Proud Alumni
UAlbany opened a world of career opportunities for Taeck-soo Chun and Ae-kyung Choi.
After earning a doctorate in economics under the direction of Distinguished Professor Kajal Lahiri, Chun returned to the Republic of Korea to teach at Bukyung National University in Busan, then at the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) near Seoul. Now a professor emeritus at AKS, he became president of the Korea Association of Cultural Economics and, in 2008, was named Secretary General of the Korean National Commission for UNESCO (UNESCO Korea).
Chun is proud of his role in advancing Bridge of Hope. He notes, “80 percent of Korean people could not read or write in 1945,” but within 15 years, 80 percent had cultivated literacy skills. During the 1950s and ’60s, UNESCO Korea encouraged college students to spend their vacations in the country’s rural areas and work with local populations to improve the literacy rate, which now exceeds 99 percent.
Eager to share that success, Chun teamed with Samsung Electronics and the Korean government to expand Bridge of Hope to Africa. “UNESCO Korea dispatched college graduates to Zambia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, and Lesotho in 2010 to root out illiteracy and mobilize [the people] to apply the lessons to their rural societies.” The program “is still going well.”
In 2011, convinced by his research that “creativity is the most important driving force for personal development, and is nurtured by artistic activity and art appreciation from early childhood,” Chun proposed that UNESCO honor arts education. Since 2012, “every member country celebrates International Arts Education Week during the fourth week of May,” he notes.
Choi is a professor of international office administration at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. (“Ewha” translates to “pear blossoms.”) Founded in 1886 by American missionary Mary Scranton, “the largest university for women in the world” boasts a student body of more than 25,000 and uses the spelling “Womans” to ensure that each student is treated as a unique individual. During her 30 years there, Choi has taught; served as dean of the College of Science & Industry Convergence and of University Relations; and directed the Human Resource Development Center. In addition, she has initiated a collaboration with local government to boost students’ start-up businesses; established a personalized scholarship-funds system; and published more than 60 papers and books in the areas of business and work ethics, human-resource development, and leadership. Currently in Albany on sabbatical, Choi is writing a book, Human Relations at Work, a topic “more important than ever before.”
To express gratitude for his guidance in helping to shape her career, she also plans to see her mentor and dissertation adviser, UAlbany Distinguished Alumnus and International Center for Leadership in Education Founder and Chair Willard Daggett, Ed.D. Choi interned for Daggett at the New York State Education Department.
Chun, who joined his wife for the trip, looks forward to a reunion with Lahiri, who served on his dissertation committee with now-retired faculty Terrence Kinal and Bruce Dieffenbach. “They understood me and supported my ideas.”
“We are grateful to UAlbany for giving us the opportunity to study here,” adds Choi. “We are proud alumni.”
The couple’s daughter, Sang Ah Chun, is a Ph.D. student at UAlbany’s School of Social Welfare.
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