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He's the new force driving the programs division of the Office of International Students and Scholars: Meet Andrew Hong By
Leon D'souza
Andrew Hong / Photo by Leon D'souza Andrew Hong is a man of vision. Habitually vivacious and brimming with great ideas, Hong works behind the scenes to create programs that add value to Utah State University. This soft-spoken genius from Korea is the latest addition to the Office of International Students and Scholars. As programs coordinator, Hong works to promote interaction between international students and the rest of the campus community. Advancing international understanding and goodwill is at the heart of his mission. "In this complex and diverse world, it is critical to educate our students to understand others better," he said. But Hong does a lot more than what his job description requires. He chases the big picture. Hong recently spoke to the Hard News Café about his new job, the challenges involved in international education, the recently launched Utah Friends of International Students, the International Student Council and Aggie Ice Cream. Find out what makes this guy an important member of the OISS team. HNC: You're a new addition to the Office of International Students and Scholars. As Programs Coordinator, what are your responsibilities? My job is to oversee many international student activities and community outreach programs. I understand that international students are at USU primarily for academic reasons - to get a degree. But individual learning and experiences go beyond the classroom. This is an age of globalism, which requires integration of global thinking and local action. Whether we like it or not, we are living in an interconnected world politically, economically, and culturally. In this complex and diverse world, it is critical to educate our students to understand others better. This need applies to domestic as well as international students. As part of the grand goal, we try to integrate the international student community with the associated student body and the local community. That's what I try to do in my job. HNC: What has been your experience thus far in working with the USU community, particularly the international student community? I am pleased to inform you that there is a renewed effort being made to mainstream the international student community. Recently, ASUSU initiated a dialogue with international students. The objective of this dialogue is to create programs that will allow international students on campus an opportunity to be heard. This is really an interesting development and is likely to have a positive impact on campus. As for the international community itself, more focused and sustained leadership is needed to create vibrant interactions between country associations. HNC: What is your vision for the OISS? What role do you see this office playing in the development of international programs at the university? First, the traditional role of International Student Services has to be transformed. The traditional role of the office is to take care of immigration matters for international students. That is basic. Today, the role should be expanded to coincide with changes in the world. The International Office has so many untapped resources that can be harnessed for the betterment of the university. International alumni come to mind. We have a vast amount of information about our international alumni, and this information is not adequately utilized for scholarship, fund-raising or recruitment. A while ago, President Hall declared in his inaugural speech that upgrading the graduate program is one of the university's top priorities. Our office can make a significant contribution to that end through strategic recruitment of international graduate students. Many prominent graduate programs in the US maintain their reputation by recruiting top-notch international students. Several plans are under consideration to boost undergraduate enrollment. HNC: Aggie Ice Cream is now in Korea. You made this happen. Tell us how. Well, I did not initiate this venture. It was a Korean student who was doing his graduate work here at USU, named Duk-Man Lee who first thought of the idea of selling Aggie Ice Cream in Korea. I was not surprised considering the fine quality of Aggie Ice Cream. There are many who worked hard to make Aggie Ice Cream successful in Korea -- Don McMahon, Steve Larsen, Russ Price, and President Cho. We all work as a team. My role is to make sure that business plans of both USU and Aggie Korea merge smoothly so that each party will derive maximum benefit. Aggie Ice Cream is doing many good things in Korea. The presence of USU in Korea will be tremendously strengthened, which will have a spillover effect on recruitment. USU has many excellent academic programs, but has been rather inactive in selling its programs. Aggie Ice Cream may become a powerful tool for selling USU in Korea in view of its ten-fold expansion plan in 2002. We have to use all available avenues to promote our university. HNC: What has been your involvement with the International Student Council? I am an adviser to the International Student Council, which consists of more than 50 country representatives. One of my most memorable experiences was last year's ISC election. I worked diligently to mobilize each and every country representative to attend the meeting to elect the officers of the ISC. When they gathered at the Senate Chamber of ASUSU and conducted the meeting, it literally resembled the United Nations. It was the first time I saw so many country representatives discuss, debate, and even argue for and against the issues put on their table. It was very heartening to see them all so involved. HNC: International students at USU have remained a fairly isolated group for the past several years. How do you plan to mainstream the international student community? There are two ways to deal with the isolation of international students: one is to work with ASUSU to include the international student body as part of ASUSU; the other is to devise an incentive to promote inter-country interactions. Discussions are underway to introduce an international student representative as a non-voting member of ASUSU. Another initiative involves the creation of a Student Facilitation Board comprising six students; three from ASUSU, three from the ISC. Many issues will be channeled through this board. We are fortunate to have active members of the international student community who work to create a more diverse and integrated campus. As for the inter-country interactions, currently there are no activities that are jointly held by more than two countries, meaning that international students do not affiliate with someone outside of their group. Most actives are tailored to students from a particular country. This must change. Different countries represented on campus must work together. HNC: Tell us about the recently launched Utah Friends of International Students. This is something new for international students. One of our Indian students came up with the idea. The goal of this project is to promote USU as a more caring and sharing community. Many international students need help in furnishing their rooms and kitchens, particularly when they first arrive on campus. If we can have space to store donated items, such as tables, chairs, furniture, kitchen items, beddings, etc., and if the items can be freely taken and utilized by some of the international students, we are demonstrating a greater concern for these students. This is what UFIS tries to do. The faculty, staff, and students of USU may donate any items for this purpose. Those interested in donating anything can contact the OISS at 797-1124. We already have two international students working on this particular project. Please join us! HNC: Something you would like everyone to know . . . One of the challenges of being an international student at USU is
the difficulty of establishing good connections when you are a newcomer.
All international students are newcomers and are struggling to adapt
to new physical, psychological, and cultural environments. We should
work together to create an environment on campus in which everyone feels
that they are welcome. |
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