The best English language journalism master's program in China.
Faculty profiles
The Global Business Journalism program includes a distinguished faculty of experienced international journalists and accomplished Chinese researchers and academic practitioners. We are both diverse and inclusive. This page offers you an opportunity to get to know some of our professors a little better.
Lee Miller
Faculty video
Lee Miller, a visiting professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, is one the world's leading experts on business data. He is Editor-at-Large and Chart of the Day Columnist for Bloomberg News. He joined the company in 1991 and was one of Bloomberg's first news staff. His research interests include data mining that spots, illustrates and analyzes global economic, financial, corporate and social trends.
At Tsinghua, he teaches popular courses in Data Mining and Corporate Strategies. He earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University and a master's from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Please watch the video profile below to see learn about Professor Miller and his contributions to the Global Business Journalism program.
Wang Feng
Faculty profile
It was Christmas 2003 and a young man named Wang Feng walked toward the house of Aung San Suu Kyi. Neither he, nor Aung, nor much of Myanmar would be celebrating this year.
The reason: a military man named Than Shwe. General Shwe was head of the military junta that had been incrementally tightening control over the war-torn nation, deconstructing the rule of law that had been adopted following the British colonial exit in 1962. Allegations of human rights atrocities were plentiful, and international sanctions followed.
Age 24, Wang Feng was on his first assignment in international journalism – a trip to the war-ravaged country whose name had been changed by its military rulers. All in all, Burma (or Myanmar) was a dangerous place for a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and Peking University.
Red dusty soil from the path lined the bottom of his shoes, shots could be heard in the distance. It seemed a very long way from the leafy campuses of Berkeley and BeiDa, where this young man had graduated with distinction, being offered a direct fast track to a Ph.D. Instead Wang Feng had opted for practical, in-the-field (quite literally) journalistic experience.
"At time of graduation I was offered an eight-year Ph.D., but I wasn't sure I am made for academia," he recalled decades later. "A friend showed me books on legendary journalists, so I thought, 'Why not? Sounds interesting.'"
In Myanmar, the nation’s roads to were littered with seemingly random checkpoints. Journalistic interviews were conducted in cafés, houses, or on the move, with a high chance of agents from either side listening in. Imprisonment, open executions and chaos gave Myanmar an atmosphere of being on the edge. This was the world young Wang lived in. A world we perhaps more suitable for a veteran war correspondent, not someone whose peers might very well have hosting a pleasant night out in Beijing or San Francisco.
But this year of living dangerously set a very different career trajectory for Wang Feng. Exhilarating, electric, edgy – but not without good cause.
Zhang Li
Faculty Q&A
Zhang Li is an associate professor at the Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication. She is a supervisor in the Global Business Journalism program and has taught the Intercultural Communication course. Here are excerpts from a recent interview:
Q: What are the qualities Tsinghua has to offer to international students who wish to get a master’s degree in Global Business Journalism?
A: Students can learn knowledge and skills related to global financial news coverage and writing. At the same time, they can improve their Chinese language skills and strengthen their understanding of Tsinghua University and China.
Q: Why should an international journalism student come to China to study global journalism?
A: International students want to study in English. Tsinghua University is a good platform, and GBJ is an English program. Students who can't speak Chinese can also study this program.
Q. What is most special or unique about the Global Business Journalism program?
A：I don't know what other programs like this are in China.
Rick Dunham
Faculty profile
The Global Business Journalism’s program co-director on multimedia, how he ended up in China, and why he is excited for journalism’s future
By SIJIA LI
Global Business Journalism reporter
Rick Dunham never studied journalism at school. His younger self believed journalism is practiced, not taught. So that younger self might be surprised to learn where he ended up: as co-director of the Global Business Journalism program and a visiting professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
“I’ve discovered that opportunities come to you in life, you just have to embrace them,” he said in an interview in his office at the Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication.
As another incoming class begins its studies in the GBJ program, Dunham hopes that more students will take the opportunities life gives them, just as he did. Now a veteran journalist with a long list of accomplishments behind him – White House correspondent, Washington bureau chief, president of the National Press Club in Washington among them – he has witnessed the changing news industry over the last four decades. According to Dunham, students today need more than just the traditional reporting and writing abilities. Effective journalists today benefit from an arsenal of multimedia and data analyzing skills.
“You can train yourself in all of them, but I think there is a real benefit from being in an academic setting,” he said.
Dunham had been a career journalist from age 17. He wrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer when he was an undergraduate at University of Pennsylvania. He was a Washington correspondent for the Dallas Times Herald and Business Week. He served as the Washington bureau chief for publications like the Houston Chronicle and the Hearst Newspapers chain. When he came to Washington in 1984, it was in an era when fax machines were a novelty, Rolodexes were an essential, and the daily news came printed on ink that got your thumbs dirty. He did not expect the personal computer, and then the smartphone. He did not imagine words like “page views,” “big data,” and “interactive multimedia” entering the common journalism lexicon.
He also did not expect to come to China, fall in love with teaching, and then stay here teaching courses like Multimedia Reporting, Advanced News Writing and Data Journalism Storytelling. But when newspaper revenues declined and rounds of staff cuts began in the U.S., stress skyrocketed for senior journalists. When he saw the posting for a new co-director at Tsinghua, he decided it would be interesting for a year. He applied, and then stayed for six.
Despite the pessimistic portrait of print media in decline, Dunham is optimistic for the next generation of journalists. Even before he came to China, he had taught classes and hosted panel discussions about new forms of digital journalism. One of the draws of his job now is the chance to mentor smart young people from all over the world.
So, what’s the future like for his students in the GBJ program? According to Dunham, the field will be “definitely digital, mobile, on-demand.” Though as the hows and whens and wheres of news consumption change, he believes the core of journalism remains the same. As Dunham himself wrote in his "Multimedia Reporting" textbook, “The constant is storytelling.”
How would he write his own profile’s kicker? “If I was a young person with a lot of digital skills and a lot of storytelling skills,” he said with a smile, “I think the future looks amazing.”
Kuang Kai
Faculty tip sheet
Professor Kuang Kai is the director of international partnerships for the Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication. She works to recruit top candidates from around the world for TSJC's graduate programs both in Chinese and English.
She has been a professor in the Global Business Journalism program since her arrival at Tsinghua University in 2021, teaching a popular course in public speaking. She also is a faculty supervisor for GBJ students.
Professor Kuang earned her Ph.D. from Purdue University and has won awards for her academic research. Here, she describes five assets that make Global Business Journalism a unique English language master's program:
1. EXCELLENCE
It has been recognized by our students and recruiters as a world-class program.
2. THE CURRICULUM
We have a very innovative curriculum. We keep changing this curriculum because, in our ever-changing world, demands for journalism and business are changing.
3. THE GBJ EXPERIENCE
This program offers very valuable learning experiences. The learning experience makes it a one-plus-one-is-larger-than-two situation. The learning experience in this program is highly enriching, not just because we have top-notch faculty but because of the students.
4. THE STUDENTS
We have a very diverse group of students. They are not only very diverse culturally, they are very diverse professionally. All the diversity — the cultural diversity and professional diversity — just creates such a dynamic class environment.
5. THE GBJ NETWORK
Connections are really important. We have this large international network of GBJers – our network of GBJ graduates. That offers you connections across the world if you want to work in journalism.
Faculty Q&A
Fan Hong
Dr. Fan Hong has been a faculty member at Tsinghua University since 1988 and is one of the original professors in the Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication, which was founded in 2002. Originally from Chengdu, Professor Fan specializes in city branding, national-image study, place branding, corporate communications, and international communications.
Dr. Fan has been a professor and supervisor in the Global Business Journalism program since its creation in 2007. In a recent interview with reporter Leila Worman of the United States, she shared her insights on the benefits of the GBJ program and future job outlooks for its students.
Q: What do you hope students who take your course will gain?
A: In general, I want them to gain three skills. One is to understand introductory theories of communication: Corporate identity, branding, and crisis management all have theoretical components but aren't very deep. Also, case studies help me teach practical stuff, and can improve their [students'] critical thinking.
Q: What advice do you have for GBJ students who want to find jobs after graduating?
A: I think finding jobs in China for GBJ students is not difficult. In my experience, all of my students found good jobs, their ideal jobs. For example, some of my students anchor at CGTN or are journalists in their home country. Many students now work in the corporate communication departments at big state-owned enterprises. I think all of them found good jobs because the GBJ program is well planned, [and] many courses help them increase their journalistic skills: writing critical thinking, sensitivity to current events... Students are very well prepared.
Another reason is society trusts Tsinghua University very much. Also, GBJ students are active and take the initiative by themselves, and most of the students have a global vision. Most of the supervisors help students. And students [can] learn from working with supervisors in real field projects, which helps prepare for job interviews.
So I want to remind GBJ students to make full use of Tsinghua while still here. Learn as much as you can. If you can learn Chinese while you're here, even basic speaking Chinese and the culture, it will help you find a job. Participate in Tsinghua social practice summer practice and you will learn a lot…If you can make full use of this, you will prepare yourself better for the future.
Faculty Fun Facts
