ISP Alumni Spotlight: Zhao Zhong - Hubert H. Humphrey Pre-Academic Program (2015)

Zhao Zhong arrived at the University of Kansas in the summer of 2015 as a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow, with his work in environmental community projects in China. By this time, Zhao had already founded his own environmental NGO and been named as a “Hero for the Environment” by Time magazine in 2009. For his Humphrey Fellowship, he would spend an academic year at the University of California, Davis to network, learn, and exchange information with prominent academics in environmental sciences that he could then apply to his work back home. Before all of that, he was at the University of Kansas for 8 weeks as part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Pre-Academic Program.

The purpose of the HHH Pre-Academic Program is to help incoming Fellows adapt to U.S. academic life and culture. Participating Fellows attend customized Applied English Center courses that address doing academic research, writing, and presentations. The presentation skills naturally tend to be the most intimidating components for participants, but Zhao appreciates it now: “I learned many new public speaking skills, which I still use today…. I have given presentations all over the world, applying what I learned from the program.”

Besides the academic and professional skills that he gained during his 8 weeks at the University of Kansas, Zhao remembers the exchange of ideas, culture, and knowledge that occurred between participants of ISP’s programs, the friendships made between Kansas locals (as an environmental policy advocate, Zhao particularly remembers his conversations with local farmers), as well as the educational trip to Topeka and the Brown v. Board of Education Historic Site.

Since his Fellowship concluded in 2016, Zhao has expanded his area of interest to solely grassroot NGOs to also include the international sphere, working in global environmental governance. He has attended and participated in international environmental and climate conventions, where he advocates for policies to be created with local people in mind. He also acts as a connection between Chinese energy companies and populations potentially affected by the companies’ policies to promote sustainable and responsible investments. In 2022, Zhao was selected for the Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program out of Yale University to continue his personal and professional growth.