Tim Crawford (Professor, Office of International Education)

 

My name is Tim Crawford, and this semester I have been tasked with helping advise reporters for this wonderful new newspaper. I have been teaching English classes here at Seoul National University of Science and Technology for about four years. When I was first becoming familiar with SeoulTech, I was surprised to learn that we did not have an English language newspaper for students. I am very happy to see that The SeoulTech is now a reality.

 

Before arriving at this university, I worked on two other English newspapers at National Universities in Korea. I first wrote articles about English education for the CBNU Times at Chungbuk National University in Cheongju. After that, I advised student reporters for the English newspaper at Cheongju National University of Education. Articles in these publications were focused mainly on Korean news and English language pedagogy. Many of the writers and readers of these newspapers were studying to become primary or secondary school teachers here in Korea. While working on these other newspapers was interesting and rewarding, I think there is something different about the articles in The SeoulTech.

 

The readership and reporters for The SeoulTech have somewhat unique concerns and interests. For example, many of the articles I worked on for The SeoulTech have a distinctly futuristic flavor. I edited entries about self-driving shuttles and green architecture. Two articles featured information about the new Department of Applied Artificial Intelligence at SeoulTech. All of these topics could have been ripped from the pages of the science fiction novels of not long ago. I think the topics of these articles perfectly exemplify the spirit of our school's motto "Our Dream, Your Future".

 

However, there also seemed to be an interest in exploring the university past, and connecting it to our present and future. One article described the origins of the university in the imperial era. I was truly fascinated to learn about the foundation of the engineering program on the Gong-Neung Campus.

 

I would like to thank Minju Kim and Yoojin Park, the two reporters I worked with for the first edition of The SeoulTech. We met many times in my office, and all 3 of us worked diligently to make their articles the best they could be. It was also the first time I met face to face with students since the pandemic began a year and a half ago, so it was a special collaboration. I think The SeoulTech is lucky to have such dedicated reporters on its staff. Thank you Minju and Yoojin! We learned a lot together!

 

And finally congratulations to all involved with assembling The SeoulTech.