A Discussion with Young (Rosa) A. Seo, Professor, Sogang University, Seoul, South Korea
With: Young (Rosa) A. Seo Berkley Center Profile
May 13, 2015
Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in May 2015
undergraduate student Dana Drecksel interviewed Young (Rosa) A. Seo, a
professor who works in conjunction with the Ignatius Center for Human
Development at Sogang University. In this interview (conducted partially via a translator),
Seo discusses social service initiatives on campus and the role of the Ignatius
Center within the university community.
So my first question
is, could you please tell me a little bit about the social service programs
that are available for students here on campus?
Well, we have some community service programs, and they are provided directly by the university, but they are quite limited. For activities here in Seoul, and in the province in Korea, we are relatively intermediate in opportunities. We will get information for activities that are provided by some institutes, some companies, some NGOs, and we will collect the information and give it to students: leading them to websites, or getting fliers and distributing them to students here, so that they will be well provided with the information.
But then we have some programs that directly get students to take-in. It’s probably more of an outreach program, and it’s both in Cambodia and Philippines.
We offer international volunteer programs two times each year. For summer session, it is the Philippines, and for winter session, it is Cambodia. They spend time for one month, four weeks, so students can stay there. We also have cooperation with Jesuit universities in the Philippines and Cambodia. We join with them: for example, we have joined the hospital in Phnom Penh. We visit the community service center and do their volunteer services with them for one week. In total, it’s going to be four weeks, or one month. Sogang University offers this sort of program for the students.
It’s using the natural Jesuit foundation, the Jesuit church in local communities. So we get a lot of help from the institutes, and the missionaries, living in that region. That’s why we could build and forge the program more easily than could other universities. Some other universities had trouble building and developing these programs, while here at Sogang, we have a lot of natural help.
That’s wonderful! Do a lot of students participate in these programs?
The winter program for Cambodia was first offered in 2005. The summer program for Cambodia was first offered in 2010.
Our goal is about 20 students per year, and it is 10 for the first half, and then 10 for the second half.
Oh, okay, and does a professor or some sort of faculty or administrator from Sogang go with the students?
Yeah, sure. In terms of faculty, they are going to go together with the students. Two or four faculty members will join the students. They are a sort of liaison. And while being there, we have lots of helpers to help and run the program.
Another thing is that we have some classes for students to complete some community service. For example, we are running a class—no, two classes—one in Korean, one in English, which give exchange students the opportunity to take in some volunteer work.
We have class every two weeks, so there are 16 total classes. For eight classes, I’ll give them a chance to do their community service in a community service center, or they can choose anywhere. If they are interested in helping study, and offering assistance, then they can go there to do that sort of activity. And it depends on the student. But anyway, they have a chance to do their community service for eight times, and we have class for eight times too. So during the class, I’m going to give them the basic concept for community service, to help give them the knowledge to help them with their community service.
That’s great! Do they get to choose what sort of community service they do?
Yes, they can choose any place. But some students cannot choose the place, like the community service center, because they don’t have enough resources. In that case, I’m going to give my recommendation for that student.
Great. What are some examples of things that students have done in the past?
Mostly mentoring and tutoring. At this school, we have a few types of community service centers. I introduced that program for helping disabled people, or the starving and giving them lunch, and for disabled people and doing their chores, and they can work together with them.
This class was intended to encourage students to engage more and more with community service. This year, we made a new class, and it’s more concerned with social justice here. It’s a project to increase participation in social justice. In there, we have a priest who will give us more lectures about social justice and the current situation, about how unequal the people are now, and about what kind of stuff we can do to make this world better. And then they are getting some type of opportunity to make some plan by themselves to do something to make this world better. Instructors are there as a kind of coach to guide them, and help them when they have a problem in the procedure. And in the later part, I’ve heard, we have a presentation that sums up all the activities, what they have done, how they have felt in the process, in the classes. So now we are developing more the community service to social justice, to awaken some students to think more and to broaden their perspectives about this field.
That’s wonderful. As far as the required curriculum at Sogang goes, are students required to complete any service-oriented or social justice-like classes?
I will say that in the curriculum here, we have to complete at least two courses on philosophy. And philosophy often includes problems on justice and equity, so I think that would differentiate Sogang’s curriculum from others. Since I’m in the Department of Political Science, I’m not sure if it applies to other departments, but we at least have to take one course that is related to this goal. And in the business school, their mission is ambitious; their mission statement is to build and foster people who are excellent in their ability to have humanitarian-like thinking. I think you would get more information from each department, or enlist in the business school, which is quite enthusiastic right now to make a new curriculum that is directly related to social justice.
That’s wonderful. So, what sort of goals or mission are you trying to accomplish with the social service programs?
Actually, I work for the Ignatius Center for Human Development, but our center has the ideal that is “a person for others, and with others.” That is our goal. That’s why we have these types of programs, to make our goals.
Could you tell me a little bit about the Ignatius Center for Human Development? I don’t know much about it.
The center initially started from the Center for Community Service, and it enlarged to become the Center for Human Development now. So when we were the Center for Community Service, it was pretty much the center that encouraged students to have more community service. But then we had another idea, to develop students not only for community service, but from other aspects other than regular curriculum here. Now we have another division in the center. Here, we call it a “non-curricular tract,” or “non-curriculum procedure.” It provides different programs to enlarge the students’ understanding about the world, their understanding about humanity, and their understanding about their life, and to awaken them to find their ultimate goal. So it includes various aspects of the program.
We started this as we were entitled to be part of a program of the Korean Ministry of Education. It is A-C-E, ACE. It is the Advancement of College Education. The goal of the program is to achieve some advancement of college education, and it includes not only based on the curriculum that they are taught, like if they are in the Department of Economics they are studying economics, but it’s not enough, you know? They need more than that to understand this world. So this was the government that initiated this program. As we were entitled to be part of the program, we started this non-curriculum tract. The ACE program has some attributes of sectors or programs, so we followed the steps to initiate the programs. For example, we had special lectures or seminars from big names in various fields. We had fathers and monks who taught us something about their experience overseas with community service. And we had artists and businessmen who taught lectures of their respective understanding on their career. That was one of the main programs of the non-curriculum tract.
We also had another program that gives some students the idea of being an entrepreneur, by building in them and forging in them a spirit of entrepreneurship. So we had this competition, or contest, opened here at Sogang. We picked some students, and got them to participate and to submit a proposal, or plan a statement about their new business or start-up. We had this, but again, in part of this program, we not only gave them pros and cons about their business, but afforded them an opportunity to make this business and change the world. That’s why we provide them the special lectures and some guidelines.
Before the ACE programs, the name of the center was Sogang Community Service Center. After we uploaded the other programs, we changed the name of the center. So that’s why it’s called the Ignatius Center for Human Development.
When did that transition happen?
2008. Well, 2008 to 2009.
Have you seen a big transition in the center since that time?
As far as the budget and the expansion of the program goes, it is quite larger than before. We are waiting for the second term of the ACE; we are now in audit, to get permission from the government for the second term of ACE. The result, they will tell us how well Sogang was under the first term of the ACE program, but we are quite sure that we were successful. It is more than just successful, I would think.
How do they judge whether or not you were “successful” under the first ACE program?
The number of the participants, the number of projects, the final proposals, the final program report. They will see these things and evaluate how things were. We need to summarize everything about the program.
How do you feel that Sogang did compared to the other universities around Korea?
I think we did well, and I hope so at the same time.
Looking at other universities, there was a big boom in about 2010 and 2011. Every school in Seoul and the other provinces made some sort of outreach program to go to some overseas countries, or go to some rural provinces here. But now, I think that boom is gone; universities are trying to change the trend to LINK. I’m not sure the acronym, but now it’s LINK that many universities are trying to foster. LINK is another project from the government; it is like ACE, but from another ministry… I think the Ministry of Education and Ministry of the Labor do this at the same time. It is to help every undergraduate develop the ability to get into society more quickly. It is a lot different; you can see it is a lot different, as it is more based on the understanding of industries and businesses. So now, more schools are likely to change their style, like, understand industry more, and develop students’ ability to go quickly into companies.
I think that Sogang—though we have the LINK program here as well — we are founded by Jesuits, and the Church, and we tend to maintain our past trend to foster students to develop their morality and have some responsibility in this world, while at the same time having the core competence to go into industry. I think that’s the main difference that we have now.
That’s great, thank you so much. Those are all the questions I have for you right now; is there anything else you want to add?
Here, to make a better understanding for the Ignatius Center for Human Development, think of a central tower of community service and non-curricular tract. As a central tower of community service, we not only provide information about every community service in the surrounding area, but we take some control of some small social clubs, and some Greek societies here, to manage their volunteer work here—bi-annually and annually. Sometimes we provide funds for them. We support the activities of clubs.
Some societies belong to the school ministry, while others are not directly connected to any division but are enrolled as regular clubs at Sogang. Here, we used to have more relation to the school ministry, but as we expand more, we kind of have more independence and more autonomy to work. Of course we have a budget. So it is quite complicated to say that here in this part we belong to the school ministry, but in other parts, we are more connected to the ACE programs. It’s a kind of combination that we have right now. But from six societies, we have Alpha Sigma Nu.
Yes, we actually have that at Georgetown as well! So that’s one of the six… What are some of the others?
We have a club that is specialized to give performance to some institutes, like the local community center, or non-organizational centers. And then we have clubs that do various works. And that’s it!
Wow! Well, this was really insightful. Sogang University and the Ignatius Center for Human Development have a lot to be proud of!
Well, we have some community service programs, and they are provided directly by the university, but they are quite limited. For activities here in Seoul, and in the province in Korea, we are relatively intermediate in opportunities. We will get information for activities that are provided by some institutes, some companies, some NGOs, and we will collect the information and give it to students: leading them to websites, or getting fliers and distributing them to students here, so that they will be well provided with the information.
But then we have some programs that directly get students to take-in. It’s probably more of an outreach program, and it’s both in Cambodia and Philippines.
We offer international volunteer programs two times each year. For summer session, it is the Philippines, and for winter session, it is Cambodia. They spend time for one month, four weeks, so students can stay there. We also have cooperation with Jesuit universities in the Philippines and Cambodia. We join with them: for example, we have joined the hospital in Phnom Penh. We visit the community service center and do their volunteer services with them for one week. In total, it’s going to be four weeks, or one month. Sogang University offers this sort of program for the students.
It’s using the natural Jesuit foundation, the Jesuit church in local communities. So we get a lot of help from the institutes, and the missionaries, living in that region. That’s why we could build and forge the program more easily than could other universities. Some other universities had trouble building and developing these programs, while here at Sogang, we have a lot of natural help.
That’s wonderful! Do a lot of students participate in these programs?
The winter program for Cambodia was first offered in 2005. The summer program for Cambodia was first offered in 2010.
Our goal is about 20 students per year, and it is 10 for the first half, and then 10 for the second half.
Oh, okay, and does a professor or some sort of faculty or administrator from Sogang go with the students?
Yeah, sure. In terms of faculty, they are going to go together with the students. Two or four faculty members will join the students. They are a sort of liaison. And while being there, we have lots of helpers to help and run the program.
Another thing is that we have some classes for students to complete some community service. For example, we are running a class—no, two classes—one in Korean, one in English, which give exchange students the opportunity to take in some volunteer work.
We have class every two weeks, so there are 16 total classes. For eight classes, I’ll give them a chance to do their community service in a community service center, or they can choose anywhere. If they are interested in helping study, and offering assistance, then they can go there to do that sort of activity. And it depends on the student. But anyway, they have a chance to do their community service for eight times, and we have class for eight times too. So during the class, I’m going to give them the basic concept for community service, to help give them the knowledge to help them with their community service.
That’s great! Do they get to choose what sort of community service they do?
Yes, they can choose any place. But some students cannot choose the place, like the community service center, because they don’t have enough resources. In that case, I’m going to give my recommendation for that student.
Great. What are some examples of things that students have done in the past?
Mostly mentoring and tutoring. At this school, we have a few types of community service centers. I introduced that program for helping disabled people, or the starving and giving them lunch, and for disabled people and doing their chores, and they can work together with them.
This class was intended to encourage students to engage more and more with community service. This year, we made a new class, and it’s more concerned with social justice here. It’s a project to increase participation in social justice. In there, we have a priest who will give us more lectures about social justice and the current situation, about how unequal the people are now, and about what kind of stuff we can do to make this world better. And then they are getting some type of opportunity to make some plan by themselves to do something to make this world better. Instructors are there as a kind of coach to guide them, and help them when they have a problem in the procedure. And in the later part, I’ve heard, we have a presentation that sums up all the activities, what they have done, how they have felt in the process, in the classes. So now we are developing more the community service to social justice, to awaken some students to think more and to broaden their perspectives about this field.
That’s wonderful. As far as the required curriculum at Sogang goes, are students required to complete any service-oriented or social justice-like classes?
I will say that in the curriculum here, we have to complete at least two courses on philosophy. And philosophy often includes problems on justice and equity, so I think that would differentiate Sogang’s curriculum from others. Since I’m in the Department of Political Science, I’m not sure if it applies to other departments, but we at least have to take one course that is related to this goal. And in the business school, their mission is ambitious; their mission statement is to build and foster people who are excellent in their ability to have humanitarian-like thinking. I think you would get more information from each department, or enlist in the business school, which is quite enthusiastic right now to make a new curriculum that is directly related to social justice.
That’s wonderful. So, what sort of goals or mission are you trying to accomplish with the social service programs?
Actually, I work for the Ignatius Center for Human Development, but our center has the ideal that is “a person for others, and with others.” That is our goal. That’s why we have these types of programs, to make our goals.
Could you tell me a little bit about the Ignatius Center for Human Development? I don’t know much about it.
The center initially started from the Center for Community Service, and it enlarged to become the Center for Human Development now. So when we were the Center for Community Service, it was pretty much the center that encouraged students to have more community service. But then we had another idea, to develop students not only for community service, but from other aspects other than regular curriculum here. Now we have another division in the center. Here, we call it a “non-curricular tract,” or “non-curriculum procedure.” It provides different programs to enlarge the students’ understanding about the world, their understanding about humanity, and their understanding about their life, and to awaken them to find their ultimate goal. So it includes various aspects of the program.
We started this as we were entitled to be part of a program of the Korean Ministry of Education. It is A-C-E, ACE. It is the Advancement of College Education. The goal of the program is to achieve some advancement of college education, and it includes not only based on the curriculum that they are taught, like if they are in the Department of Economics they are studying economics, but it’s not enough, you know? They need more than that to understand this world. So this was the government that initiated this program. As we were entitled to be part of the program, we started this non-curriculum tract. The ACE program has some attributes of sectors or programs, so we followed the steps to initiate the programs. For example, we had special lectures or seminars from big names in various fields. We had fathers and monks who taught us something about their experience overseas with community service. And we had artists and businessmen who taught lectures of their respective understanding on their career. That was one of the main programs of the non-curriculum tract.
We also had another program that gives some students the idea of being an entrepreneur, by building in them and forging in them a spirit of entrepreneurship. So we had this competition, or contest, opened here at Sogang. We picked some students, and got them to participate and to submit a proposal, or plan a statement about their new business or start-up. We had this, but again, in part of this program, we not only gave them pros and cons about their business, but afforded them an opportunity to make this business and change the world. That’s why we provide them the special lectures and some guidelines.
Before the ACE programs, the name of the center was Sogang Community Service Center. After we uploaded the other programs, we changed the name of the center. So that’s why it’s called the Ignatius Center for Human Development.
When did that transition happen?
2008. Well, 2008 to 2009.
Have you seen a big transition in the center since that time?
As far as the budget and the expansion of the program goes, it is quite larger than before. We are waiting for the second term of the ACE; we are now in audit, to get permission from the government for the second term of ACE. The result, they will tell us how well Sogang was under the first term of the ACE program, but we are quite sure that we were successful. It is more than just successful, I would think.
How do they judge whether or not you were “successful” under the first ACE program?
The number of the participants, the number of projects, the final proposals, the final program report. They will see these things and evaluate how things were. We need to summarize everything about the program.
How do you feel that Sogang did compared to the other universities around Korea?
I think we did well, and I hope so at the same time.
Looking at other universities, there was a big boom in about 2010 and 2011. Every school in Seoul and the other provinces made some sort of outreach program to go to some overseas countries, or go to some rural provinces here. But now, I think that boom is gone; universities are trying to change the trend to LINK. I’m not sure the acronym, but now it’s LINK that many universities are trying to foster. LINK is another project from the government; it is like ACE, but from another ministry… I think the Ministry of Education and Ministry of the Labor do this at the same time. It is to help every undergraduate develop the ability to get into society more quickly. It is a lot different; you can see it is a lot different, as it is more based on the understanding of industries and businesses. So now, more schools are likely to change their style, like, understand industry more, and develop students’ ability to go quickly into companies.
I think that Sogang—though we have the LINK program here as well — we are founded by Jesuits, and the Church, and we tend to maintain our past trend to foster students to develop their morality and have some responsibility in this world, while at the same time having the core competence to go into industry. I think that’s the main difference that we have now.
That’s great, thank you so much. Those are all the questions I have for you right now; is there anything else you want to add?
Here, to make a better understanding for the Ignatius Center for Human Development, think of a central tower of community service and non-curricular tract. As a central tower of community service, we not only provide information about every community service in the surrounding area, but we take some control of some small social clubs, and some Greek societies here, to manage their volunteer work here—bi-annually and annually. Sometimes we provide funds for them. We support the activities of clubs.
Some societies belong to the school ministry, while others are not directly connected to any division but are enrolled as regular clubs at Sogang. Here, we used to have more relation to the school ministry, but as we expand more, we kind of have more independence and more autonomy to work. Of course we have a budget. So it is quite complicated to say that here in this part we belong to the school ministry, but in other parts, we are more connected to the ACE programs. It’s a kind of combination that we have right now. But from six societies, we have Alpha Sigma Nu.
Yes, we actually have that at Georgetown as well! So that’s one of the six… What are some of the others?
We have a club that is specialized to give performance to some institutes, like the local community center, or non-organizational centers. And then we have clubs that do various works. And that’s it!
Wow! Well, this was really insightful. Sogang University and the Ignatius Center for Human Development have a lot to be proud of!
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