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Emory University last week doled out three annual awards to faculty and alumni helping to drive the global integration leaders said remains essential to its international standing.
Returning more than 30 years after he was greeted with a thunderstorm on his first night on campus was Kim Woo-taek, the founder of Next Entertainment World, or NEW, a diversified media company with six business units and 400 employees based in Seoul.
“I still feel at home,” said Mr. Kim, accepting the Sheth Distinguished Alumni Award at Emory’s Convocation Hall, the late-afternoon sun beating down on some attendees through high windows.
Known for hit movies like Train to Busan, NEW specializes in the production of movies and television content that is “both entertaining and thought-provoking for global audiences,” Mr. Lee said.
As an example, Train to Busan is more than an action flick; it’s a commentary on social issues like poverty and classism, universal themes that can resonate beyond its home country, he said.
That desire — to produce movies and television with meaning that surpasses simple entertainment value — was ultimately what inspired Mr. Kim’s entrepreneurial journey.
“I wanted to simply amplify stories that could move people’s heart, show how we are all connected to one another and promote a common ground amongst different communities. This desire ultimately led me to building my own company,” Mr. Kim said.
With “K-content” taking the entertainment world by storm, he sees a newfound “responsibility” for his company and for South Korea in general.
Mr. Kim’s time earning an MBA at Emory’s Goizueta Business School, though short, was impactful, giving him the skills and self-awareness that “set the course” for his business career. Beyond that, he also met his wife at the university — his is a true Emory family, he said.
“My time at Emory was one of the happiest and most meaningful periods in my life,” Mr. Kim said.
The award comes at an opportune moment in Emory’s outreach to South Korea, one of its five strategic countries. A delegation led by President Gregory Fenves last fall renewed the school’s partnership with the prestigious Yonsei University, and a group of MBA students from the Goizueta school will visit the country this spring.
Brazilian identity and global research
Brazil also took center stage at the ceremony as the focus of Jeffrey Lesser’s research on immigrant identity.
Dr. Lesser is an internationally renowned scholar on the subject, having written multiple books on how Arab, Jewish and Japanese immigrants have understood their roles in Brazilian society.
Brazilian Consul General Luis Claudio Santos, who was on hand to see Dr. Lesser receive the Creekmore Award for Internationalization, told Global Atlanta he’d cited the Emory professor in his own scholarly work on history, the department in which Dr. Lesser has an endowed professorship.
Dr. Lesser’s nomination was backed by more than 30 faculty members and received three letters of support. He was recognized for mentorship, particularly his role as co-administrator on 20 doctoral dissertations, as well as for his leadership on campus, where he’s helmed Emory’s Latin American studies and Jewish studies initiatives in the past.
In his current role as faculty director of the Halle Institute for Global Research, he has focused on expanding research funding and programming, with the center’s provision of grants for non-citizen scholars who may not qualify for other funds as a particular point of pride.
In brief remarks, Dr. Lesser said he was flattered by comments in support of his own research partnerships around the world, but that he had also been sharpened by his engagement with graduate and undergraduate students through the Halle Institute.
“Together, all of them have made me a better scholar and teacher. This means that the Creekmore award is a collective award — it’s not just me — so it’s really about all Emory’s researchers, be they students or faculty, who show every year that academic excellence emerges when research and teaching are placed at the pinnacle of Emory’s global engagement.”
Welcoming international students
Kicking off the ceremony with the International Outreach Award was Daphne Orr, director of international student programs at Emory’s Oxford College.
Ms. Orr started teaching English as a second language 30 years ago and joined Emory after a Fulbright scholarship in Germany in 2014.
She takes particular pride in welcoming international students to Emory and ensuring that they’re well integrated into the life of the university, especially given that her late mother was an immigrant and that they shared a passion for understanding varied cultural experiences.
Many undergraduates, especially international students, spend their first two years at Emory’s Oxford College east of Atlanta before matriculating to the main campus, she said.
“They’re about 18-19 years old when they arrive. And they are bright-eyed and eager and vulnerable and excited and ambitious and hopeful and positive and full of this really infectious spirit to do good in this world — and I get to witness that part. of their journey with them.”
The event started with recorded remarks from Ravi Bellamkonda, provost and vice president for academic affairs, followed by an introduction from Philip Wainwright, vice provost for global strategy and initiatives.
“As a university with an international reputation and a growing presence on the world stage, it is critical that we are so appreciate the diverse initiatives by individual people who are advancing our institution,” Dr. Wainwright said. These efforts are the “building blocks” of Emory’s international success.
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