Universities need senior people who can reach out to the community and help garner support of all kinds for their activities. Who better to do that job than an academic who has friendly charm, a great track record of community engagement, and a curiosity about the world that runs from science to foreign policy to card games? HKU’s Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Institutional Advancement), Professor Yang Wang, is just the man, a top mathematician whose career has taken him from China to the United States and back, and he has happily embraced each change and moment of serendipity thrust upon him along the way. As a 15-year-old, he passed his Gaokao examination with flying colours and entered the University of Science and Technology of China, bent on becoming a physicist. The discovery that he was colour blind devastated him as he was not allowed to major in physics, but the forced shift to mathematics was highly fortuitous as he was outstanding in the subject. He built his career in the US, completing his PhD at Harvard University. He became full professor at Georgia Institute of Technology and later Department Chair at Michigan State University, before returning to Asia in 2014 to join the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), where he became Department Head of Mathematics, and two years after, Dean of Science. Then another change of direction occurred when he was asked to sit on a search committee for the Vice-President for Institutional Advancement (VP[IA]). It was the first time he had learnt about the responsibilities of this position. Professor Yang Wang is HKU’s VicePresident and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Institutional Advancement), a position that is sending him out into the community to do what he excels at – bringing people together from a spectrum of fields for a common cause, in this case, advancing HKU. HKU’s Networker-in-Chief HKU Bulletin | Nov 2025 People 44 45 the University’s profile high. Communications, partnerships and recruitment are also areas where he hopes to contribute, but first, he is looking to see where new challenges and opportunities lie. One challenge is competition from other local universities for the same pool of prospects. Many potential donors have ties to multiple institutions, so the University cannot sit on its laurels and must act with a sense of urgency, he said. Another challenge is the shifting nature of philanthropy amid socioeconomic changes, including a significant influx of Chinese Mainland wealth into Hong Kong. Large legacy gifts are no longer the only option; donors may prefer different vehicles or contributions, and Professor Wang believes HKU must be proactive in cultivating a new, high-potential pool, including entrepreneurs and business owners from the Chinese Mainland. To do that, he will focus on building a team. “We need an infrastructure. It cannot just be a couple of workhorses reaching out to all these groups. I hope we can develop a comprehensive infrastructure to do this,” he said. The rewards, when they come, will accrue not only to the University, but also Professor Wang. “I like people, and it’s become a way to make a lot of friends,” he said. While his portfolio currently covers fundraising and alumni engagement, he is also meeting with the diplomatic community and others to help keep The right stuff A couple of years later, the position opened again. The committee then had difficulty finding the right person for the job, but meanwhile, Professor Wang was circulating in the university community and beyond, reaching out to people in academia, business and government to promote HKUST and to engage on a huge range of topics, from technology to cryptocurrency to societal affairs. It was obvious to see where this was going. “One day, the President called me to his office and said, I think you would be a good VP(IA), you’ve got the personality, and you socialise with different people. I suggest you apply for this position. My first reaction was a resounding ‘no’, but after listening to him about the pros and cons and where my strength might fit, I decided to give it a try,” he said. COVID-19 had made his job challenging initially, but he progressed steadily as the pandemic restrictions were gradually lifted. The qualities that made Professor Wang such a great candidate were not lost on several of his friends in HKU, who urged him to apply to be HKU’s VP(IA), a position he took up in the summer with great enthusiasm. “There is no better place to do fundraising than HKU. We are ‘the’ university in Hong Kong, not just from a historical point of view, but also in academic excellence, as reflected in international rankings,” Professor Wang said. “The University is also a paradise for anyone who works in institutional advancement because there is a large alumni base, some of whom are in very prominent positions. For years, many of them have given back to the University as our loyal and generous donors, and many more are approaching the age of giving. Indeed, the University has been able to attract multiple generous grants of hundreds of millions of dollars – something rarely seen in other local universities.” New horizons Professor Yang Wang There is no better place to do fundraising than HKU. We are ‘the’ university in Hong Kong, not just from a historical point of view, but also in academic excellence, as reflected in international rankings.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODI4MTQ=