A Major Course Centered on Essay Writing

    CNU introduces ‘a major course centered on writing an essay’ this fall semester. This pilot program will be integrated into the regular academic curriculum next year if the trial works out well. Regarding this program, the Education Development Research Institute and Office of Academic Affairs held a faculty debate on Aug. 18. The debate was comprised of two parts: four case-study presentations and a discussion about its projected problems.
    The professors who presented their case in this debate were Kim Bong-joong (Professor, Dept. of History), Kim Young-yong (Professor, Dept. of Economics), Noh Yang-jin (Professor, Dept. of Philosophy) and Song Jung-min (Professor, Dept. of Communication). At the presentations, they suggested several things as follows to obtain the desired results: having students gradually write an essay during the lecture, having them write not an ordinary essay but an essay for establishing their perspectives on the particular subject and systematically reinforcing their conversation and so on.
    After the professors finished their case presentations, many put questions to them and discussed the various teaching methods connecting a major field with essay writing.

Open Sports Facilities

    CNU and Gwangju Bukgu District Office (GBDO) recently launched a sports complex which offers CNU students and Bukgu residents high quality exercise facilities. The sports complex is a three-storied building with two sports centers. One is CNU Sports Center and the other one is for Bukgu residents.
    The sports centers were founded by mutual agreement between CNU and the GBDO in which CNU would provide the site for the center, whose construction began on Jan. 28, 2005 and the opening ceremony was held on Aug. 25, 2006.
    The sports centers provide various physical exercise programs and all classes are open to CNU students and Bukgu residents. The centers are equipped with perfect internal facilities. After laing down the rules and regulations, the center began taking applications on Sept. 4, 2006.
    CNU has also reformed its Outdoor Sports Track and since opening it to students and citizens alike it has really gained in popularity among them. A urethane running track and an astro-turf playing surface were put down. Gwangju citizens use these recreation facilities with their families as do CNU students.
    When you need to use them, you must make a reservation at the Office of Student Affairs on the first floor at the Main Office. If you are a CNU student, you can use the facilities on weekdays but you must gain permission on weekends. The General Student Council (GSC) and Association of CNU’s Clubs should apply to the office a month before in order to obtain permission. However, if citizen intend to use the facilities in a group, they must pay for it. 50,000 won per 2 hours, 100,000 won per 4 hours and 170,000 won for a day.

Student Representatives Conference

    A conference of student representatives was held at the auditorium in the College of Humanities Building No. 3 on Sep. 5, 2006. 134 out of 263 student representatives attended it. That day, the participants discussed the operating result of the first semester this year and the operating plan of the second semester in which a campaign to aid flood victims in South and North Korea, Daedongpuri (festival) is included.
    The attendants elected Yang Bin (Chairman, College of Business Administration) as the chair of Election Management Committee has been organized on Oct. 11, the elections will start from November 8th and las for two weeks until Nov. 21. The elections of the General Student Council and each college will be completed by Nov. 22.

Collge Divisional Graduation Ceremonies

    CNU held summer graduation ceremonies at each collge from Aug. 22 to Aug. 25. 1,596 students were conferred with degrees as follows: 1,113 bachelor degrees including 123 double majors, 394 masters and 89 doctorates. CNU changed the policy this year where ceremonies were held at the same time in order to encourage participation of CNU members and to remind them of the events that they have experienced. Three colleges located in hack-dong campus held ceremonies at Duck-jae Hall of the medical school on Aug. 23. The College of Business Administration had their ceremony at the small auditorium in the college on Aug. 22. The rest of the colleges held ceremonies on Aug. 25. However, the College of Engineering Sciences, the College of Culture & Social Sciences at Yeosu Campus didn’t have any ceremonies.

Wins the Bronze Prize at ICPAC

Kim Bo-mee (master’s course, Dept. of Biological & Environmental Chemistry) was recently awarded the bronze prize at the 11th International Congress of Pesticide Chemistry (ICPAC) held in Kobe, Japan. Kim Bo-mee, supervised by Prof. Shim Jae-han, participated in the 11th ICPAC with the paper focused on ‘Development of an Acetyl Cholinesterase Detection Kit for the Determination of Organ phosphorus and Carbamate Residues in Agricultural Samples’ and was awarded the third prize. Scientists who adjudicated at the congress recognized the efficiency and originality of the paper and decided her prizewinning by a vote. She manufactured a kit, which can detect agrichemicals traces in fruit and vegetables within fifteen minutes. As a consequence of the detection kit, consumers are able to buy safer agricultural products which don’t contain harmful elements to health like pesticides which contain enzymes.