Peace Corps official to discuss benefit of international experiences
November 2008
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Dr. Paul Jhin discusses the value of international experiences with members of Auburn's Committee of 19. |
As the Auburn University College of Education makes its presence known around the globe, one of its graduates is striving to assist citizens of developing nations through his work in the Peace Corps.
Dr. Kyo "Paul'' Jhin `71, director of special initiatives for the Peace Corps
 , will visit Auburn University on Friday, Nov. 14 to deliver a campus lecture on the benefits of international experiences and the opportunities available in the Peace Corps. He will speak at 1 p.m. in Haley 1203. Jhin earned a doctorate from Auburn in mathematics education.
Since 1961, more than 182,000 Peace Corps volunteers have lived and worked in developing countries around the world. Peace Corps volunteers must be U.S. citizens at least 18 years old and must also be willing to serve a 27-month commitment.
The timing of Jhin's visit to Auburn, his second since 2006, coincides with the College of Education's efforts to expand its international presence and create additional teaching, research and service learning opportunities for students and faculty. The college maintains a worldwide presence through the Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching
(COST) program, which is open to all College of Education students in teacher certification and allows them to complete their internship requirements in Australia, The Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Switzerland. Service learning opportunities are also available in Costa Rica, Australia, South Korea and Guatemala, while emerging possibilities in Russia and Hungary are currently being explored by the college.
Jhin represents an authoritative source on the subject of how international travel can create more well-rounded students and educators. In 2002, he was the keynote speaker at the International Association for Volunteer Efforts' International Conference on Volunteerism in Seoul, South Korea. He has made numerous public speaking appearances in the United States and abroad, most often on the topic "The Meaning of American Freedom.''
In addition to serving as the director of special initiatives for the Peace Corps, Jhin functions as the organization's official representative to the office of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
. He works closely with the secretary-general on the 500/12 Initiative, which the U.N. developed to provide 500,000 computers to 10,000 schools and serve 33 million students in 60 countries by 2012. He also assists with identifying sources of refurbished computers for the project through the University Partnership Program.
Before becoming the Peace Corps' representative to the U.N. secretary-general, Jhin served as its director of planning, policy and analysis from 2002 to 2007 and as its liaison to the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. His office provided statistical reports about Peace Corps volunteers, country status reports and updates to the volunteer handbook.
Before joining the Peace Corps, Jhin served as the director of the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging and as commissioner of the California Postsecondary Education Commission. Other career stops included stints as executive assistant to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, assistant superintendent for Educational Technology in the District of Columbia Public School system and director of special projects for the U.S. Department of Education.
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