Nation & World

Harvard in Southeast Asia

4 min read

Faust visits Singapore and Vietnam, meeting with leaders, alumni, and students

Harvard President Drew Faust traveled to Southeast Asia in March, stopping in Singapore and Vietnam to meet with national education leaders, with Harvard alumni, and with schoolchildren, to whom she spoke about the opportunities an education can bring. Faust also spoke about the aftermath of war in a speech at the University of the Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City.

Harvard President Drew Faust meets with Asia Club leaders at a reception before the Your Harvard Singapore program.
Geraldine Acuna-Sunshine ’92, M.P.P. ’96 (from left), moderates a discussion between Harvard Professor of Genetics and Complex Diseases Tobias Walther and Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies Sunil Amrith during the Your Harvard Singapore program.
A crowd of approximately 400 alumni attend the Your Harvard Singapore event.
Drew Faust (from left) greets Harvard Divinity School Dean David Hempton and Harvard T.H. Chan School for Public Health Dean Michelle Williams following the Your Harvard Singapore program.
Visitors stroll along walkways that showcase plants and diverse vegetation from tropical highlands in the Cloud Forest of Gardens by the Bay in Singapore.
Orchids flourish at the Botanical Gardens in Singapore.
Drew Faust meets with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his office. Loong completed a master’s degree at Harvard Kennedy School in 1980.
At the Ap Bac battlefield in Cai Lay, Tien Giang Province, Vietnam, Drew Faust (left) and Ben Wilkinson ’98 lay a wreath at the public commemoration site.
The Harvard delegation meets with Vietnam veterans including Le Cong Huan who accompanied the group on a tour of a museum in Ap Bac.
Students at the Ap Bac Secondary School, Tan An Hamlet in Cai Lay, line up to meet Drew Faust.
Drew Faust (from left) asks Trần Thị Ngọc Hân a question while teacher Vo Thi Mong Trinh looks on. Ben Wilkinson ’98 helps translate.
Students wear their new Harvard hats, a gift from Drew Faust. Faust and teacher Vo Thi Mong Trinh (left) stand in the background.
Drew Faust delivers a public address at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) in Ho Chi Minh City.
Audience members listen to Drew Faust, a historian of the American Civil War, speak at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, offering her audience an at-times personal view of the Vietnam War and how it affected her and others of her generation.
Ben Wilkinson ’98 (from left), Drew Faust, and Professor Vo Van Sen, the rector at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, take questions at a press conference.
Reporters ask questions following Drew Faust’s university speech where she closed her remarks by emphasizing the important role that historians can play in helping individuals and society negotiate a war’s aftermath.
During a meeting of the Fulbright University Vietnam community in Ho Chi Minh City, Drew Faust (from left) speaks to President of FUV Dam Bich Thuy, Ambassador Ted Osius ’84, Consul General Mary Tarnowka, and Harvard Ash Center Senior Adviser for Mainland Southeast Asia Tommy Vallely.
In the Hanoi studio of veteran and artist Pham Luc in Hanoi, Dao Thi Lien (pictured) arranges his works for display during Drew Faust’s visit.
Drew Faust visits the Vietnamese Women’s Museum in Hanoi.
Drew Faust (left) visits Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Hanoi where they discuss Harvard’s role in the development of the Fulbright University of Vietnam.
Writer Bao Ninh meets with Drew Faust near the Vietnam Military History Museum in Hanoi.
Visitors travel from around the world to visit the Vietnam Military History Museum in Hanoi.