Growing with WKWSCI: More than 25 years of teaching, leadership and community
Ms Nikki Draper and Associate Professor Benjamin Detenber receiving their 25 Years Long Service Award medals from WKWSCI Chair Professor Jack Qiu.
When Ms Nikki Draper and Associate Professor Benjamin Detenber joined the School of Communication Studies, now the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI), in 1999, the School was at a different stage of its development.
At the time, the School was primarily focused on training media professionals and was beginning to develop a stronger research orientation. Ben joined as a television professor teaching production classes and was among those brought in to support this development.
More than 25 years later, WKWSCI has grown in its teaching and research, generations of students have passed through its doors, and the media and communication landscape around it has transformed.
Recently recognised with NTU’s 25 Years Long Service Award, Nikki and Ben reflect on the roles they have played in that journey, the experiences that have stayed with them and what their time at WKWSCI has come to mean.
Growing alongside generations of WeeKids
For Nikki, Assistant Chair (Student Life & Alumni), some of the most rewarding experiences have come from teaching and working closely with students.
Final Year Projects (FYPs), in particular, have been a significant part of that experience. To date, Nikki has supervised more than 90 FYPs from the Broadcast Media and Cinema Studies track, working with over 340 students. Through these projects, she has guided students as they developed their ideas, navigated the filmmaking process and brought their final-year work to fruition. At the same time, each project has offered her an opportunity to learn something new from the students she works with, whether about filmmaking, Singapore or the wider region.
Her work with students has also extended beyond teaching and mentoring. Nikki was the founding faculty member of Perspectives Film Festival: Breakthroughs in Cinema, Singapore’s first student-led film festival, where she continues to support students in pursuing their interests beyond the classroom.
These relationships often continue beyond graduation. Nikki actively maintains connections with alumni and supports efforts to keep graduates engaged with WKWSCI. She has also worked with alumni to establish the WKWSCI Alumni Association, creating more opportunities for graduates to reconnect with the School and one another.
Over the years, Nikki has seen friendships endure through different stages of life, with alumni continuing to find and support one another across cohorts and through the wider industry.
Ms Nikki Draper with students from an FYP group she supervised at Convocation 2025.
It is this sense of connection that she hopes future generations of WeeKids will continue to value.
Helping shape a growing School
Ben’s time at WKWSCI has spanned teaching, research and leadership, including serving as Chair of the School from 2008 to 2014.
Looking back on his time as Chair, one of his proudest contributions was helping to strengthen the School’s faculty and international standing. Building on the foundations laid by earlier leaders, including the late Professor Eddie Kuo and Emeritus Professor Ang Peng Hwa, Ben worked with colleagues to recruit and develop academic talent, contributing to WKWSCI’s growing international reputation.
He points to the School’s hosting of the International Communication Association (ICA) conference in 2010 as an important milestone. Bringing academics from around the world to Singapore introduced WKWSCI to a wider international community and, in Ben’s view, helped strengthen the School’s ability to attract talent.
Associate Professor Benjamin Detenber and Emeritus Professor Ang Peng Hwa at a press conference for the International Communication Association (ICA) conference in Singapore in 2010.
Teaching and mentoring have remained equally important to Ben. He remembers the School’s early students as independent-minded and willing to take risks, qualities he continues to value in WeeKids today.
He has watched graduates become entrepreneurs, pursue advanced degrees and, in some cases, return to WKWSCI as faculty themselves. His hope is that future generations retain that same willingness “to question and to strive to make the world a better place”.
Two careers, one shared purpose
Nikki and Ben’s careers at WKWSCI have largely unfolded in parallel, shaped by their respective roles and areas of work. As husband and wife, their shared experience at the School has also allowed them to understand and support each other through different stages of their careers.
Nikki particularly admires Ben’s approach to mentoring students and supporting newer faculty, as well as the genuine interest he takes in the people he works with.
Ben, in turn, points to Nikki’s dedication as an educator and the hundreds of students she has guided. Beyond their individual contributions, both share a deep commitment to teaching and to the role educators can play in the lives of their students.
Asked what it has been like to contribute to the same cause through their respective careers, Ben sums it up in one word: “Wonderful.”
“We see our students as the hope for the future, and we are truly grateful to be able to play some small role in their development.”
From classrooms and FYPs to School leadership, alumni engagement and initiatives that continue today, Nikki and Ben have contributed to WKWSCI in distinct but complementary ways, growing alongside the School while helping shape the community it is today.
