The 30th anniversary of POSTECH is coming with the New Year. At the 29th anniversary celebration meet of the last year, I shared a few words for toast.
"I cannot forget September 14, 2010. Arriving at a hotel in Nantes, France, we received an email from the Times media (THE). It said that POSTECH is ranked 28th in the world! I was so excited that I could not help dialing to wake the president at 2 a.m. in Korea. Get the Glory Back!"
How could POSTECH start as a prestigious university 30 years ago? Was it because of top quality faculty or research? Or good laboratory facilities? Or was it because of strong financial support of the Foundation? Although all of these conditions were relevant, POSTECH became the prestigious university as a result of a strong willingness to select only the best students. Such tenacity dragged the pride of Status Synchronization (SS) of POSTECH .
In recent years, however, the SS has been shaken significantly. The thing which is necessary to us in this time is the attitude to love the university sincerely and be proud of the university itself. In that viewpoint, we are facing a new mission to build an enhanced POSTECH. Over the past few years, it is a bit regrettable that several high profile faculty members have left although good young professors have recently joined. All faculty members must have a strong attachment to POSTECH and devote themselves for the pride of POSTECH.
The pride of the university must be based on faculty, students, and other members communicating with each other freely, and effective policies for that purpose should be pursued.  Then, everyone can be proud to be a Postechian.
We should also pursue the POSTECH’s outreach to the world. We need strong network with other universities in the World to increase international awareness.
I hope Postechians take time for self-examination and make a promise to fit into the new POSTECH in 2016. Get the Glory Back !