Ohio State professors travel to South Korea’s Inje University

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Ohio State professors travel to South Korea's Inje University

Academics share research, build global connections

Joyce Y. Lee, assistant professor in the College of Social Work (CSW) at The Ohio State University, and two other faculty members from the college, Sharvari Karandikar, professor and associate dean of academic affairs, and Sehun Oh, associate professor, spent two days with administrators, staff, faculty and students at Inje University in Gimhae, South Korea, earlier this summer.

In addition to building professional relationships through meetings with the social welfare department, all three shared their expertise through a university-wide research forum, as well as conversations with university leadership, cross-campus initiative teams and departmental faculty.

"It was a rewarding experience building global connections that could potentially broaden CSW's reach and impact," said Lee.

The trip to Inje was a step in an ongoing conversation about the universities collaborating - one that started more than two years ago when Dae Hee Lee, vice president for external affairs at Inje, made a friendly visit to Columbus.

He met with the college's dean, David Jenkins, to discuss a potential global exchange program - something CSW already has in place in countries like India, Australia and Portugal.

"As a follow-up to that meeting, summer 2025 seemed be a good time for a few of us at CSW to go to Inje and scope it out," Lee said.

"I was interested in whether this could be a valuable learning opportunity for our students through an in-person visit," said Karandikar, who also oversees global engagement initiatives at CSW. "It could also open up possibilities for our staff and faculty to collaborate with Inje University."

Vice President Lee at Inje was thrilled to host the small delegation from Ohio State.

"He follows all the football games," Joyce Lee said. "He's very excited that we won the national championship last year."

And he wasn't the only one.

"We met Minhyon Jeon, president of Inje University," Karandikar said. "He was a huge fan of Ohio State. It was heartwarming."

In addition to sharing expertise, the Buckeyes had another goal for the trip: building connections between institutions.

Lee found it rewarding to share her expertise - an experience that involved navigating the added challenge of engaging across languages and cultures.

"We wanted to be respectful of cultural norms," she said. "Korean has honorifics, meaning you speak more formally if you don't know the person or if the person seems more senior. Keeping that in mind was tricky for me."

She and Karandikar, who speaks little Korean, were happy to use the AI program their counterparts at Inje utilize for live translating.

"They were incredibly accommodating," Karandikar said. "I've encountered language barriers before, but people were so kind and understanding. I believe it's equally important for us to approach these experiences with openness and humility."

This was also Lee's first time representing Ohio State at such an occasion. She learned a lot from Karandikar, she said, who serves as an international liaison for the college.

"I watched Sharvari a lot, trying to soak in how she does it," Lee said. "How do you form partnerships? How do you represent Ohio State and the college well? How do you build community while staying professional and courteous?"

Partnering with universities in other countries provides exposure to new ways of thinking, Lee said.

"It was eye-opening," she said. "For example, Gimhae has comprehensive child and family welfare serving systems. Seeing how different systems function, in another country, that would be so helpful to our faculty and students."

Karandikar relished the chance to share Ohio State's values with their Inje counterparts.

"I presented on the College of Social Work and Ohio State," she said. "I talked about who we are: our university, our college, our curriculum, our commitment to community engagement - why we are so interested in and passionate about global engagement."

Overall, the team was happy they went.

"It was the best decision I could have made, both for myself and for the college," Karandikar said. "We didn't expect it to be such a big deal. There were banners everywhere, 'Welcome, Ohio State.'"

Karandikar's favorite touch from the trip? Sandwiches served had welcome stickers on their wrappers.

"That was something else. I have never experienced that sort of warm hospitality and welcome."

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