Visiting

By Jang Eun-ae
Editor-in-Chief


Gwon Soon-han is a man who really loves HUFS as the president of the alumni association. He has struggled to operate the association for six years, having pride of being part of the HUFS alumni for the development of the alma mater and juniors’ support. The Argus met him and heard his own strory.


The Argus: Hello, please introduce yourself.
Gwon Soon-han (Gwon): Hi, I have been the president of alumni association of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) for six years. I majored in Spanish at HUFS in the class of ’63. I am also the president of “Soyee Commercial Company” dealing with medical instruments usually.

The Argus: How did you become the president of the HUFS alumni association?
Gwon: I was the president of the Spanish alumni association for 10 years from 1994 to 2004. During that time, I tried to collect scholarships for my department’s juniors and could give about 50 million won in scholarships to students. 50 million won in the 1990s was more valuable than it is today. So, I was praised by many people for my effort and I really felt rewarded. Therefore, again, I decided to be the president of the alumni association starting in 2011 as the one who always has pride for being a HUFS alumni.

The Argus: Then, what is your goal as the president of the alumni?
Gwon: I have three goals as the president. First, a HUFS alumni hall should be completed on my term. Second, we need to establish a network to connect alumni all over the world. This network can help alumni make contact with each other and help them take better care of the university and students easily. Third, one goal that is now being realized is creating an overseas joint alumni association on April 19.
Finally, more membership fees should be collected by alumni, but it is very difficult to collect money.

The Argus: What is the greatest difficulty as the president of the alumni association?
Gwon: The biggest difficulty is collecting membership fees and scholarship donations. The membership fee is 300,000 won a year, but there are a few people who pay the money although there are many alumni who have become successful. The alumni association regularly holds some events such as general meetings and awards ceremonies to commemorate contributors or give scholarships to 20 students once a year. Also, the association should pay wages for employees, rental fees and operating expenses. Thus, help and attention from alumni is urgent to run the association. This membership fee is collected for our juniors and I think it is very important to cultivate juniors because those who receive advice or support from alumni continue to make more great juniors. This positive effect goes around and comes around circularly. Therefore, I want more alumni to be concerned about HUFS students and HUFS itself.

The Argus: Please have your say to your juniors.
Gwon: I really want to tell HUFS students that you need to learn at least two or more languages aside from English because it is just a basic skill for foreign studies’ students. Actually, speaking several languages is a great strength for students of our university. That is all that I want to say to them.


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