KNOXVILLE — A group of 34 Korean and American college students on a month-long, cross-country conference will arrive in Knoxville Friday for a week’s stay that will include public panel discussions on global citizenship and shaping regionalism in East Asia.
The students — part of the International Student Conferences’ (ISC) first Korea-America Student Conference (KASC) — will be hosted by the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The first of two public panel discussions — “Preparing Global Citizens” — will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 19, in Room 132 of the Law School Building. The event is free and open to the public.
Professor Mike Fitzgerald of political science and Professor Bob Kronick of educational psychology, along with Baker Center Associate Director Nissa Dahlin-Brown, will discuss the growing need for corporations, organizations and individuals to work on an international level and how students need to be prepared to face this challenge when they graduate. They also will discuss the Baker Center’s civic engagement initiatives.
The second public panel discussion, also free and open to the public, will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, July 21, in Room 132 of the Law School Building. The topic will be “Shaping Regionalism in East Asia.”
Associate Professor Catherine Luther of journalism and electronic media and Professor Yang Zhong of political science will discuss economic and political change, as well as security challenges in East Asia.
While in Knoxville, the 19 Korean and 15 American students also will participate in a service project to restore the integrity of a stretch of Third Creek and then discuss water quality issues during a visit to the Tennessee Water Resources Research Center at UT.
To round out their stay in Knoxville, the students will visit McClung Museum, the National Forensic Academy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The students already have been to George Washington University and Brown University. After their week at UT Knoxville, they will conclude their conference at the University of California, Berkeley.
While there are a number of student exchange programs between the U.S. and Korea, KASC is different in that it brings students from both countries together for a full month. Further, KASC is completely student-run, providing training in leadership and cross-cultural negotiations.
In coming years, the conference location will alternate between Korea and the United States.
International Student Conferences Inc. is a nonprofit organization that oversees the KASC and the 74-year-old Japan-America Student Conference (JASC). For more information, call (202) 289-9088 or visit http://www.iscdc.org.
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Contacts:
Gavin Luter, (865) 974-0931, dluter@utk.edu
Amy Blakely, (865) 974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu