Cho Named to Korean National Academy of Engineering
Peck Cho has been inducted
into the National Academy of Engineering in Korea.
At 45, he is the youngest
person to be elected to the academy and one of only 22 overseas members.
This is the latest in a series of honors he has received from engineering
societies, including the Outstanding Teaching Award from the American
Society of Engineering Education, the Teetor Educational Award from the
Society of Automotive Engineering and the Outstanding Service Award from
the Korean Society of Engineering Education.
Cho, Michigan Tech's
ombudsperson and a professor of mechanical engineering, was honored for
his efforts in the field of education. For the last decade, he has
consulted, cajoled and cheered for educational reform in his native Korea,
with the goal of instituting the best practices in American education
while sidestepping its mistakes.
Among his efforts, he has
brought more than 100 Korean engineering students to MTU, developed an
exchange program for student groups and provided opportunities for a dozen
Michigan Tech faculty to deliver seminars and mini-courses in
Korea.
"Asia's universities are
waking up from deep, deep slumber and are trying to reform," Cho said.
"They are now struggling to stay competitive and relevant to the national
interest."
Ten years ago, Cho predicted
the recession that struck Asian economies in the mid-1990s, blaming an
educational system that stifled creativity and initiative. Their
respective higher-ed establishments have recognized the need for change,
Cho said, but their typical response reinforces old social and educational
hierarchies and will do little to boost Asian economies to a position of
international leadership.
"The strategy they usually
adopt is to stress graduate research at the expense of undergraduate
education, exactly when societal changes demand that institutions of
higher learning provide quality education."
In addition to writing four
books on the subject, including "Seven Reasons for Korean Revival:
Educational Reform" (coauthored with his wife) and "New Teaching
Techniques," Cho has been featured on several Korean radio and television
talk shows, written newspaper columns and spoken before dozens of
conferences. He has lobbied for the creation of learning centers, better
teacher training and the abandonment of the memorize-what's-on-the-board
style of teaching. And his weekly e-mail newsletter on teaching reaches
more than 7,000 subscribers.
These efforts have met with
some success. About 30 Korean universities are considering establishing
centers for teaching, and for many teacher training is now a requirement
for new faculty.
"What I've been able to do is
articulate why we must invest in quality education and then show them how
it can be done," Cho said.
Jang Gyu Lee is chair of
foreign affairs for the Korean National Academy of Engineering and a
professor at Seoul National University's School of Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science, where Cho has been a frequent guest lecturer.
"Dr. Cho has made so many
contributions to Korean academic society that I'm afraid I can only
describe his work partially," Lee said. "With the e-letters, he strongly
influences the Korean academic community to strengthen education.
"You know, Korea tends to
follow American universities in which faculty members put research in
front of education," Lee noted. "College education has steadily
deteriorated. Many Korean professors tell me that they follow the
suggestions made by Dr. Cho and improve the quality of their
teaching.
"I deeply appreciate Dr.
Cho's contributions for that."
Now his message is beginning
to spread beyond the borders of Korea.
Cho has been invited to
present at international conferences in Australia and Singapore, as well
as to serve on the editorial board of the Engineering Education Journal,
published by the Association of Engineering Education for South East Asia
and the Pacific.
"Change takes a long time
here in the U.S.," Cho said. "Over there, everything is moving so fast. .
. . I expect to see big changes in the next five or 10 years."
Asian nations have been
immensely successful in developing industrial economies, Cho said. If they
can re-tool their educational systems for the Information Age, the West
could find its economic preeminence challenged once again.
If Asia is roused out of this
"deep, deep slumber," American universities could be in for an awakening
of their own.
