Posted with her permission.
Me at the Institute of Economics Convocation, Rangoon Univ, 1981--AI restoration also by KPO.
Tribute to my Mentor Dr. Kyi May Kaung
By Khin Pwint Oo
In one’s life, it is important to pay tribute to someone who provides fair unbiased guidance and helps identify one's strength.
The very first time I came to know of her (later as Dr. Kyi May Kaung) was in my high school days where I found a piece of her writing in our MEHS Annual School Magazine Swaying Palms. It inspired me to put pen to paper like her one day.
Later I was told that she is the elder daughter of Sithu U Kaung who was awarded the honorary title "Sithu" first instituted by the democratically-elected Prime Minister U Nu.
To give a short account of his life and profession, U Kaung served his country leaving his imprint in many capacities as a Director of Education; first Chairman of the Burma Historical Commission; writer; artist; tennis and golf aficionado; to name a few.
He was also well known for his signature on the Burmese currency notes printed by Delarue Company in the UK and issued in Burma. These were famous among the Burmese populace as "Maung Kaung notes".
At the time, U Kaung was sent by Bogyoke Aung San to be on the Burma Currency Board in London and to look after Burmese state scholars stranded in the UK during World War II.
These included Dr. Hla Myint, commonly known as H. Myint, who with Sir Arthur Lewis invented Development Economics, as well as Dr. Hla Pe, Burmese linguist.
Dr Hla Pe married Dr. Kaung's maternal aunt once removed and settled back in Moulmein, Burma, with the help of General Ne Win in the 1970s.
U Kaung should not be confused with his son U (Dr.) U Thaw Kaung who was chief librarian at the University of Rangoon, who also was granted the Sithu title and also became Chair of the renamed Myanmar Historical Commission.
Honestly, I admire her as herself and not because of her being a daughter of the well-known Sithu U Kaung.
I would like to acknowledge a little bit about her professionalism and some background on dedication and achievements in her own career and life.
During her Matriculation examinations, she placed 5th in the whole of Burma, the only woman among the top five--the others were all men, graduates of Saint Paul's High School and Science majors.
Her first two degrees, a Bachelor and a Masters, were in Economics from the University of Rangoon, Burma in the 1960s.
In 1982 she qualified for a Fulbright Scholarship in Transportation Economics as specified by the then Burmese Education Ministry and Head of Department of Economics Dr Than Nyun after apparently talks with Fulbright. Her Master’s thesis showed the need for a shadow interest rate in the Polish Economy and her thesis supervisor was Dr. Ronald E. Findlay who passed away in 2021 while serving as Ragnar Nurkse Professor of Economics at Columbia University in New York City.
https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/trade-development-and-political-economy-life-and-work-ronald-findlay-1935-2021
Dr. Findlay, with Saya Aye Hlaing
and her Penn professors and famous historian of Old Burma Prof. Gordon H. Luce
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Luce were her closest, earliest and most influential advisors.
She obtained an MA in City Planning and a doctorate in Political Economy (Theory)--the Study of Systems, from the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, in the United States of America in 1994.
Not only is she brilliant in academics but as well in arts, winning awards from the Academy of American Poets in 1993 and a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Award for her play "Shaman'' in 1996. She also was a Pew finalist twice, amongst several other literary prizes.
Over the years she is somebody who finds her passion in painting and creative in needlework.
I continued knowing her when I became a student at the Institute of Economics, Rangoon where she taught Economic History to Masters Students.
I never thought she would become my Master’s Thesis supervisor and personally as my supervisor who stoutly helped me defend my capstone on two adjoining villages.
It made me grateful to have met her and come to know her my mentor because those years that I worked with her were extremely beneficial to me in building up my self-confidence.
Her reputation will forever be inscribed in my heart and I will consider her one of my guiding lights.
God bless you Ma Ma (Elder Sister) Kyi May.
* * *
