Hoi Ning Ngai '00
Growing up in the busy and noisy streets of New York from age one, Hoi Ning was more than happy to escape the Woodside housing projects and race off to the verdant (then snowy) landscapes of New Hampshire and Vermont in 1996. She is a first-generation college student and a daughter of immigrant parents from Guangzhou, China, who were blue collar workers in the garment and restaurant industries. At Dartmouth, she was a Psychology major and naively pre-med until her senior year. She was involved in the Leadership Discovery Program, the Green Key Society, the Dartmouth Asian Organization, the Dartmouth Chinese Society, the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science, and Epsilon Kappa Theta. Despite two rounds of organic chemistry and one solid MCAT performance, she decided that medicine was not her purpose in life.
After Dartmouth, Hoi Ning returned home to New York and worked in various roles, with her longest professional stint at Credit Suisse in human resources. Thanks to guidance and support from Dartmouth mentors Holly Sateia and Nora Yasumura, she found her way back to higher education in 2003 and left for Los Angeles to pursue her masters and doctoral degrees at UCLA. Her dissertation focused on students involved in racial/ethnic studies and/or organizations different from their own racial/ethnic identities. While she was enamored with her overall Dartmouth experience, she was not enamored with her academic advising experience. As such, she started her first higher education career in academic advising at UCLA while she was a graduate student. She then went on to pursue full-time academic advising roles, first at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania as an Associate Director of Academic Affairs and Advising within the Undergraduate Division, and then at Kenyon College as the Dean of Academic Advising and Support.
Following 13 years in academic advising, Hoi Ning decided to pivot to her second higher education career in graduate student advising as the Associate Dean for Student Affairs at The Graduate School at UNC-Chapel Hill. She realized that she was much more interested in undergraduate student development, so she happily started her third higher education career in career advising at the Bates Center for Purposeful Work as the Director for Employer Engagement and Business Advising in 2019. In this role, she works with employers to cultivate and support the development of internship and job opportunities that allow students to pursue meaning and purpose in the workplace. She also advises students with specific interests in business, including consulting, finance, human resources/talent acquisition, marketing, and operations, as well as advanced business degrees. She believes strongly in the importance and value of self-reflection in undergraduate education, especially in terms of helping students become more aware of their identities, beliefs, values, and goals as they pursue postgraduate opportunities.
Throughout her 20+ years as an active alumna, Hoi Ning has been involved as an alumni interviewer through the Office of Admissions, as an alumni mentor through the Center for Professional Development, and in various activities/roles with the Alumni Council, the Dartmouth Asian Pacific American Alumni Association, the Dartmouth Club of New York, the Dartmouth Club of Los Angeles, the Dartmouth Club of Philadelphia, the Dartmouth Club of Central Ohio, the Dartmouth Club of the Piedmont, and the Dartmouth Club of Maine. In her spare time, she mentors students as a Prep for Prep alumna, reviews personal statements for Lewiston High School students, and counsels clients on college applications through InGenius Prep.
As a native New Yorker, Hoi Ning cannot drive, but can walk for hours. She also cannot ride a bicycle. She is a sociable introvert who believes that social media can be used for good. Her first name (Hoi Ning) means “peaceful journey” in Cantonese (Chinese), a wish that she consistently sends out into the world. She continues to seek opportunities to contribute to the College, and this committee would be a great opportunity to do so at this juncture.