Harrison Cheung

Harrison Cheung (image by Tom Wolf)

Published January 30, 2019 This content is archived.

Each month, we'll introduce you to an interesting member of the Professional Staff Senate. This month's featured member is Harrison Cheung, marketing content producer in the School of Management.

How long have you worked at UB?

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I will be celebrating my second anniversary at UB this March.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I enjoy creating marketing material for the full-time graduate programs at the School of Management. In that role, I am able to promote our programs but also the university and School of Management. Moreover, since we are always attracting in-state, out-of-state and international students, I also enjoy working with Buffalo-Niagara tourism to promote Buffalo as a great place to get a quality education.

What's the most difficult part about your job?

The biggest challenge is to overcome any negative connotations about Buffalo weather. We get less snow than other cities in the state, but we continue to have a reputation for being in the arctic tundra.

What would you say is your biggest achievement at UB?

I've built our UB MBA and MS social media following from fewer than 300 followers on Twitter, for example, to over 2,000 followers. Potential students (millennials and Generation Z) use social media outlets to get an idea about a school's activity, culture and "fit."

Tell us something about your department that isn't well known.

My boss is a trained opera singer with a three-octave range. This is great when she sings our praises.

If you were to share some advice for other professional staff, what would it be?

Get out of your office and meet people! I get many good ideas from talking to people—faculty, staff and students.

Do you have any hobbies? What do you do for fun?

I volunteer to work with foster kids at Gateway Longview. I have 2 rescue dogs—coincidentally, a pug and a puggle—from the Buffalo Animal Shelter. I am a big movie buff—I have a good-sized home theater, which a friend here at UB helped build for me. I am also a gourmand and a Yelp Elite.

Do you have a favorite meal you like to prepare?

When I have time, I like to make Chinese dumplings with different fillings—pork, chicken or vegetarian. Americans call them pot stickers, but we call them gao tze.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

I would love to go back to the land of my birth, Scotland.

Any other fun facts about you?

I was an extra in the 1992 Disney movie "Newsies." In 2016, Texas awarded me the "Champion of Children" for my work with foster youth. I worked for IBM in digital marketing in Austin, Texas, before moving to Buffalo. I wrote a best-selling book, "Christian Bale: The Inside Story of the Darkest Batman" (BenBella Books) about the former child actor, Internet star and notoriously tantrum-prone Oscar-winner. The book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Walmart (small plug). Before IBM, I worked in Hollywood as a publicist. My clients included Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling and Jake Gyllenhaal. I'm not only staff, but I'm also a student! I am graduating from UB this spring with an MA in Innovative Writing, Professional Writing and Digital Communications.