Freshman Convocation Address

by Sung-Mo “Steve” Kang

The following is the text of President Sung-Mo “Steve” Kang’s speech at the Opening

Convocation on Monday, March 4, 2013.

Parents and students of the Class of 2017, good morning and welcome to KAIST!

Today, we celebrate the arrival of 717 new freshmen. For each of you students, this is the beginning of your four-year college life. You will remember your days at KAIST as some of your life’s best moments. Let me be one of the first to greet and congratulate you as you embark on this new, exciting adventure.

Just like you freshmen, my wife, Myung-Ah Cha, and I are beginning a new life at KAIST. As we attend this convocation ceremony, I begin my duties as President of KAIST for the next four years. Let us all wish that by working hard over those four years, you and I will graduate at KAIST with honors!

My beloved students,

Since its establishment and over the past 40 years, KAIST has led the development of science and technology in the Republic of Korea. KAIST has achieved remarkable accomplishments; its outstanding research results continue to attract the attention of the international science community. The young scientists and engineers trained at KAIST are highly sought after by business and industry. KAIST has greatly contributed to making Korea an export powerhouse, building a strong economy for the nation. Now KAIST has grown to stand as one of the top research universities in the world.

In December 2012, Thomson Reuters, a multinational media and consulting firm, included KAIST in its 2012 Top 100 Global Innovators. According to Reuters, for the first time since its annual announcement of this Top 100, two universities from Korea made the list, and KAIST was one of them.

In addition, last year, the QS World University Rankings placed KAIST 63rd among the world’s top 100 universities, the highest ranking it has ever achieved. The Joongang Daily University Ranking, one of the major evaluating agencies for higher education in Korea, ranked KAIST Number 1 of the nation’s universities for five consecutive years.

I attribute these accomplishments to the commitment shown by the members of the KAIST community including faculty, staff, and 40,000 alumni. Our world-renowned professors and competent staff members have dedicated their careers to the education of future talents and the advancement of breakthrough research. Our graduates, equipped with expertise in their chosen fields, have served in the betterment of our society.

Proud freshmen,

 

Today is the first day of your college life. It is important that you think about the purpose of college education, the reasons you should pursue college studies. You may all have different goals and motives for enrolling in an institution of higher learning, but whatever they are, you must have basic discipline in order to succeed in college. For the next few minutes, I will provide you with some advice about how to make the most of your time at KAIST.

First, college is the place where you should develop your own character and integrity. Each of you should strive every day to improve your own personality. Personality refers to one’s attitude toward the external world. Your outlook on life and your ability to interact with others are greatly affected by your personality.

There are no shortcuts building a strong personality. Good character is a prerequisite for developing leadership skills, and you can cultivate it by determining to study hard. Older generations have already accumulated much knowledge, and it is your obligation to understand the breadth and depth of that knowledge so that you may become leaders of our society. Think about what you can contribute to the betterment of our society and beyond. Explore your potential. With the talents and interests you will discover at KAIST, you can transform the world into a better place to live and dream.

Second, you freshmen should increase and diversify background knowledge along with a wide range of expertise. Today we live in a highly specialized society. One of the goals universities have set in the modern era is to train experts through higher education. Research is the collective endeavors by numerous experts from around the world to bring in new knowledge and broaden the horizon of our existing wisdom. This will ultimately lead us to the establishment of larger academic and research networks.

KAIST offers students abundant opportunities to participate in the generation of new knowledge and in the activities of innovative research and development. Each opportunity to work on the cutting edge of science and technology with a KAIST faculty member who is an expert and is passionate about his field will be a wonderful experience.

However, be mindful that if you are too concerned about becoming an expert in one field, you may lose sight of the big picture. Leaders should be able to see things far beyond the details and draw up a whole picture. We call this “T-model” leadership. The English letter T stands for leaders whose expertise is as deep as the vertical line of the T, but whose insights are also as broad as the horizontal line. I urge you to read many books, not only those necessary for your field but also others related to a wide range of topics and subjects. The intellectual power you will acquire through deep and broad reading will serve you as the basis of philosophy and faith in your lives. I am confident that you will grow spiritually and intellectually during your four-year stay at KAIST.

Third, always be attentive to global trends. The world is getting smaller and smaller every day because of such technological advancements as highly developed communications networks, supersonic aircraft technology, and improved performance and operation of vehicles and supersize vessels. In the future, we will see more exchanges taking place on a global scale, spreading the influence of human, cultural, academic, and commercial resources. KAIST graduates should have a global perspective so that they can lead in the international community, standing in the forefront of science and technology.

To that end, you will have to deepen your expertise and language skills, learn about the world’s history and your nation’s cultural and historical background, and develop forward thinking and effective communications capabilities to help you represent yourselves in the global community.

Your fellow students, with whom you will work, live and play, will contribute to your exploration of knowledge. The opportunity to learn from others and their differences is an important part of a KAIST education. Your ability to listen to and accommodate other views will be an invaluable asset when you are called upon to take on greater responsibility later in your lives. Those leadership skills, however, will not come easily. You will need to work very hard for a long time to develop them. Take advantage of the great opportunities offered by KAIST to expand your experience and knowledge by joining academic and student exchange programs and by actively interacting with international students at KAIST.

And last, do not hesitate or feel shy about meeting mentors or making friends while you are studying at KAIST. The university community has a tremendous network of human resources: 600 professors, 450 staff members, 10,000 enrolled students, and more than 40,000 alumni. From the moment that you become a KAIST student, you are automatically entitled to enjoy these top-level human connections. So, do not miss out on the opportunities to enrich your life with friends and teachers you will meet at KAIST. To this day, 40 years after my graduation from college and graduate school, the professors I worked with during my college days are still my longtime friends and family; I have continued regularly meeting them and spending time over dinners and in conversation, listening to their insightful advice. I hope that while you are here at KAIST, you, too, will find lifetime friends and mentors.

My dear students,

KAIST opens its doors wide to every student who is willing to embark on the journey of his or her intellectual growth. Students are welcome to visit the offices of faculty members to discuss research and topics of interest and to ask for career advice. On your side, as freshmen at KAIST, you should help create a learning environment in which all members of the university community respect each other, are open-minded toward different ideas, and conduct themselves with integrity and honesty.

Let us also remind ourselves that respect for others starts from respecting oneself. At KAIST you will face a level of competition, academically and personally, that you did not experience in high school. This is simply because you belong to one of the most elite groups of university students in Korea and possibly in the world. We all know that KAIST is a tough place to beat. Nevertheless, you should not surrender when confronted by the challenges that are part of the KAIST experience. In an old Korean saying, even if you are struck down by the seventh blow, you still have a chance to reverse the situation on the eighth attempt. This means you should never stop trying to overcome obstacles. Rest assured that your perseverance will eventually prevail.

The faculty and staff members of KAIST will do their best to give you an optimum environment for study. You will often hear that our superb facility and outstanding faculty make KAIST particularly conducive to students’ success on their intellectual journey. Staff members of the university are responsive to the needs of students as well. All these concerted efforts and commitments made at the university level set you apart from other students. In other words, you are privileged to study at KAIST. In return, you will do your best to fulfill your potential, readying yourselves to become the leaders of tomorrow. As I said earlier, I eagerly anticipate that all of us will graduate from KAIST with honors after four years!

Once again, I welcome all of our new students and their parents. I congratulate you on your opportunity to begin your college life here at KAIST. I hope that the next four years here transform your lives, just as KAIST has transformed the lives of so many our proud alumni!

I am especially looking forward to sharing my first year as the president of KAIST with the Class of 2017.

Thank you.

Sung-Mo “Steve” Kang

KAIST President