Howard Hunter, Emory University’s former provost and law school dean who is now president of  Singapore Management University, praised President Obama’s nomination of Georgia State Sen. David Adelman to be the new U.S. ambassador to Singapore.

“I have known David Adelman since he was a student at Emory - and a very good student,” Mr. Hunter told GlobalAtlanta in an email interview. “He is smart, thoughtful and sincerely committed to public service. He will be a good representative of the best qualities of America.”

The White House announced Mr. Adelman’s nomination on Nov. 20. An early supporter of Mr. Obama, Mr. Adelman, a Democrat, is an attorney who represents a district that includes Decatur and the Druid Hills and Candler Park neighborhoods of Atlanta. U.S. Senate confirmation is required before he can assume his diplomatic post in Singapore. Mr. Adelman has declined to comment on the nomination.

There are 20,000 U.S. citizens and 3,000 American companies in Singapore, said Mr. Hunter, who has been president of Singapore Management University since 2004. He still maintains a home in Atlanta.

The Georgia Institute of Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University and Carnegie-Mellon University are among the American universities with campuses and research facilities in Singapore, Mr. Hunter said.

“He (Mr. Adelman) will find Singapore to be a dynamic, multi-cultural city in the midst of the most dynamic region in the world,” said Mr. Hunter. “Singapore is a major re-fueling and supply location for the U.S. Navy. Many of the leading public and private figures in Singapore were educated in the U.S. or have worked in the U.S. The ties between the two countries are numerous and they are deep.”

Although Singapore has only 4.6 million people, it is at the center of U.S. activities throughout Southeast Asia, Mr. Hunter said.

“The 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, parts of which are within 2-3 hours flight time from Singapore, have some 600 million people and rapidly developing economies,” said Mr. Hunter. “China, Japan, Korea and India are just a little farther away.”

Singapore Management University is a public school founded in 2000 that offers undergraduate and graduate degrees. Its program is modeled after the Wharton business school at the University of Pennsylvania.

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