Nick McBurney joined the National Committee in November 2008 as the Committee’s Program and Travel Assistant. He graduated from Cornell University in May 2008 with a B.A. in Asian Studies, studying a wide variety of social, cultural and political topics, from modern Sino-U.S. relations, to gender structures and family dynamics in rural China, to the philosophy and practice of traditional Chinese medicine.

During his time at Cornell, he was very involved with AIESEC, an international student organization that serves to foster global awareness and cross-cultural understanding through international internship exchanges. After graduation, Nick spent the summer in upstate New York studying Chinese as part of a 9-week intensive language program.

Nick traveled to China twice while attending university, once as a foreign teacher working for a rigorous English summer camp in Shanghai in 2005, and again in 2007 on a study abroad program at Peking University in Beijing. Within China, he has had the opportunity to travel to many diverse locations, such as Xi’an, Yangshuo, Chengdu, Lhasa, Suzhou and Hangzhou. Nick also worked as an intern with the National Committee in the summer of 2007.