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Columns::March 25, 2002
India Initiative leads to cooperative biotechnology research agreement
Noted writer appointed first Hamilton Holmes Professor
Governor recognizes emeritus VP’s ‘humanitarian’ effort
Institutional Diversity office officially opens
Campus memorial proposal gets University Council approval
Moving forward: Education professor’s program builds excellence in young men
Campus Closeup
Grady College names King its new department head for PR, advertising
Kudos
Back to school
Something to talk about
Campus News
Han Park is named University Professor
By Phil Williams
phil@franklin.uga.edu
Han S. Park, professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of Global Issues at UGA, has been named
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| Han Park |
University Professor. The professorship recognizes faculty whose “actions as change-agents have improved the quality with which the university serves its missions.”
The appointment was approved earlier this month by the board of regents.
“While I am always humbled by the public recognition of my achievements, I am especially honored to have been distinguished by my own colleagues above so many other deserving scholars,” says Park. “I certainly regard the respect of my peers as the ultimate praise. I consider this great honor as further encouragement for me to continue the cause of educating young minds and helping my institution achieve even higher levels of academic excellence.”
In his letter nominating Park for the honor, Thomas Lauth, interim dean of the School of Public and International Affairs and head of the department of political science, had high praise.
“Since Han Park began his academic career at the University of Georgia in 1970 as an assistant professor, he has had a long-term and significant impact on the university,” wrote Lauth.
During the decade of the 1990s, Park worked to improve the relationship between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He has a continuing record of humanitarian work with Uniting Families, Inc., and has served as an expert analyst for CNN International, PBS and ABC-TV News.
“Han Park has been an exemplary faculty member, and his achievements on the national and international stage have brought great honor to the university and the state of Georgia,” says Wyatt Anderson, dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. “We are very pleased that Han has received this honor.” (Park’s department, political science, is located within the Franklin College until this summer, when it will join the newly created School of Public and International Affairs.)
Park is the founder and president of Uniting Families,a non-profit humanitarian organization that helps to unite North Korean and South Korean families separated during the Cold War. He has been instrumental in reuniting several hundred families in that area of northeast Asia since 1985.
He has also earned the confidence of the governments of North Korea and South Korea and is one of the few individuals who can travel freely to both countries. As director of UGA’s Center for the Study of Global Issues, Park has organized four major conferences bringing high-level delegations from North Korea to UGA during the mid and late ’90s. He received a certificate of appreciation from President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea for helping with a historic summit between the two countries in June 2000.
“I have been focused entirely on Korean affairs these last 12 years, and I would place Dr. Park at the absolute top of the list of those I have encountered who have worked to develop better understanding between North Korea and the United States, and between North and South Korea,” says Donald P. Gregg, chairman of the Korea Society in New York City. “I have appeared . . . with Dr. Park on many occasions and [his] performances have always been superb. [He] is a uniquely valuable interpreter of that obscure and dangerous nation.”
Over the years, Park has provided analysis and been interviewed by such newspapers as The New York Times, USA Today, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Asahi Shimbun in Japan.
In the classroom, Park has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in comparative politics, contemporary global issues, Far Eastern political systems and much more. He has directed nine doctoral dissertations, and as director of Globis initiated UGA’s undergraduate study-abroad program in Kyoto, Japan, and expanded and enhanced the study-abroad program in Verona, Italy.
A native of South Korea, Park received his bachelor’s degree from Seoul National University in 1963, his master’s from the American University in 1967, and a doctorate from the University of Minnesota in 1971.
Appointment as a University Professor carries a permanent salary increase of $10,000 and a yearly academic support fund of $5,000. The appointment lasts until resignation or retirement.
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