Posted October 4, 2006

Dr. Siyoung Park.Dr. Siyoung Park, Professor of Geography, was one of six recipients of the 2006-2007 Provost's Award for Academic Excellence. Dr. Park will receive the Excellence in Internationalizing the Campus Award at a reception at a ceremony on October 23. Dr. Park has dedicated her career to furthering a greater understanding of international perspective and has been a champion of internationalization at Western Illinois University. Her role in internationalization has spanned all aspects of her professional life, including teaching, research, and service.

In her courses, Dr. Park has endeavored to provide students with a learning environment whereby they can not only gain an understanding about disparate parts of the world and provide students with the academic tools to be able to make a sustained positive contribution to our increasingly interconnected world.
Through her scholarly work, Dr. Park has furthered the understanding of Korean populations in the United States. She has numerous publications and conference presentations which focus upon the geography of Korean residential settlement. During the evaluation period, she was senior author of a chapter in the book Koreans in the Windy City and made four presentations at national conferences on Koreans and Asian Americans. One of these presentations was an invited paper presented to the Association of International Educators.

Dr. Park has played an important role throughout her career in internationalization at WIU. A member of no fewer than five university committees related to internationalization on campus. Most recently, she served on Provost’s Committee on International Education. She has also served as an advisor to the Korean Student Association and also offered Koeran language instruction. She also recently participated in a recruiting trip to Korea as part of a contingent from  WIU. During Summer 2005, Dr. Park wast the recipient of a Fulbright-Hays Group Study Abroad Grant and led a group of twelve high school studies teachers to Korea for curriculum development.

2006-2007 recepients of Provost's Awards for Academic Excellence: