Margaret M. Wong

Outstanding Achievement Award Recipient

China Center & Confucius Institute in the Global Programs & Strategy Alliance, June 29, 2017

Margaret M. Wong received a bachelor’s degree in 1963 from the University of Minnesota. She has spent her career teaching, leading, and fostering Minnesota’s K-12 schools and students. Wong taught in the Minneapolis Public Schools for ten years and for 36 years at Breck School. She is credited with the founding of Chinese programs at other public and private schools in the Twin Cities, and was a consultant for new Chinese language programs throughout the United States. In 1976, she organized and led the first trip for United States high school students to visit China and since then, she has led 32 student trips, introducing more than 1,500 students, parents, and school leaders to Chinese language and culture.  Wong is the author of the three-level multimedia Chinese textbook “Zhen Bang'!,” now in its second edition. She has served on numerous boards, including the National Chinese Language Teachers Association, the U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association-Minnesota, and the University of Minnesota’s China Center, and she is the founding member of both the Chinese Heritage Foundation and Yinghua Academy. Wong has also provided advisory leadership on several state and national initiatives such as the 2006 Minnesota Chinese Language Curriculum Development Project. She is the recipient of the U.S. Department of Defense Award for Teaching of Chinese and the Asian Pacific Heritage Leadership Award from the governor of Minnesota. Concordia College recognized Wong’s outstanding contributions to Mandarin education with an honorary degree in 2016.

Biographies are as-of time of award presentation.