Richard Levin

During his 20 years as president of Yale, Richard Levin made building relationships with China a top priority, even landing a visit from China’s then-president, Hu Jintao, in 2006. Now the head of Coursera, a platform for massive open online courses, or MOOCs, Levin plans to use his knowledge of China to expand this new mode of learning in a country famous for its rigid education system. Things are looking up; Levin was quoted in state-run English-language China Daily on Oct. 17 saying China was Coursera’s “fastest growing market.” The Daily, noting that Levin has visited the country nearly 30 times, declared, “China has a friend in Richard Levin.”