ESU Announces Spring 2018 Graduate Student Speaker

Posted by: Elizabeth Richardson on April 26, 2018, 2 Comments

Wenxiao “Alvin” Shang, a master’s degree candidate from Beijing, China, will be the student speaker for East Stroudsburg University’s spring graduate commencement ceremony on Friday, May 4, at 6:45 p.m. in Koehler Fieldhouse.

Shang earned a Bachelor of Art in English from Xi’an International University (XIAU), China, in 2013. After graduating he worked at XAIU as a program coordinator, helping to recruit foreign teachers, providing logistical support for international students and promoting study abroad programs. Shang was also an English language instructor.

He came to ESU in 2016 to further his education and fully submerge himself in American culture and deepen his understanding of “learning without borders.” He has done just that. While a student at ESU, Shang has held positions in the office of international programs updating the department’s website, acting as a translator for Chinese students, and helping Chinese professors adjust to life in the United States. He was a graduate assistant for the Student Activity Association working to ensure commuter students were engaged and involved on campus, and a coordinator on the Global Week Committee helping to plan, implement and support events during ESU’s third annual Global Week celebration. Shang also served as a coordinator for a faculty-led study abroad trip to China during the summer of 2017 acting as the liaison between 18 faculty members and students and the hosting Chinese Universities. That summer he also volunteered with the ESU Sport Science Symposium, a three-week program specifically designed for the college students and professors of sport-related majors in the United States and China to learn advanced knowledge and research from a group of professors in the fields of physical education, exercise science, athletic training, health education, and sport management.

Shang was awarded the Aysha Begum International Scholarship and the Cheng Award of International Understanding during his time at ESU. He will be awarded the Master of Education in professional and secondary education at the graduate commencement ceremony on May 4.