- Distinguished professorship named in honor of Chancellor Bardo
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- Senior named top mathematics education student in region
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- Board of trustees approves proposed tuition, fees for 2010-11
- Steps toward WCU-Dillsboro partnership continue with campus tour
- Students win national awards at mediation tournament
- 'Meeting Doctor' to lead Jan. 21 workshop at WCU
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WCU Chancellor John W. Bardo (left) and Sang-Yoon Lee, president of Hannam University, prepare to sign the exchange agreement. |
WCU Chancellor John W. Bardo and Sang-Yoon Lee, president of Hannam University in Daejeon, South Korea, met on the WCU campus Monday, Feb. 12, to sign the agreement.
WCU has existing exchange agreements with universities in many countries around the world, but the relationship with Hannam University is unique in terms of Hannam’s ties to the region, said Lois Petrovich-Mwaniki, director of WCU’s Office of International Programs and Services.
“Since Presbyterian missionaries from Montreat started Hannam more than 50 years ago, when you are on Hannam’s campus you feel the connection to Western North Carolina and Montreat,” Petrovich-Mwaniki said. “We feel that this relationship will make this exchange particularly inviting and familiar for our students.”
Visitors at Hannam can tour the home of the university’s founder, which is now a museum, and there are photographs of Western North Carolina in many of the university’s buildings. “You feel like you’re at home,” Petrovich-Mwaniki said.
Another connection between the region and Hannam is John Stiles, who is dean of Hannam’s Linton Global College, the first college in Korea with an English-only curriculum. Stiles, a graduate of the former Sylva-Webster High School, is the son of Sylva businessman Alvin Stiles and his wife, Mary Stiles.
The idea of creating a student/faculty exchange between the two institutions actually got started when James Zhang, a faculty member in WCU’s Kimmel School of Construction Management and Technology, struck up a conversation with Alvin Stiles in his Sylva furniture store, Petrovich-Mwaniki said.
Hamman President Sang-Yoon Lee was accompanied on his visit to WCU by Whan-Koo Kang, Hannam’s dean of global affairs. Their visit included a tour of the campus and dinner with WCU officials, WCU faculty members and students from Korea, and Alvin and Mary Stiles.
Hannam University has an enrollment of about 18,000 students. The Christian university includes 10 colleges and offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.
For more information about the exchange between WCU and Hannam, contact Petrovich-Mwaniki at (828) 227-3433.