Henry
Kissinger,
Jr. once
said,
"University
politics
are
vicious
precisely
because
the
stakes
are so
small."
Well,
the
former
Secretary
of State
certainly
couldn’t
have
been
talking
about
Central
Connecticut
State
University.
As my
sainted
mother
might
have
said,
"Three
million
dollars
is not
to be
sneezed
at."
It’s
come to
my
attention
that
when the
praise
was
ladled
out to
people
responsible
for
Hyundai’s
$3
million
endowment
gift it
may not
have
been
ladled
out
fairly.
According
to CCSU
marketing
professor
Raymond
DeCormier,
the
prime
mover/architect
or of
the
program
for
Hyundai
was Dr.
Ki Hoon
Kim.
Kim, a
Korean
native
and CCSU
faculty
member
since
1967,
might
not have
received
the
recognition
he
deserved.
Fair
enough.
You may
recall
he was
praised
by
President
Jack
Miller
for his
key role
in
building
relationships
necessary
for the
endowment
to
happen.
Now
because
of this
gift
students
and
faculty
members
from
South
Korea
and
Central
will
study at
each
other’s
universities.
Conventional
wisdom
has it
that New
Britain
hasn't
been
linked
to the
auto
industry
since
the old
P&F
Corbin
Co.
(later
part of
American
hardware,
then
Emhart,
etc.)
stopped
manufacturing
Corbin
automobiles
in the
early
1900s.
In fact,
within
the last
decade,
CCSU has
been
quietly
helping
South
Korea's
hard-charging
Hyundai
Motor
Co. rise
from
relative
obscurity
to such
international
status
that it
recently
opened a
major
U.S.
production
plant in
Alabama.
CCSU's
Global
Leadership
Program,
established
at
Hyundai's
request
when the
company
was
still
early in
its
growth
cycle,
produced
a cadre
of
far-thinking
young
leaders.
They
gained
from
CCSU's
"knowledge
industry"
and
applied
their
lessons
on a
worldwide
basis.
An early
graduate
of that
program
was Jeon
Kap Lee,
then a
vice
president
and now
president
of
Hyundai
Motor
Co. Last
week Lee
presented
the $3
million
Dr. Mong
Koo
Chung /
Hyundai
Motor
America
Endowment
Fund,
named in
honor of
Hyundai
Motor
Co.'s
chairman.
Hyundai’s
second-ranking
executive
told
this
reporter,
in an
exclusive
interview,
that he
is
certain
his
participation
in
CCSU's
Global
Leadership
Program
boosted
his
career.
No
wonder
he was
glad to
return
to this
"alma
mater"
where
his son,
Sang
Jook
Lee, is
currently
a
student.
Jeon Kap
Lee's
boss,
Hyundai
Motor
Co.
Chairman
Mong Koo
Chung,
is also
an alum,
having
received
an
honorary
doctorate
from
CCSU in
1989 in
recognition
of his
growing
global
leadership
in the
Asian
automotive
industry.
Chung
joins
such
business
luminaries
as
[then]
Stanley
Works
Chairman
and CEO
Donald
W.
Davis,
[then]
United
Technologies
Chairman
Harry
Jack
Gray,
and
[then]
Tilcon
Chairman
and CEO
Angelo
Tomasso,
Jr., as
well as
several
U.S.
Presidents.
Bottom
line is
that
CCSU,
long a
force in
the
community,
continues
to keep
New
Britain
on the
global
map.
Maybe
one day
the
university's
widening
contacts
-- and
growth
of its
School
of
Technology
-- will
lead to
a
renaissance
of
manufacturing
and/or
business
development
for a
city
that has
been
CCSU's
birthplace
and
hometown
for 156
years.
Scott
Whipple
can be
reached
at
swhipple@newbritainherald.com
or by
calling
(860)225-4601,
ext.224.
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