Skip to main content
NewSchool of Architecture & Design

Want to see our NEW campus? Spring 2025 Open House is on Thur, April 10 | 5-8 p.m.

Chiao-Ling Hsu

Chiao-Ling Hsu

About Chiao-Ling

Chiao-ling Hsu stands as a paragon of innovation and leadership in the realm of higher education. Her distinguished career spans over two decades, marked by significant contributions in business education, technology integration, and institutional management. Ms. Hsu’s journey in the educational sector is a testament to her commitment to excellence, adaptability to changing landscapes, and a deep-seated belief in the transformative power of education.

Born and raised in an environment that valued education profoundly, Ms. Hsu embarked on her academic journey with a zeal to explore the interplay between technology and education. This exploration led her to New York University (NYU) from 1992 to 1995, where she pursued studies in Business Education in Technology. Her time at NYU coincided with the nascent stages of technological advancement in education, providing her with foundational insights that would later shape her professional ethos.

Upon returning to Taipei, Taiwan, she joined the Taiwan Culture University as an Adjunct Professor in 1997. Her role quickly evolved as she took on the mantle of spearheading the university’s e-learning program in 1999. Her efforts in this domain were pioneering, culminating in the program’s accreditation by the Ministry of Education and setting a benchmark for online education in Taiwan.

Ms. Hsu’s leadership trajectory saw a significant leap in 2005 when she was appointed as the COO of the school’s continuing education sector and later as the CEO of the school foundation. Under her stewardship, the Continuing Education of the Chinese Culture University achieved unparalleled success, ranking as the top institution in the nation for ten consecutive years. Her innovative approach and strategic leadership during the 2008 global financial crisis further fortified the institution’s position, offering retraining programs that addressed the pressing needs of the time.

In 2015, Ms. Hsu embraced a new challenge by joining Ambow in Beijing, a move that marked her foray into the corporate-educational sector. This transition was a testament to her versatile leadership capabilities and her ability to navigate diverse educational landscapes. Her tenure at Ambow was a period of significant learning and growth, enriching her understanding of the business aspects of education.

Ms. Hsu’s most recent role as the Interim and eventual President of the NewSchool of Architecture & Design in 2022-23 showcases her ability to lead. Stepping in during a time of need, she successfully stabilized the institution, demonstrating her expertise in institutional management and her capacity to handle complex challenges with grace and effectiveness.

Throughout her illustrious career, Chiao-ling has been a proponent of innovative educational practices, a champion of technology in learning, and a leader who believes in the power of education to transform lives. Her journey is not just a story of personal success but a narrative that inspires educational leaders worldwide. As she continues to make strides in the field, Chiao-ling Hsu remains a beacon of inspiration, a symbol of resilience, and a testament to the enduring impact of visionary leadership in education.

Denise Homme, Ph.D.

Education

  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of Minnesota
  • Master of Arts, University of Minnesota
  • Bachelor of Arts in Design, North Dakota State University

About Denise

I have practiced interior design professionally since 1969, and over the past forty-plus years, have taught a wide range of interior design courses at the university level. Because I value giving back to the design community, I have spoken and lectured on the subject of the design of the interior environment at many universities, community colleges, professional conferences, and other academic and personal enrichment venues throughout the United States. My past experiences as an educator and interior design program administrator, along with my years of experience as a CIDA accreditation site visitor and Team Leader, a member of a special CIDA Task Force and as a CIDA Program Consultant, has provided me with a rich perspective into the analysis and development of interior architecture and design curricula.

I consider myself an avid travel enthusiast, a perpetual student, and a devotee of material culture studies. Wanting to share these experiences with students and others, my academic study abroad has allowed me to author several popular press articles for the online design newsletter Plinth & Chintz. (www.plinthandchintz.com).

Professionally, I have participated in design competitions and have been honored with first place awards for my creative work. In addition to earning graduate degrees in Interior Design, I have been qualified as a professional member of ASID, IIDA, IDEC and have been certified by the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) since 1982.

Deborah R. Phillips

Education

  • Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Masters, The University of Georgia
  • B.S., The University of Georgia

About Debbie

Dr. Debbie Phillips is an internationally recognized real estate professional with over 32 years of experience with diverse property types. As an entrepreneur, Debbie has a multi-faceted career including serving as advisor to global real estate companies, developing world-class leadership development programs and talent management strategies. She was recognized in 2018 and 2019 as a Woman of Influence in Real Estate by Globe Street and was awarded the first Real Estate Award of Excellence as a Certified Property Manager (CPM) in 2015 by the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM). In addition to her private consulting, Debbie serves as President of the Real Estate Career Academy, a non-profit that focuses on career awareness for those exploring careers in real estate and construction management. Debbie completed her Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, where she developed an Employee Engagement Model for the Multi-Housing Industry. Her areas of research include affordable housing, workforce development, sustainability and talent management. In addition to teaching and consulting, Debbie is an author, career coach and nationally acclaimed speaker.

Awards

2019 Woman of Influence in Real Estate – Globe Street; 2018 Woman of Influence in Real Estate – Globe Street 2016 Excellence in Education Georgia Institute of Technology 2015 CPM of the Year – Institute of Real Estate Management 2015 REME Award for CPM of the Year, Institute of Real Estate Management 2014 ACE Educator of the Year – National Apartment Association 2012 Certified Property Manager of the Year, Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), Georgia 2012 Excellence in Teaching Recognition, Georgia Tech 2011 Excellence in Teaching Recognition, University of Georgia

Memberships

  • Board Member, Shelters to Shutters (current)
  • Member, Georgia Real Estate Commission Education and Advisory Committee (current)
  • Board Member, Georgia College and Career Academy Network (GaCAN) (current)
  • Director of Industry Outreach, Health Occupations Student Association “HOSA”, (contract assignment January 2019-March 2019)
  • Member, Association for Talent Development (current)
  • Member, Journal of Delta Sigma Pi, Business Honor Fraternity (current)
  • President, Georgia Apartment Industry Education Foundation (2004 – 2017)
  • National Apartment Association Education Institute Board of Directors (NAAEI) (2016-2017)
  • National Apartment Association Education Institute Careers Committee (2016-Present)
  • Education Conference Planning Committee for the National Apartment Association (2017)
  • Board of Industry Sponsors, Georgia Piedmont Technical College (2014 – present)
  • Board of Directors, National Apartment Association Education Institute (2011-present)
  • Co-Chair, Membership Committee, Housing Educators and Research Association (2010-2011)
  • Board of Directors, Community Life Concepts (2012-2014)

Additional Information

  • Served as Project Director for the development of the Multifamily Housing textbook – the first and only project endorsed by the Institute of Real Estate Management, National Apartment Association, and the National Multifamily Housing Council.
  • Served as a co-author for the Lessons in Leadership for Real Estate Professionals.
  • As part of a statewide coalition, produced a white paper: “Priced-out, Shut Out and Segregated” that addressed issues of fair housing, physical, mental, and emotional disabilities of underrepresented populations in Georgia.
  • IREM White Paper: Leadership Development: Networking * JPM Magazine: VISION 20/20 –Your Leadership Acuity, January 2020

Kameron Beeks

About Kameron

Kameron Beeks has spent over a decade working with Glumac, after graduating from Oregon State University Honors College with an Honors Bachelor of Sciences in Mechanical Engineering. Kameron leads Glumac’s Higher Education group as a Vice President, a licensed Mechanical Engineer, a LEED Accredited Professional, a WELL Accredited Professional and a Living Building Challenge Ambassador.

Kameron has designed unique sustainable systems such as vacuum plumbing technologies, active chilled beams, radiant systems, measurement and verification reporting strategies, dashboarding, and also writes the software for several of Glumac’s internal design calculation programs.

Nathan White

About Nathan

Mr. White has over fifteen years of education and practice in design, management, development and construction. He is a real estate developer, professional project manager and a construction adviser leader of full turn key development services for projects of all scales in Southern California and Northern Baja California quickly branching out to the global market. As the CEO of AGESS, Inc., Nathan has been able to gain support from many local and state agencies for the Desert Shores Restoration project which was just allocated funds through the California Natural Resources Agency’s Salton Sea Management 10 year plan. Currently “Tres Lagunas” development (pictured above) is bringing binational partners together for a 1 billion dollar project to restore the Colorado River Basin by restoring the Northern Sea of Cortez, Laguna Salada and Salton Sea as a global climate change mitigation and management infrastructure effort. Mr. White is also a Development Project Manager II with the City of San DIego Development Services Department with an aim of bringing practical development experience and large scale planning tools to the New School curriculum for Urban Planning.

Dr. O’Brien

About Dr. O’Brien

Gregory O’Brien is former President of International Technological University and Distinguished President Emeritus of Argosy University (2004-07). Before joining Argosy, Dr. O’Brien served as Chancellor of the University of New Orleans for over 16 years (1987-2003), where he also taught psychology and public affairs. Previous positions include Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of South Florida, Provost of the University of Michigan-Flint and Dean of the School of Social Welfare at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.

Dr. O’Brien was the Director of the Human Services Design Laboratory at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, as well as an Associate in Psychiatry at the Laboratory of Community He earned his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in social psychology from Boston University.

Dr. O’Brien has consulted and published in areas of higher education, administration, change management, accreditation, for-profit education, organizational social psychology, inter-organizational relations, mental health and human services, international business and management, technology transfer, and research utilization. Dr. O’Brien served as Vice Chair and Member of the Board of Directors for the Council for Higher Education Accreditation from 2003 to 2009, and previously served as Chair of the Board of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. He was Chair of the NCAA Presidents Commission and President of The American College of Mental Health Administration. Dr. O’Brien served as Interim Superintendent of New Orleans Public Schools in 1999. Dr. O’Brien was inducted into Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame in 1999 and has received the US Navy’s Meritorious Service Award.

Currently, Dr. O’Brien leads The Higher Education Group, Inc., and consults with institutions of higher learning and educational systems in the US and abroad on issues of quality assurance, governance, accreditation, distance learning, economic development, and marketing. He has served on the Eligibility Committee and as an accreditation visiting team chair for the WASC Senior Commission since 2009. He has also chaired visiting teams for the Higher Learning Commission and SACS. He has lectured and consulted on quality assurance and accreditation in Croatia, China, India, and Malaysia.

Scott H. Yee

About Scott H. Yee

Mr. Scott Yee currently is Vice President of Business Department, Business Department of Sunplus’s Chairman’s Office where he has been working since 2002. Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd. (TWSE: 2401, LSE: SUPD), established in 1990, is a leading semiconductor chip provider for multimedia and automotive applications such as DVD player, portable DVD player, home entertainment audio products, car infotainment and advanced driving assistance system (ADAS). Prior to Sunplus, Mr. Yee was Director of Marketing, Asia Pacific, at Micron Semiconductor and Photobit Corporation to firstly bring in CMOS Imager into commercial products in Asia Pacific in 1998, a leading technology previously known and innovated at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Pasadena, California, USA. Mr. Yee received his honor of Magna Cum Laude with Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Cal Poly, Pomona and Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of Southern California.

Jin Huang

About Jin Huang

Dr. Jin Huang has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of our board of directors since our inception in August 2000. Dr. Huang has over 17 years of academic and industry experience in Silicon Valley. Prior to founding Ambow, Dr. Huang was a founding engineer at Avant!, where she was responsible for product design and engineering management. Dr. Huang holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, a master’s degree in Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Electronic Engineering from the University of Electronic Science & Technology of China. From 1990 to 1993, Dr. Huang was doing research and completed her Ph.D. dissertation at the University of California, Berkeley.

D. R. (DAVID) Widder

About D.R. (DAVID) Widder

D.R. Widder has served as Vice President at Babson College (Innovation, Strategy, & Partnership Development)
Highly accomplished business development executive with an extensive record of achievement leading creation and delivery of transformational strategies and programs in entrepreneurial environments. As an innovator and strategist, forges the intersection of technology and business to create sustainable value and support scalable growth. Leveraging in-depth analytical skills, finance knowledge, and systems-thinking, conceptualizes and develop new lines of business and serve as a key contributor to merger activity to drive organizational success.

Amin Espandiari

Education

  • Bachelor of Architecture, NewSchool of Architecture & Design

About Amin

Amin teaches design studio & advanced modeling/rendering in the NewSchool of Architecture & Design undergraduate architecture department. His design approach addresses synthetic relations between architectural space and the surrounding conditions in order to generate a unique user experience. Amin is the founder of dddvisual, Inc which is a visualization company that tells design stories through digital visualization and walk through animation. He graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture First Professional Degree from NewSchool in 2011.

*