Nineteen new professors joined the faculty this fall. SNU expects to expand its scholarly scope and accelerate its own internationalization by employing more foreign scholars of various fields. The number of newly-appointed foreign professors this semester is known to be the highest ever.

Among them are Xifang Sun (China) of the College of Social Sciences, specializing in Chinese finance, with previous research experience at Columbia University and Joan Yoo (U.S.) of the College of Social Sciences, who specializes in international children’s welfare.

Six others of the College of Natural Sciences include Otto van Koert (Netherlands), with noteworthy experience as a postdoc scholar at Hokkaido University, Japan, and Jonathan Miles Adams (U.K.), who has conducted research in the U.K. as well as in France and the U.S. All four of the other lecturers at the College of Natural Sciences are Uwe R. Fischer (Germany), specializing in cohesive physics, Kiyoshi Tanida (Japan), specializing in astronomical physics, Masateru Ishiguro (Japan), lecturing in theoretical physics and Bruce Waldman (New Zealand), lecturing in biology. They are all qualified and well-experienced in both theory and practice at a number of renowned world-class institutions such as Harvard University (U.S.), the University of Tokyo (Japan), and the University of Tubingen (Germany).

Songhwai Oh (U.S.), with all bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Berkeley in bio-IT technology, and Peter Winston Ferretto (U.K.), specializing in architectural design, have also been given positions at the College of Engineering. Victor K. Tepivakov (Russia) and David Bodoff (U.S.) also joined the faculty and lecture on international forestry policy and agricultural products MIS and electronic commerce at the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. Furthermore, Grace Chung (U.S.) of the College of Human Ecology, specializing in child development and family studies and Saeho Chong (U.S.) of the College of Pharmacy are anticipated to work as both instructors and researchers.

Five other foreign researchers have been employed for the Professional Graduate Schools as well. Some of the graduate programs are in a phase of expansion and development with only a short history of a couple of years or so. Jorg Michael Dostal (Germany), lecturing in Governance & Public Policy at the Graduate School of Public Administration, is a German scholar with notable research experience in other countries such as Ireland and the U.K. Jacqueline A. Sianno (U.S./Philippines) at the Graduate School of International Studies, specializing in international and regional studies (Southeast Asia), is also a well-known researcher who has unique lecturing and research experience in East Timor. Frank Hong Yu (Canada) at the School of Dentistry specializes in ion channel and ion transportation, while John M. Leitner (U.S.), 26 years old, lecturing on American law, is known to be the youngest of all 19 new professors with a doctoral degree in law from Harvard University. The new foreign faculty also include Yuanzhe Piao (China), specializing in nano-science and technology, who will teach for one of the Interdisciplinary Programs that was just initiated this year. He finished his doctoral studies at Seoul National University in 2004 and has worked as a BK assistant professor for BK21 in chemical engineering.

This semester’s recruitment of foreign scholars was carried out by various departments across the campus. The variety lied not only in disciplines but also in ethnicity, scholarly backgrounds and previous research experience. These new professors, along with the entire faculty, are expected to contribute to transforming Seoul National University into a more internationalized and world-class institution in the near future.

November 16, 2009
Written by Seyeon Hwang, SNU English Editor