Interviewee Background

I graduated from NUS [National University of Singapore] with a bachelor of Social Science. My major is actually economics and sociology. And I was an MAS [Monetary Authority of Singapore scholar, but I did not have to serve the Monetary Authority, so I worked as a foreign exchange trader for four and a half years in the DBS Bank. Throughout the banking career, I always knew I wanted to get back to academia because I loved teaching. And there was a Fulbright Scholarship that came in, in the 1985 [should be 1983], and I was asked if I would like to take on that scholarship.  So, you know, as all things happen, I have a sponsor who was then dean of the NUS Business School, so Professor Lee Soo Ann said, Would you like to have this scholarship, but you have to do a PhD in an American institution because it is from Fulbright.î And I applied, got into NYU [New York University], finished my PhD in the year 1989 [should be 1988], so it is from 83 till 89 [should be 1988]. And in 88, I actually had the opportunity to be a visiting professor in University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. So that was great because it allowed for me to have access to MBA [master of business administration] students while in Michigan. 

So in 89, I returned to Singapore and served my bond in NUS. I was then only interested in doing my teaching and research and no admin [administrative] position because tenure is the most important priority. So, I merely do a lot of undergraduate teaching, lots of MBA teaching, have two girls along the way, which is an important priority for someone who is like late, you know, going for my PhD and returning. But those early years were very critical because it allows for us to express what it is like to do an American-style education, get to practice it in the classroom.