Holger Henke


Holger W. Henke is a political scientist, educator, and vice-chancellor for academic affairs and provost at Wenzhou-Kean University in Wenzhou, China. From 2008 to 2014 he was assistant provost at York College, City University of New York. He has previously taught at Metropolitan College of New York, and also served as associate professor of political history at Kean University. In the late 1990s he was the assistant director of the Caribbean Research Center.

Education

Holger Henke attended the Geschwister-Scholl-Institute for Political Science at the University of Munich, where he earned a Magister Artium in 1987. He subsequently emigrated and lived for seven years in Jamaica. In 1996 he earned a Ph.D. in Government at the University of the West Indies with a dissertation about the foreign relations of that country between 1972 and 1989.

Research and scholarship

Henke studies international relations, migration, political culture and development. He has published six books and numerous scholarly articles. Henke is the editor of the peer-reviewed journal Wadabagei: A Journal of the Caribbean and its Diasporas. In 2010-11 he served as President of the Caribbean Studies Association. Henke also served as an advisory board member of the Caribbean Research Center at Medgar Evers College, where he previously had worked as assistant director. Until 2012 he was a senior research fellow of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington. From 2011-2015 he provided annual country reports for several Caribbean nations to the Washington-based think tank Freedom House. In 2013 Dr. Henke received a Fulbright International Education Administrators Award. In 2014 he participated in the Harvard University Institute for Management and Leadership in Education. In August 2010, he received the honorary citizenship of Jamaica.

Work in Academic Administration

During his tenure as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs & Provost at Wenzhou-Kean University the student body of this institution grew from ca. 850 to ca. 1,950. The number of full-time faculty grew from 46 to 96. The establishment of several new key offices, the start of new academic programs, and the implementation of other academic support structures marked the significant administrative, programmatic, and teaching & research infrastructure advancement during that period.
On September 22, 2015, China's President Xi Jinping remarked at the China-US Governors’ Forum in Seattle on the university's development: “When I was Governor of Zhejiang back in 2006, I attended a signing ceremony for a joint initiative between Wenzhou University and Kean University to establish Wenzhou-Kean University. After years of efforts, this university was finally up and running last year and is making good progress today.”
The construction of new Student Residential Buildings, the College of Business and Public Management building , and the acceptance of a 100 million yuan grant by the Shanghai-based Dafa Properties Group for the forthcoming construction of a School of Architecture and Design building also fall into this very productive growth period. Dr. Henke also acted as the guardian of academic freedom at Wenzhou-Kean University where students enjoy full access to the internet, are able to watch international news programs on campus, and can access the library research databases at Kean University.

Books