 
Seong Yawng Park |
A contribution by Korean business leader and Yale alumnus Seong Yawng Park has established the Kumho Visiting Professorship in Economics.
The new post, which will bring leading economic theorists from around the world for one-year terms of teaching and research, is designed to enhance the prominence of the University's Department of Economics, which is already ranked as one of the nation's top departments in that field.
The permanent endowment is supported in part by Park's affiliates at the Kumho Group -- where he holds the title of honorary chairman -- including Kumho Tire USA, Inc., Asiana Airlines and the Kumho Cultural Foundation in Seoul, South Korea.
President Richard C. Levin, a former chair of the Department of Economics and a personal friend of Park, acknowledged the contribution, saying: "This new endowment reflects a keen insight into how economics is taught and will have a lasting impact on the quality of our teaching and research. Dr. Park has been extremely generous in endowing a visiting professorship that will bring great talent to the Yale classroom."
Park expressed his satisfaction with supporting his alma mater, saying: "Coming to the United States and studying at Yale was an experience that has shaped my entire life. An education at an institution such as Yale is an important opportunity for young people, and I am happy to add to their learning experiences in economics."
David G. Pearce, the Henry Ford II Professor of Economics and department chair, applauded Park's contribution and the impact it will have on Yale's reputation. "An ongoing challenge in any competitive program is to attract the best and brightest faculty and students," said Pearce. "The Kumho Visiting Professorship will draw the most prestigious economists to teach at Yale, including Nobel Prize winners and other recognized scholars, which is a tremendous advantage for recruitment across the department."
Terms of the endowment call for the chair to be filled by a theorist in the areas of micro- and macro-economics, welfare or social choice, or mathematical, monetary and fiscal methods or modeling. The University will name the first Kumho Visiting Professor in the fall of 2002.
An accomplished academician as well as entrepreneur, Park earned his Ph.D. at Yale in 1965 and has taught economics at the University of California at Berkeley Business School. He went on to a successful career in business, building his father's transportation business into one of Korea's top 10 corporate conglomerates. Described as one of Yale's most loyal and generous international alumni, Park is active as a member of the President's Council on International Activities. He has also been a member of the board of advisers for the Yale Economic Growth Center and president of the Yale Club of Korea. A philanthropist with a strong interest in the fine arts and especially music, he has been named a Sterling Fellow in recognition of his generous support to the University.
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