A Semester in Seoul
By Dr. Carl Holladay
Last fall, when I accepted an invitation to teach during the 2008
spring term at Yonsei University in Seoul, I knew that I would
be deepening already strong ties with a Korean university much
like Emory. A highly selective private university, Yonsei is sometimes
called one of Korea’s “SKY” universities, along
with the two major public universities, Seoul National University
and Korea University. Like Emory, it comprises a strong undergraduate
college surrounded by a complex network of highly regarded professional
schools.
With about 36,000 students – 25,000 undergraduates and 11,000
graduates – Yonsei has a larger student body than Emory.
Both universities occupy attractive, beautifully landscaped campuses
in the heart of major cities. Both campuses reflect the vitality
and energy of their respective urban settings.
Having taught at Emory for almost thirty years, I was aware not
only of the sizeable Korean community in Atlanta and the vital
role it has played in both the city and region, but also of Emory’s
long history with Korea. Through this visit, however, I gained
a greater appreciation for the depth of this relationship.
At a reception for visiting international scholars hosted by Dr.
Han-Joong Kim, the recently appointed president of Yonsei, I met
Dean Young Moon Chae of the Graduate School of Public Health.
Upon learning that I was from Emory, he told me about Yun Ch’i-Ho,
his grandfather several generations removed, who attended Emory
College at Oxford in the 1890s. Among other things, this fascinating
Korean has the distinction of being Emory’s first international
student. His Emory education helped launch a life of political
activism and public service in Korea that was fueled by deep religious
convictions.
To seal this historic connection, in 1990 Emory’s Manuscript,
Archives, and Rare Book Library obtained Yun Ch’i-Ho’s
papers, including his personal diaries from 1883 through 1943,
along with a holograph copy of the Korean National Anthem, which
he composed. Before my trip to Korea, little did I realize that
in this collection Emory possesses a treasure trove of papers
that give a rare glimpse of modern Korean history caught by one
of its most distinguished alumni.
My visiting professorship was located in Underwood International
College, which was established in 2005. Named after Horace G.
Underwood, a Presbyterian missionary who came to Korea in the
1880s and laid the groundwork for founding Yonsei, UIC has a bold
vision: it seeks to become the premier center in East Asia for
English-based education in the humanities and liberal arts. In
charting this path, UIC is challenging the heavy emphasis on technical
and pre-professional education that characterizes many Asian universities.
Under the energetic leadership of Dean Jongryn Mo, a Stanford-trained
political economist, UIC is aggressively recruiting international
faculty and students. The permanent faculty includes Korean professors
drawn from other Yonsei departments along with recently appointed
faculty with graduate degrees from prestigious universities all
over the world. Equally important to the mix are visiting professors
from other countries. To match the richness of this international
faculty, UIC is also attracting students from countries all over
Asia as well as from Europe, Africa, and North and South America.
In my upper-level seminar, I had students from Korea, Uruguay,
Indonesia, China and the United States.
My appointment to the Underwood Distinguished Visiting Professorship,
which honors the family whose history has been intertwined with
Yonsei for over a century, grew out of a visit to Emory last year
by then-president of Yonsei, Dr. Chang Young Jung, and Dean Mo.
Earlier, in November, 2005, President James Wagner, Provost Earl
Lewis, and Vice Provost for International Affairs Holli Semetko,
had paid a similar visit to Yonsei. These conversations generated
renewed interest in strengthening the long-standing relationship
between Emory and Yonsei.
Eager to explore forms of mutual enrichment between our two universities,
Dean Mo offered this opportunity to Candler School of Theology.
This was an appropriate gesture since the professorship is sponsored
by Saemoonan Presbyterian Church in Seoul, which was begun by
Horace Underwood in 1887.
Other visiting professors were also at Yonsei last spring. The
acclaimed novelist, Chang-rae Lee, who directs the program in
creative writing at Princeton, taught a course and gave a public
lecture in the Underwood International Forum titled “Creativity
and Undergraduate Education.” Through this forum, UIC students
get to hear visiting international scholars lecture on a wide
variety of topics, ranging from political science to literary
criticism.
Dean Mo had told me when I accepted the appointment that I would
be expected to lecture in this forum. My topic was “Albert
Schweitzer’s Jesus: Crushed on the Wheel of History.”
Many Korean students learn in grammar school about Schweitzer
as a world humanitarian. They were surprised to learn that he
was also an eminent musician and theologian.
It was interesting for me to see how the UIC administration and
faculty related to their students. In one presentation, Dean Mo
urged the students to develop a truly global perspective as they
shaped their programs of study. Parochial attitudes stamped by
strong nationalistic interests and loyalties, he insisted, had
to be replaced with broader visions. Rather than thinking primarily
in terms of Korea vis-à-vis Japan and China, he invited
them to envision East Asia as the region in which they would spend
their working careers. To “make it” in the larger
global world of the 21st century, he reminded them, it will not
be enough to be bi-lingual; they must strive to become quad-lingual,
having facility in Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese.
At a day-long convocation for all UIC students, Dean Chung Min
Lee of the Graduate School of International Studies, gave a stirring
address in which he predicted that most of them would have not
one but three careers over their professional life time. He challenged
them to develop over the next few decades a network of international
contacts spanning several continents. He spoke about success but
insisted that with educational and economic privilege comes responsibility.
Their goal, he said, should be knowledge with conscience.
I returned from this experience with a much greater appreciation
of Korean-American relationships and of the historic ties between
Yonsei and Emory. With some imaginative planning and close collaborative
work, both universities can continue to help each other realize
their global educational visions and deepen their impact on two
closely-linked societies.
Carl Holladay, PhD is a Charles Howard Candler Professor of New
Testament at the Candler School of Theology.
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