UAC Faculty Spotlight on Dr. Sejin Kim

Associate Professor Lecturer, Dr. Sejin Kim has been an integral fixture of the Utah Asia Campus since 2016, read his insight about the UAC and their communication program below.

Dr. Sejin Kim began to work at the UAC in Fall 2016 he has been there for a little more than eight years now. He has served as the Director of the UAC Communication Program since Fall 2020. He was honored to be elected as an inaugural UAC Senator to join the U Academic Senate in Fall 2022 and was recently re-elected for 2024-25. He was also invited to join the Senate Personnel and Elections Committee for the following terms, 2023-26. In this new role, he has participated in the meetings and joined the initiatives to bridge two campuses (SLC and UAC) even closer—we are two campuses but one U.

Dr. Kim has had conversations with people several times on the following inquiry: “why did you choose to become a university professor?” He explains that being a professor is not just about passing along knowledge to students—it is more about assisting them to discover the true meaning of their lives. From his perspective, a good professor is a good person. He says, "trying to become a better professor makes me be aware of what is valuable in one’s life—that no matter who we are or where we come from, we all have the right to learn, improve, and grow. It is the most rewarding aspect of my career, as an educator, when I am able to offer such opportunities to my students who are constantly trying their best to fulfill their dreams in their own lives."

The UAC Communication Program made an important MOU with the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) on August 19th, 2024. The IFEZ is the governing body of the Incheon Global Campus, comprised of significant Korean government officials who have supported the UAC in substantial ways since 2014. Five students in the UAC Comm Program each semester will create a number of "Global Media Contents" for foreigners living in the IFEZ districts. They will be paid by the IFEZ for their internship work under the supervision of the Comm Faculty, Prof. June-Young Lee. Dr. Kim, along with Prof. Lee, had a series of meetings with IFEZ officials to make this MOU possible over the past several months (April through August); in particular, he proposed the idea of offering a certain level of compensation for the faculty mentor as well as the interns under this program, and the IFEZ officials decided to accept the proposal to make this program more sustainable going forward. This MOU will greatly enhance the already mutually beneficial relationship we have built between the UAC and the IFEZ. In the end, the Comm students will benefit the most from getting hands-on learning experiences while being paid for their professional work.

The UAC has maintained close ties with local stakeholders and community members. Especially for local youngsters, the UAC faculty members have participated in various education programs in collaboration with the Incheon Ministry of Education. For example, during Fall 2022 and Spring 2023, Dr. Kim gave lectures on "UN's Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), Climate Action: Diffusion of Innovations Applications in Utilizing Environmental Opinion Leaders” for UAC's Global CSR Camp Event, which targeted local high schoolers. In addition, he served as Advisory Committee Member for City of Incheon’s “City Brand Committee” from April, 2021 through April, 2023. In this capacity, Dr. Kim attended various meetings to review and approve City's proposals to improve the brand image of Incheon, both nationally and internationally. During the current Fall 2024 semester, he has given lectures once a month to local high school students on the topic of “Strategic Communication with Global Perspectives,” and the feedback/comments from students and their parents have already been quite positive and meaningful in shaping who we are as an U.S. higher education institution located in Asia. This truly demonstrates the spirit of the University of Utah where we not only help our own college students grow academically and professionally, but also we deeply care about giving back to community whenever and wherever possible. In that sense, the UAC is zealously keeping the U tradition in South Korea as well.