Press Holdings, and used to write for the Married Life column in The Straits Times and covered political news in The New Paper.

Assoc Prof Leong will replace current dean of students, Assoc Prof Peter Pang, who will return to his academic pursuits at the Department of Mathematics. 

“Among his many contributions, Peter played a part in enhancing students’ mental wellness, improving student social integration and communication engagement, and setting in place a student development framework, which is being rolled out in phases,” Prof Ho said in the email.

Assoc Prof Pang has been involved in the rollout of several safety and victim-care initiatives that were introduced after the issue of sexual harassment and voyeurism on campus was thrust into the spotlight in April.

This happened after undergraduate Monica Baey made a series of social media posts about being filmed while showering and they went viral.