Friends World Program of Long Island University

Faculty & Staff

Former Staff

2007-2008 Lydia Kim

Lydia Kim graduated the University of Otago in 1997 with a B.A and Dip. Grad.  Her major was Social Anthropology and she was particularly interested in the relationship between Food and Society.
After the graduation, she worked at several different places: New Zealand Embassy in Korea (1999), Yokohama Sheraton Hotel (2000-2001), Pennzoil Quaker State Korea (2003-2004), WorldLink Education (2004-2007).

In 2008, she moved to Hangzhou and is in love with the city.  She says that there are so many things to do, to see and to eat in Hangzhou!  After one and half year in Hangzhou, she decided to continue her journey in China and learn more about Chinese culture and the language.  She moved up to Beijing and will remember all the good time she had at the China center.

2007-2008 Zhou Yi 周轶

Zhou Yi was born and grew up in Hangzhou. From 2002-2006 she studied abroad in Australia, first in Brisbane and then in Sydney. After she gained a bachelor’s degree in international business from the University of Technology, Sydney, her research interest shifted to the cultural field and she received a master’s degree in Asian studies from University of Sydney. Her research focuses on popular culture and culture studies, movie/TV drama audience studies, feminism, and pan-Asia and globalization theories. Zhou Yi was the coordinator for cultural interaction events between center students and Chinese peers and also co-taught the class China in Film and Literature in the spring semester. In the summer of 2008, she moved to the US with her husband D to pursue a doctorate degree at the University of California.

Si Meng

Si Meng earned her double B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, from the Departments of Global Studies and East Asian Languages and Cultures. She worked as the China Center Extracurricular Program Coordinator between fall 2005 to spring 2006 and taught an extracurricular course, China through Arts and Film each semester, and was responsible for organizing many of our extended fieldtrips and home-stay activities.

Originally hailing from Dushu Village in Chongqing, Si Meng speaks native Sichuan dialect and Mandarin and equally fluent English. With more than six years work experience in international companies and NGOs, Si Meng brought unparalleled energy and contacts to all her activities, ensuring those taking her course or traveling with her had the maximum amount of opportunities to meet with people of interest—be they local officials or eccentrics, or a group of children she befriends at a park.

1991-1997 Miao Li

Miao Li served as the China Center Program Coordinator from December 1991 to October 1997, working with several Academic Directors. Miao Li worked together with the first Academic Director of the China Center at Zhejiang University, Maria Jasheck, and helped her coordinate the first academic program. She continued to work with several other Academic Directors before leaving the Friends World program to pursue another career during the tenure of Jessica Tudos.

Miao Li graduated from Beijing Normal University in 1987 with a Bachelor’s degree in English language. Immediately after graduation, she began teaching as an English Lecturer at Zhejiang University in the department of Foreign Languages, where she taught English to Chinese undergraduates for ten years. During the last six years of this period she also coordinated the Friends World Program and was the key program liaison between Long Island University and Zhejiang University, and she was also a Chinese language instructor and Field Advisor for many Friends World students. In 1997 Miao Li married and moved to Massachusetts to pursue a career at the MIT Media Lab as a Project Coordinator and interpreter. After receiving further education in computer training, she became a computer software testing engineer in Cambridge for two years. In 2001 she again returned to school to earn a Master’s Degree in business management, which she completed in 2003. Three months lager, she began her current work as an Administrative Assistant in the MIT Chemistry Department, where she supports three MIT faculty and a team of about thirty assistants.

Contact Information:
Address: Chemistry Department, MIT Room 6-227, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: (617) 452-2243
Work Email
Personal Email

Last updated on Aug 25, 2009

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