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5 Key Questions Answered from a UC Irvine International Relations Grad

Alum: Anthony Kunihiro

Class of: 2003

University: UC Irvine

Major: International Relations

Degree: BA

Current Title: Principal Consultant, Epiport Communications

1. What do you love most about your experience at school?

The academic experience was enriching with passionate professors and lecturers with diverse cultural, academic, industrial, and geographical experience. Although majority of the student body at UC Irvine are from California, a relatively large percentage of them are from immigrant families or are immigrants themselves who continue to have ties with their motherland.

2. What was an unexpected surprise you found out about your school after you got there?

10 weeks go by extremely quickly. That's the duration of each quarter at UC Irvine and it actually provides more flexibility to add additional courses or add new majors/minors. That's how I added the Management and Computer Science minors into my curriculum.

3. What challenge(s) did you face while attending your school?

Overcrowding. Registering for classes and actually getting a seat was a challenge each quarter. There was one quarter where I had 3 random classes registered just to be retain full-time status, and waitlist 5 other classes during the first week of the quarter hoping to get a seat. Being persistent and attending these lectures continuously (while hoping for other students to drop out of the class), I usually end up with the classes I've registered.

4. What would you tell yourself if you were a 1st year all over again?

I would have socialized more. As important as the courses are, a large part of the academic experience that actually makes a difference in one's future is going to be largely determined by those he/she meets. Try out the clubs, fraternities, events, etc. If it takes too much time out of one's study time, gradually drop out of them but keep the enriching friendships forged. One other thing: EAP (Study abroad program). While UC Irvine's student body is mostly domestic, one can gain world-class international experience with top academic institutions overseas for up to a year and meet interesting new friends who hail from all over the world who could make a significant impact in your life and even career mobility. I would have done it.

5. How has your school changed your life?

Deciding how to piece my academic background of International Relations, Management, and Computer Science together, I realized that it would make sense to go abroad and begin my career overseas since I didn't realize the importance of building international ties by studying abroad during the earlier years of my education. Thus, I started submitting resumes mainly to companies with offices in Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore with the goal of living and working in Asia. After 3 years of university education, I set foot with a new job in Singapore, not knowing a single soul. It was the best decision in career preparation that I've made.

P.S.

There was no Business Administration major during my days in college. Several years after graduating, I found out that UC Irvine has since added the program into the curriculum.

Favorite Book in College:

Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life - Spencer Johnson, M.D.(Kindle Edition)

Favorite Song in College:

What's Luv? (Fat Joe Featuring Ja-Rule & Ashanti) (Explicit Album Version)

Anthony Kunihiro is a Japanese-American from Los Angeles who is the founder of Epiport Communications (Marketing Research, Strategy, and Technology Consulting). His interests lie in Marketing, following business trends, web technology, new dining experiences, wine, and traveling. He primarily eats, sleeps, works, and plays in Tokyo and Singapore, however he can also be seen in other Asian cities from time to time.

5 Key Questions Answered from a UC San Diego Economics Grad - ClearView from Alumni

Alum: Ian Nguyen

Class of: 2007

University: UC San Diego

Major: Economics

Degree: B.A.

Current Title: Analyst, Belvedere Investment Partners

1. What do you love most about your experience at school?

I loved the friendships I built. Some of these relationships have become a very integral part of my life presently and in the foreseeable future. My closest friend from UCSD was my co-worker and roommate after graduation, is currently my business partner in several ventures and is also an uncle to my daughter. The relationships I have garnered during my struggles and triumphs at UCSD are irreplaceable.

2. What was an unexpected surprise you found out about your school after you got there?

I did not anticipate the invaluable and diverse social and professional networks that I eventually built. UCSD’s plethora of interest groups provided an outlet of much needed diversity in an otherwise dry academic environment. It was also refreshing for me personally as I grew up in a relatively small isolated town (Chico, CA). I was fortunate enough to foster enduring relationships with people whom I had common interests and goals by joining various societies, clubs, associations etc. In particular, my unforgettable experience as a brother of the business fraternity of Delta Sigma Pi (Omicron Sigma Chapter) has led to life-long relationships. I even met my closest friend and business partner through the fraternity along with many others whom I actively stay in contact with today.

3. What challenge(s) did you face while attending your school?

The biggest challenge was the competitive environment of going to and coming from a public university that is outside of the top tier rankings of public universities and Ivy Leagues. Grades at UCSD are distributed on a bell-curve which is not only detrimental to GPAs but a disadvantage in comparison to more equitable grading systems of many private universities. This is important to the perspective of employers because getting a 4.0 GPA at UCSD could be comparable to a 3.0 GPA at top tier universities so anything less than that becomes border-line mediocre. From the start I had serious shortcomings to peers at more prestigious institutions. In hindsight, I erroneously did not front-load my achievements to get into a top-tier university. This thrust me into a punishing tertiary education grading process that compounded an arduous challenge for achievements to be able to compete with peers in top ranked universities. I would eventually achieve my end-goal but with less finesse than the more traditional path.

4. What would you tell yourself if you were a 1st year all over again?

I would tell myself to either (1) transfer to a more prestigious university before my third-year (i.e. UC Berkeley or UCLA) or (2) maximize all that UCSD has to offer to minimize the disadvantages to competing peers graduating from more esteemed universities. Elaborating further on the latter includes the following: declare the most prestigious major at UCSD (Bio-Engineering); Study abroad as many times as possible within a 4-year graduation schedule; actively participate in as many associations, clubs and societies etc. relevant to my career interests to build networks; intern in as many résumé / CV accretive opportunities as possible starting from the summer prior to freshman year until receiving an offer letter for the dream job; undertake applied graduate courses to work with a more mature peer group on practical team-work oriented projects; build relationships with all of my professors to have an edge on coursework and to possibly garner some “insurance” on exam mistakes; take practical courses to build the technical skill-sets of my future job to avoid employer doubt (i.e. write the CFA, take courses or self-learning training modules of Wall-street level valuation models, personally invest and actively manage a securities portfolio; actively participate in the UCSD Student Foundation Investment Committee which manages the Student Foundation endowment portfolio in equity and fixed-income securities); reach out to all successful alumni in careers that match my ambitions to get solid mentorship while leveraging their collective experience in successfully breaking-into their dream jobs.

5. How has your school changed your life?

UCSD indirectly impacted my life by challenging me to “think outside the box” in order to compete in the finance / investment banking industries against candidates with more favorable pedigrees. Without the infrastructure, guidance and powerful alumni networks of top-tier universities, I had to challenge myself as an underdog by seeking creative avenues to break into the finance industry. Examples of such include the following: I worked 20 - 40 hours per week at Citibank while still studying as a full-time student; I sought out and was awarded a scholarship grant to do research on Vietnam’ banking industry in Vietnam that ultimately helped me build a professional network of executives that I would eventually leverage in my career; While a brother at Delta Sigma Pi, I spearheaded the creation of a Corporate Relations Chair to facilitate corporate HR / recruiter relationships with UCSD which also gave me the opportunity and excuse to interact with corporate recruiters; I took graduate courses to build a network of experienced professionals aspiring to similar goals and gain insightful career preparation knowledge; I attended recruitment events at more prestigious universities in other cities to arrange opportunities to meet with recruiters of investment banks that ignore UCSD. From the process of attacking these various challenges, I continue to drive myself to persistently compete in the business and professional landscape with a tenacious passion. This has ultimately led to my relatively unconventional and contrarian personality that fits well with the eccentricity of a hedge fund career and the constant creative-destructive process of entrepreneurship.

P.S.

In 2004 after my freshman year, I went to Singapore and then Vietnam on my first Asia trip and was fascinated in the juxtaposing economic development. I wanted to better understand the processes of how frontier economies emerge into developed nations. Although the Economics discipline is academic and even borderline controversial it provided the base framework for how I interpret the tectonic geo-political shifts in the world.

Favorite Book in College & Recommended:

The Private Life of Chairman Mao - Dr. Li Zhisui(Kindle Edition)

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets - Nassim Nicholas Taleb(Kindle Edition)

Favorite Song in College:

Yeah! - Usher

Presently Ian Nguyen is an Analyst for Belvedere Investment Partners LLP (UK), an FSA regulated hedge fund manager (AUM US$ 100m) currently employing a long / short equity strategy in Southeast Asian markets. He joined the fund in 2011 and is currently the only investment professional based in Singapore where he provides direct input into investment decisions of long and short equity positions through bottom-up fundamental research on companies and sectors as well as analyzing derivatives hedging strategies. Ian is also a Board Member, Strategic Financial Adviser, a significant minority shareholder and co-founder of Euro International (Vietnam) via Dynatrade Limited (HK), a lifestyle products importer, distributor and retailer with 6 exclusive brands, ~30 wholly-owned retail locations in department stores / malls, >50 third-party retailers, a supermarket network of >150, and employs over 100 staff where he currently spearheads capital raising efforts, advises on financial control processes and market expansion opportunities in Southeast Asia. Prior to joining Belvedere Investment Partners, Ian was Vice President of D2 Capital Partners (Vietnam, an investment advisory partnership co-founded in 2009 with former senior executives of Merrill Lynch and CIBC / Oppenheimer focused on M&A and Private Equity transactions where he led a team of associates and analysts on deal execution and industry research in a multitude of industries as well as managing relationships with the Southeast Asia Heads of regional / global Private Equity GP managers. From 2008 - 2009 Ian was a Senior Associate in the Institutional Client Group's Sales & Trading desk at TVS Securities (Vietnam) executing brokerage services to institutional clients as well as principle investment transactions in equity and fixed income securities. Before joining TVS, Ian was a Management Associate at Citigroup (Vietnam) as a dealer on the EM Fixed Income, Currencies & Commodities desk where he executed currency trades (spot and forward) and structured currency and interest rate derivatives products (i.e. options, swaps) for the bank’s clients.

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U.S. EDUCATION Our work in U.S. education focuses on two related goals: making sure that all students graduate from high school ready to succeed in college and that young adults who want to get a postsecondary degree have a way to do so. On the K-12 side, our top priority is helping schools implement a personnel system that improves the effectiveness of teaching, because research shows that effective teaching is the most important in-school factor in student achievement. There are a lot of great teachers in public schools, and a lot of teachers who want to be great but don’t have the tools they need. If we could make the average teacher as good as the best teachers, the benefit to students would be phenomenal. "If we could make the average teacher as good as the best teachers, the benefit to students would be phenomenal." - bill gates A personnel system includes hiring; giving specific feedback; helping employees improve; and creating pay schedules, benefit plans, and termination procedures. There is consensus that the current personnel system in public schools doesn’t work. Every element of today’s system is criticized. However, there isn’t a strong consensus on what to change. Many states are moving away from guaranteed tenure with pay based solely on seniority and what degrees you have. But most of the alternative measures do not include much investment in teacher evaluation, which makes them very dependent on how good the principal is and how well student test scores measure teaching effectiveness. I still find it hard to believe that 95 percent of teachers are not given specific feedback about how to improve. Even more important than a pay schedule that rewards excellence is identifying and understanding excellence so that teachers know how they can improve. In all the meetings I have had with teachers around the country, and in the surveys we have done, it is clear that most teachers want more feedback and will use it to improve, even if the financial rewards for performance are comparatively modest. The most compelling example I have seen that this concept can work in a way that is great for both teachers and students is the school district of Tampa, Florida that Melinda and I visited this past fall. A key element of the agreement between the teachers’ union and the superintendent was to assign 2 percent of the teachers to become peer evaluators. These teachers were trained to observe classroom teaching and provide feedback on 22 different components. The principals have also been trained in this approach. Every teacher gets in-depth feedback from both the principal and the peer evaluator. Tampa has been doing this for three years now, and it is already making a big difference. Teachers told us they value having feedback from two different sources—the principal who knows the school the best and the peer who knows the challenges of their specific job. The first round of evaluation revealed that many teachers need help engaging the students to prompt critical thinking and problem solving. The district started to organize its professional development around these findings, and the teachers have seized that opportunity to become more effective in the classroom. When Melinda and I met with students, they told us that they had seen a big change during their time at the school. The success here required great work by Superintendent Mary Ellen Elia, Classroom Teachers Association President Jean Clements, and all of the teachers. I was particularly impressed with the peer evaluators. They all said they understood great teaching far better, having done the peer evaluation job. Some of the peer evaluators will go back to teaching and others will go into schools of education to help make sure new teachers have better preparation. After seeing how valuable peer evaluation is, I think it should be part of every public school personnel system. Dedicating 2 percent of teachers to do this work is a large investment. It can mean raising the average class size by 2 percent or spending 2 percent more money. With budgets as tight as they are, most states will not add extra money for evaluation so we will have to make the case that it is worth the small increase in class size (of fewer than one student per class on average). Without this investment I don’t think an evaluation system will get enough credibility with the teachers or provide enough specific feedback to help teachers improve. Looking at test scores is also valuable for most subjects, but test score data mostly just identifies who is succeeding—it doesn’t show a teacher what needs to change. I see the willingness to make this investment as a test of whether people are serious about an evaluation system that really works. Accelerating the development, discovery, and use of innovative educational technologies is another high priority for us. We have seen a tremendous amount of progress in this area recently, but it is really just the beginning. More needs to be done to equip teachers with the tools and information they need to make learning more personalized and engaging. Social networking is one of the most promising areas, because it helps teachers and students connect in ways that naturally augment what’s going on in the classroom. Services that use social networking, like Edmodo, are really starting to take off because teachers can manage all aspects of the classroom using a platform with which most people are comfortable. I’m also excited to see more and more schools “flip” the classroom so that passive activities like lectures are done outside of class and in-class time is used for more collaborative and personal interactions between students and teachers. Khan Academy is a great example of a free resource that any teacher can use to take full advantage of class time and make sure all students advance at their own pace. Great work is also being done by companies that are thinking beyond simply digitizing textbooks. CK-12 Foundation, Udemy, and Ednovo have great teacher- and community–generated content. A simple example of how powerful the community can be in this area is TeachersPayTeachers, a marketplace that facilitates the sharing and exchanging of lesson plans and other materials developed by teachers themselves. We’re also just starting to see how impactful gaming can be in an educational context. MangaHigh and Grockit are successfully delivering fun, competitive, game-based lessons that drive greater engagement and understanding. Zoran Popovic, at University of Washington’s Center for Game Science, is taking this even further through some amazing work creating games that automatically adapt to each student’s unique needs based on their interactions with the computer. Many of these new tools and services have the added benefit of providing amazing visibility into how each individual student is progressing, and generating lots of useful data that teachers can use to improve their own effectiveness. But how do most teachers figure out what’s available and right for them? There’s not yet a good answer to this question. Good technologies remain unused, and teachers spend too much of their own time and money. That’s why I’m launching a project this year to build an online service that helps educators easily discover and learn how to use these new tools and resources. I think there’s no limit to what a teacher with the right tools and information can do.

US Education - 2012 Annual Letter from Bill Gates

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