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Peck Cho Honored for
Service
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July 10, 2003--Peck
Cho,
Michigan Tech's unofficial ambassador to Korea, has been
selected to receive the 2003 Distinguished
Service Award.
Since 1996, Cho has created a
virtual highway between Michigan Tech and his native South
Korea. Thanks to his efforts, hundreds of students have come
here for study and research, from graduate students to high
schoolers enrolling in Summer Youth. He has organized an
ongoing summer teaching workshop for Korean high school
teachers and arranged for dozens of MTU faculty and students
to work and study in Korea. Michigan Tech's SAE Mini-Baja team
will compete in Korea this year, due in no small part to Cho's
efforts in finding a $7,000 gift from a Korean
sponsor.
"Our students and faculty have been offered
unique experiences, job opportunities, partners and
collaborators for research, and travel adventures the likes of
which would never have come our way without Peck," said
Shalini Suryanarayana, associate director of educational
opportunity, who nominated Cho for the Distinguished Service
Award. "For this effort, we are all in your
debt."
"He's always generous with his time and
support," she said later. In addition to organizing exchange
programs with Korea, he helps other students navigate MTU's
waters.
"He's mentored a number of students working in
our program," she said. "He has been tireless, without any
expectation of reward.
"That kind of person really
deserves notice."
According to Cho, it was not always
thus. "It started after I came here," he says. "Before that,
everything I did was to establish myself or support my family.
Then I came here, and my wife, Christine, and I met so many
people who were simply serving the community."
The Chos
were so impressed that they considered writing a book about
the area's culture of caring. "Why would they be doing this?
Then I realized it was the lifestyle; it was just how they
lived," he says. "It was amazing."
So Cho tried it
himself, along with his family. "I was trying to emulate
them," he says. "I had the opportunity to go back to Korea,
and it just happened."
"But it's not really just the
Korean thing," he adds. "It's more of a part of larger changes
I wanted to incorporate in my lifestyle."
Suryanarayana
credits Cho's family in part for his dedication to service.
"His whole family is supportive, including Christina, his
wife," she says. "Together, they have given a
lot."
William Predebon, chair of the Department of
Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, says Cho's
program with Korea is just part of the service he brings to
the university.
"He has a passion for teaching, to be
innovative in the classroom," Predebon says. He has helped
develop teaching materials for graduate students, as well as
adding a teaching component to new faculty
orientation.
Cho has received Michigan Tech's
Distinguished Teaching Award twice, in both the assistant
professor and the associate professor/professor categories.
With his wife, he coauthored "Seven Reasons for Korean
Revival: Educational Reform," which has become a leading
how-to book for Koreans on improving their educational system.
This year, he received the annual Parting of the Waters Award
from the Black Students Association for his mentoring
efforts.
Plus, he serves as the university's
ombudsperson, attempting to broker solutions for conflicts
throughout MTU. "That requires someone who can be objective
and compassionate," Predebon said.
Outside of MTU, Cho
is a member of the Lions and Rotary clubs, and his family is
involved with two children, a boy and a girl, through Big
Brothers/Big Sisters.
Yet he still feels he has lessons
to learn. "It was the people of this Houghton community that
awakened us to this lifestyle of service," he says. "I cannot
say I understand them yet. I emulate them, but it hasn't
become me, not yet. Maybe one day, I'll fully become one of
them."
Cho will receive a cash prize of $2,500 and be
honored at President's Convocation, on Sept.
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