South Korean Educator to Serve as AEP Distinguished Professor

Kang will introduce ASU undergraduate students to the two Koreas and their socio-cultural, historical and political viewpoints, which have developed over the past 60 years. He will examine the political economic systems of both North and South Korea and how they deal with internal crises and external challenges. Students will learn cultural aspects of the countries through film, journalism and other media, and the prospects of inter-Korean relations and the relations between the United States and Korea will also be discussed.

AEP established the Distinguished Professor in Residence Program in 1997 to bring to ASU outstanding individuals in a variety of fields for extended interaction with students, faculty, staff and the public. Since the program’s inception, AEP Distinguished Professors have included an Academy Award-winning actor, a renowned novelist, a world-class physicist and a syndicated newspaper columnist.

A full professor at Kyungnam University in South Korea, Kang has served as a visiting professor in the U.S. at Portland State University and the University of California at San Diego. He received his doctorate from the University of New Mexico and a master’s degree from Ohio University.

Previous AEP Distinguished Professors in Residence have included Russian professor of English linguistics Igor Tolochin; concert pianist Frederick Moyer; San Angelo novelist Elmer Kelton; Academy Award-winning actor Karl Malden; world-renowned physicist Jay Davis; former U.S. Ambassador Edward Rowell; E.R. “Dick” Brooks,” former chairman and chief executive officer of Central and South West Corporation; William W. “Bill” Maxwell, syndicated columnist for the St. Petersburg Times; and sports sociologist Dr. Stan Eitzen.

For more information, contact Dr. Sharynn Tomlin, director of the ASU Center for International Studies, at 942-2083.