In China, Ming Xiong established a career path she wanted to continue to pursue. After graduating from college, she worked for a small, privately owned company where, as the only employee in HR, she handled all the tasks in that area.

From there, to “see how HR functions in a big firm and to gain global exposure,” Ming moved to Air Products, a large, multinational. As part of her role in corporate learning and development, she worked with colleagues from 11 different companies on global products for Air Products University.

With a good foundation in HR and experience that was international in scope, Ming wanted to broaden her knowledge with an MBA. “I realized I could provide more influential and powerful solutions if I understood business at a strategic level,” she says.

She chose Vanderbilt for three reasons: its “reputation as a world-class university”; the “high quality program — Vanderbilt’s HR concentration is ranked in the top four in the U.S.”; and the “close-knit and friendly community.”

Right away, she learned something at Vanderbilt that surprised her. Despite her experience working with international colleagues, she says, “I realized I was still viewing the world from a Chinese perspective. Studying at Owen, I had the chance to interact with faculty and students from different countries and different cultural backgrounds. Now I am viewing the world from a truly global perspective.”

Fun Fact: Ming began attending boarding school in China when she was 12 — an experience that she believes trained her to be an independent person.

“One reason I chose Vanderbilt is that its MBA program in HR concentration ranks in the top four in the U.S.”