On Monday, September 17, IU President Michael A. McRobbie, Vice President for International Affairs Hannah Buxbaum, IKS Director Seung-kyung Kim and their fellow IU delegation members traveled to a satellite city just outside Seoul to meet with representatives of the Academy of Korean Studies – including new President Byung-ook Ahn – to thank them for their support of the institute and discuss future funding opportunities.
The IU delegation spent the rest of the day at Yonsei University, sharing a meet-and-greet with IU students studying abroad there this semester, as well as meeting with Yonsei President Young-Hak Kim and former secretary-general of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon. Ban now serves as honorary chairman at Yonsei University’s Institute for Global Engagement and Empowerment, which is directing various university expertise and resources toward addressing major challenges such as climate change, poverty and inequality. A positive discussion ensued about reinvigorating the partnership between IU and Yonsei, seeking new opportunities for collaboration and cooperation, and working collectively to build – to borrow from Ban – “better global citizens.”