단국대학교

DKU student volunteers carried out service activities in Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia and Uzbekistan during the summer break. DKU has planted the seeds of Dankook’s guiding principles of truth and service. DKU’s overseas volunteer corps carried out voluntary activities in Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia and Uzbekistan for their summer vacation. In the spirit of the university’s guiding principles of truth and service, DKU’s continued overseas volunteer work receives a fervent response from local communities. DKU’s overseas volunteering activities, which are not just one off events but continuous work, has contributed to elevating the nation’s reputation. The overseas volunteer corps from the Jukjeon campus visited Cambodia for 10 days from June 24. The corps provided services for 470 Tatok elementary school students and 200 Frei elementary school students in the Siem Reap region, such as teaching and doing maintenance work on school facilities to create a better atmosphere. The Laos division carried out voluntary activities for 100 Napasuk elementary school students and 100 Tanag elementary school students in Vientiane for 10 days from July 14. The volunteers taught local students science, arts, mathematics and physical education and also worked on improving school facilities. The volunteer group from the Cheonan campus went to Ulaanbaatar of Mongolia and Tashkent of Uzbekistan and delivered the warmth of Dankook. The Mongolia division of the overseas volunteer corps went to the Takhilt area in Ulaanbaatar for 11 days from June 17. Their work included the remodeling of school facilities, painting walls and teaching 200 students in the region. The Uzbekistan division visited Tashkent and did their voluntary work for the people in the Ahmad Yassabi Siongo Children’s Hall and Arirang Nursing Home. The volunteer corps taught Korean language, science, arts, music and physical education to children between age 5 and 13 for 11 days. Moreover, the group visited the Goryeo village and shared warmth by cleaning up the environment and painting murals.

Commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Liberation Day, the long march took place along the 290 kilometer route that the university’s founder walked for his independence movement. Damkook University organized the long march through national lands which combines history and education. Marking the 70th anniversary of Korea’s independence from Japanese rule, Dankook University organized a 290 kilometer long march for 10 days starting August 1 to provide students with an opportunity to foster the spirit of independence and patriotism. This program consisted of 10 days of the long march and 7 days of history education on the independence movements. The participants received 2 credits after completion. The participants of the long march walked the path that Beomjeong Chang Hyung, the founder of Dankook University, traveled for his independence movement. The participant students experienced various field trips which included history lectures and lessons on the patriotism campaign. The 290 kilometer long march began in Gwangju and was scheduled to progress to the Independence Hall in Cheonan via Jeongeup, Iksan, Nonsan and DaeJeon. The participants walked 30 kilometers every day visiting historical sites and also had a special history lecture offered by history professor Sijun Han, who is recognized as an authority on the independence movements. The program was also funded by the Independence Commemoration Association and included various events such as performing a flash mob, making user-created contents and giving of the national flag to the public.

The museum’s special exhibition called “Hyeeumwon, a temporary palace of the Goryeo dynasty,” and the Google Art project featuring artifacts of Princess Deok-on, the last princess of the Joseon dynasty, are now in the spotlight. The museum’s decade-long efforts to excavate the temporary palace of the Goryeo dynasty and spread the beauty of Hanbok through historical research and reinterpretation of Korean traditional clothing are finally paying off. ■ The museum’s 150 pieces of traditional Korean costumes are participating in the Google Art Project. About 150 pieces of traditional Korean costumes are exhibited to the world through the Google Art Project. This includes the ceremonial robe, known as Wonsam, of Princess Deok-on, the last princess of the Joseon dynasty. The wonsam of Princess Deok-on, which was displayed at the museum’s special exhibition in 2012, is one of the major artifacts exhibited through the Google Art Project, Google’s exhibition project that aims to provide access to cultural heritage for everyone. The image of wonsam can be viewed at 7 billion pixel resolution, which provides subscribers with very close observation, even closer than seeing it in the actual museum. The Google Art Project is a unique collaboration with some of the world’s most acclaimed art institutions to allow people to discover and view artworks online in extraordinary detail. Currently, more than 700 institutions in 60 different countries are participating in this project. ■ Special exhibition: Hyeeumwon, a temporary palace of the Goryeo dynasty The university museum holds a special exhibition ‘Hyeeumwon, a temporary palace of the Goryeo dynasty’ through July 31. Hyeeumwon is the only temporary palace of the Goryeo dynasty discovered in South Korea up to present day. The kings stopped by and stayed overnight at the palace when they left for Seoul from Gaesung, the ancient capital of Goryeo. The palace is located near Paju in Gyeonggi Province. Hyeeumwon is a royal palace where the kings of the Goryeo dynasty stayed during their long journey. This exhibition shows the dignity of the temporary palace of the Goryeo dynasty, displaying various remains such as Goryeo celadon made in the 12th century, roof tile emblazoned with “Hyeeumwon“ and lacquer-ware plate coated with cotton. The lacquer ware plate takes center stage since it proves the fact that cotton was used long before Ik-Jeom Moon brought in cottonseed from Yuan China in the 14th century. “This exhibition is very significant in terms of the fact that Hyeeumwon is the only temporary palace discovered in South Korea, describing the scale and arrangement of the palace in the Goryeo dynasty,” the Director Kyungsik Park said.

Dankook University introduces a special IT training program aimed at humanities students. 30 students will be selected to go through the program on software development for 6 months. Dankook opens a special IT training program for its students in humanities. Dankook was recently selected as a host university for the ‘Start-up Academy Project’, implemented by the Korea Human Resources Association. In accordance with the agreement between the institutions, Dankook will run a software development training program for its students in humanities and social sciences. The training consists of practice-based courses such as software design, JAVA programming and web programming to nurture practical manpower in the IT-related field. In addition, the program will offer participants various employment support programs which include one-on-one careers advice, resume review sessions and mock job interviews. Altogether, 30 graduated students in humanities or social sciences will be selected and begin their training this coming August. The participants will be trained for 6 months, totaling 760 hours, and those with superior grades will have priority to be nominated for certain job positions. The program is totally free of charge and students will also receive benefits including scholarships and academic credits.

The agreement on joint research was signed by Dankook University’s Department of Display Engineering and Kent State University’s Liquid Crystal Institute. Other ongoing international cooperation projects between the universities also gains momentum. The signing ceremony of the MOU between Dankook and Kent was held at 10am on May 19 at the office of Vice President of Cheonan Campus. The ceremony was attended by Vice President Wook Kim from Dankook, and Provost Todd A. Diacon and Associate Provost Marcello Fantoni from Kent. The agreement will allow the universities to work cooperatively on the joint research project in the area of display engineering. Dankook and Kent created a research consortium with a domestic company to conduct practical research and boost industrialization of the sector. In addition, both universities agreed to cooperate in developing and promoting various exchange programs in other fields such as engineering, architecture, business and fashion. The representatives also had an in-depth discussion about other ongoing issues including the Dankook-Florence at KSU-Florence project. Since the first agreement between the universities in 2013, Dankook University has been running various cooperation programs with Kent State University to strengthen its international competence and generate synergy effects in education and research. Last summer, 2 professors and 6 students from Kent stayed at Dankook to take part in Dankook’s International Summer School program. Moreover, Dankook and Kent concluded an exclusive agreement last March, which allows Dankook to brand Kent State’s Florence campus as one of its own programs. The unique partnership between Dankook and Kent was deepened further after Dankook hosted Kent’s annual short-term study abroad program called International Storytelling early this semester.

Dankook delivered 10 million won for relief aid to the Embassy of Nepal in Korea. The handover ceremony was held at the Embassy of Nepal in Korea on Thursday, May 28. Dr. Yongbin Kim, Associate Vice President for External Affairs at Dankook University, and Sujan Shakya attended the ceremony. Sujan is a Nepali student who graduated from Dankook and is now appearing on several TV programs. Sujan has appealed to Dankook students for continuous support for the Nepali people. Dankook responded to Shakya’s appeal by organizing a charity event for the victims of the Nepal earthquake. “I was so touched by Dankook’s continuous contributions to the relief programs,” said Kaman Singh Lama, the Ambassador of Nepal to Korea. “The donation will be a great help for the victims of the Nepal earthquake.” The charity event for the victims of Nepal earthquake was held from April 30 to May 8. The amount of money collected during the campaign was 10,267,922 won. The donations were collected from booths set up in front of Hyedang Hall (Student Union Building) and several cafeterias around the campus, and more than 400 students and faculty members have donated through this campaign.

The Seok Ju-Seon Memorial Museum of Dankook University displays the beauty of Korean traditional costumes through the Google Art Project, Google’s exhibition project that aims to provide access to cultural heritage for everyone. About 150 pieces of traditional Korean costumes are exhibited through the Art Project. This includes the ceremonial robe, known as Wonsam, of Princess Deok-on, the last princess of the Joseon Dynasty. Princess Deok-on (1822~1844), the youngest daughter of King Sunjo, the 23rd king of the Joseon Dynasty, was the last princess in the royal line of the dynasty. The precious artifacts of Princess Deok-on displayed in the special exhibition show the life and culture of royal and gentry families in the late Joseon Dynasty. “Our collection of traditional costumes is now displayed to people around the world through the Google Art Project. We will continue our dedication to discovering and conducting research on excavated costumes as a leading university museum,” the director of the museum, Kyungsik Park, said. The Google Art Project is a unique collaboration with some of the world’s most acclaimed art institutions to enable people to discover and view artworks online in extraordinary detail. Currently, more than 700 institutions in 60 different countries are participating in this project. ▶ Click to visit Seok Ju-Seon Memorial Museum in the Google Art Project's website

Dankook earned the highest score among the 40 ‘field-oriented type’ universities that took park in the program. The university secured 5.14 billion won of government funding, an increase of 150 million won from the previous year. Dankook University received the highest score in the annual evaluation of the LINC (Leaders in Industry-university Cooperation) project for 3 years in a row. Dankook ranked ‘exceptional’ with the highest score among the field-oriented type universities by scoring 1,061.15 out of 1,100 in the third-year evaluation of the LINC program. Since designated as part of the program in 2012, Dankook earned the highest scores for the third consecutive year, from first-year evaluation to this third-year evaluation. Based on the outcome of the evaluation, the Dankook LINC Foundation will receive 5.14 billion won of government funding this year. Totaling 6.289 billion won including the local government’s contribution of 149 million won and the university’s corresponding capital investment of one billion won will be injected to this project. In the annual evaluation, Dankook marked highly for operating a practical manpower cultivation program and developing industry-university cooperation with family companies. Dankook’s efforts to cultivate skilled and practical manpower by providing educational programs such as field-oriented training and internships, capstone designs, global talent training programs and a start-up academy, resulted in students receiving jobs in 159 family companies. Moreover, supporting new venture companies by setting up a cooperation system with Dankook University’s Industry-Academia Cooperation Foundation contributed to the good result in the evaluation.

Dankook University opens its ‘Research Center for Industrialization of food and drugs derived from natural materials’ Research and development expenses of 160 billion won will be funded for the next 7 years Dankook University launched a new research business project for R&D and industrialization of food and drug materials that are derived from natural substances, to keep pace with the expanding Well-Being Generation. The opening ceremony was held at the main lecture hall in the 1st Science Building, Cheonan Campus on December 29 at 11am. The establishment of the research center was promoted by the designation of Professor Yoonhwa Jung’s research team as the 2014 national agriculture research center of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Dankook University will lead the project as the managing department while other institutions including Famenity Co., Ltd. and Chonbuk University participate as the core affiliated organizations. The research center will promote the new project, “Industrialization of naturally derived food and drug materials and Cultivation of manpower,” and 160 billion won in total including government contribution of 70 billion won and the university’s corresponding capital investment will be funded for the next 7 years. The research center will strive to develop functional food and new drugs derived from natural materials, to prevent various diseases, preparing for the upcoming aging society. Moreover, graduate schools and undergraduate majors in convergence technology for the industrialization of food and drugs derived from natural materials, will be opened in a bid to cultivate professional manpower. Through this project, the research center aims to ▲ commercialize functional food and natural drugs ▲ obtain an import-substituting effect by cultivating valuable crops ▲ secure valuable resources on earth ▲ stabilize rural household incomes and contribute to agricultural development by developing cultivation technology and transferring agricultural technology. Furthermore, the research center is expecting to contribute to the national competitiveness in bio-industry.

Dankook University held its 8th annual National Elementary School Ski Competition to find rising ski talents and expand the base to make the nation a Winter Olympics powerhouse in preparation for the upcoming 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games. The competition held at the Alpensia Resort in PyeongChang on January 5 and 6, ended in great success with nearly 200 elementary school students participating. This competition took place at the official 2018 PyeongChang Olympics alpine and cross country ski courses, offering a precious opportunity for students to experience the Olympics in advance. The competition was divided into two parts in order to meet both goals of cultivating ski talents and promoting winter sports in Korea. In the 1st part of the competition, elementary school students who are registered with the Korean Ski Association competed in alpine (spin and big spin) and cross country (short track and long track); 14.4 million won was awarded to the athletes. The students who are not registered with the Korean Ski Association competed in alpine only in the 2nd part of the competition. The JoongJaeBae National Elementary School Ski Competition started in 2008 by former students commemorating JoongJae Chang Choongsik, Chairman of the Dankook Foundation, who has been consistently dedicating his life to developing the nation’s winter sports. At the first competition in 2008, Dankook University attracted the nation’s attention for reviving the ski competition for elementary school students on a national scale which was stagnant until that time. Celebrating the 8th anniversary this year, the JoongJaeBae competition has become the largest ski competition for elementary school students in the nation. Among the former participants, four of them are currently members of the national alpine ski team; Dongwoo Kim (Korea National Sport University), Sohee Kim (Sangjidaegwallyeong High School), Eunhwa Cho (Yonsei University), Youngseo Kang (Seongil Woman’s High School). Also, four alpine (Dongkwan Hong, SeungPyo Lee, Junghyun Choi, Jinsol Noh) and one cross country (Eunji Kim) athletes are listed as substitutes for the national team.

Promoting specialization in the energy related academic field, such as the establishment of the Department of Atomic Energy Convergence Engineering Dankook University is making a huge stride forward to cultivate atomic energy related professional manpower. On December 19, Dankook University signed mutual cooperation agreements with Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), KEPCO Nuclear Fuel (KNF), and Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS), with a goal to contribute to the development of the nuclear energy industry and cultivation of professional manpower. On December 19, Dankook University signed mutual cooperation agreements with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), KEPCO Nuclear Fuel (KNF), and Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS), with a goal to contribute to the development of the nuclear energy industry and cultivation of professional manpower. Through this agreement, Dankook University and the partner institutions, forming a cooperative system to contribute to the advancement of the nuclear energy industry, resolved to cooperate and execute joint performance to ▲ conduct joint research for technical developments ▲ facilitate interactive exchange of information ▲ exchange human resources and information on employment. Notably, Dankook University and KAERI organized a ‘Steering Committee of Master’s and Doctorate Programs for Institute-University cooperative research’, to make a contribution to the development of the nuclear energy industry and cultivation of professional manpower, by promoting connected activities in utilizing human resources, equipment, facilities and experimental materials that are required in research of nuclear related fields. Meanwhile, Dankook is working on specialization in energy related academic fields, and recently established major courses related with energy and nuclear energy. Dankook opened the ‘Department of Energy Engineering’ in 2010, and the ‘Department of Atomic Energy Convergence Engineering’ this year which is expected to recruit new students from 2015. Through this agreement, Dankook plans to improve its academic research ability in energy and nuclear energy related fields, and contribute to the cultivation of professional manpower.

Development of thermosensitive nanoparticles that reduce the side effects of medications It is extraordinary that an undergraduate student carried out the majority of the research as the lead author of a publication of a SCI-listed journal. The publication of an undergraduate student’s research paper in a SCI-listed international journal is now the talk of the town. The heroine is Ms. Sooyeon Lee, an undergraduate student studying at the Department of Dentistry. Ms. Lee’s research paper was recently reported in the online edition of ‘RCS Advances(IF3.7)’, a SCI-listed international journal issued by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Ms. Lee identified the logical possibility of thermosensitive nanoparticles that specifically react to cancer cells and release medications to them, based on the idea that the temperature of cancer cells is higher than body temperature. According to the paper, when medications and genes are injected into thermosensitive nanoparticles, the nanoparticles react to cancer cells that have higher temperature than body heat, and destroy cancer cells while minimizing normal tissue damages. “As a result of continued efforts and the guidance from professors at the laboratory, I could manage to conduct the complicated experiments and complete the paper. Particularly, my analysis ability has significantly improved,” Ms. Lee said.

The construction work of the new dormitory that will accommodate 924 students is now nearing completion, expected to be completed next February The dormitories at Jukjeon Campus currently have a capacity of 1,530 students, however, the completion of the new dormitory will allow the campus to accommodate 2,454 students from 2015. The overall capacity of the dormitories reaching nearly 20 percent of the total number of students at the university will help enormously to improve students’ residential environment and create a greater academic atmosphere. After the establishment of the nation’s first public dormitory (Bongsakwan) at Cheonan Campus with support from the government in March this year, Dankook University opened a public dormitory at Jukjeon Campus as well, and named the new dormitory ‘Jinrikwan.’ Jinrikwan was built as a ten-story building, located behind Woongbi Hall, consisting of quad occupancy rooms with separate bathrooms. The separation of sleeping space and studying space will significantly improve students’ residential environment.

Treatments available for severely injured trauma patients within the golden time, a time period lasting for one hour Dankook University Hospital was designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare as the provincial emergency medical center of Chungnam Province, and the center is now in full operation since its opening ceremony on December 13. Dankook University Hospital opened the nation’s third regional medical center, following Mokpo Hankook Hospital of Jeonnam Province in February, and Gachon University Gil Medical Center of Incheon city-region in July. Dankook University Hospital, appointed as the emergency medical center by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2012, set up trauma wards, intensive care units, rooms for trauma resuscitation, and operating rooms for trauma patients, with government funding and the university’s corresponding capital investment of 12.3 billion won. In addition, as many as 50 orthopedic, thoracic surgery, and neurosurgery specialists and nurses are divided into four teams in order to treat emergency patients around the clock. Consequently, the center provides trauma patients with efficient and prompt treatments as it is well-equipped and staffed with specialists to carry out the best medical services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Notably, it is expected that the healthcare environment of the vulnerable areas in Chungcheong Province will be enhanced, and also the average death rate of trauma patients will be reduced by covering the absence of regional trauma emergency medical centers.

Founding of the 'Department of Data Science', a Master's degree and joint operation with SAP On December 3, Dankook University made a business agreement with Gyeonggi Contents Agency, SAP Korea, and D-Korea Foundation to train talented individuals of big data. The event was held at Gyeonggi Culture and Creation Hub. Through this agreement, Dankook University aims to △develop programs and train students based on design-thinking methodology △provide assistance to business starters and create networks for collaboration and expansion △train manpower based on big data and help business starters △ assist in application and supply of the SAP HANA platform among cultural contents businesses within Gyeonggi-do. Dankook University has been a foothold for business starters in Gyeonggi-do, through Pankyo K Valley. Dankook University has created a Master's Course named 'Department of Data Science', which is related to big data. The course is going to be provided with the assistance from SAP, a global business software company. SAP will provide big data platforms as well as educational contents and instructors. With the cooperation of SAP, job offers will be provided to those with the Master's Degree by contacting global businesses and others related to data analysis.