Economics professor Jeong nominated as Yonsei president

Jeong Kap-young, economics professor at Yonsei University, has been nominated as president of the university, the school said Monday.

The university’s board selected Jeong from five candidates recommended by the presidential search committee.

“After the board reviewed possible violations of research ethics among the five candidates, their financial statuses, criminal and hospital records and other conditions in the nomination process, the board members picked Jeong after the final interview on Monday,” said a board official.

Jeong will be put to a vote of the university’s professors from Nov. 28-30, and will be named president if he wins half of the votes.

Before the vote, Jeong will present his plans for school development on every campus of the university in Seoul, Wonju and Ilsan and at the school hospital, Yonsei University Health System, the school said.

Jeong has served as professor of economics at the university since 1986 after he earned a Ph.D. in economics at Cornell University in 1985.

He has held important positions at the school, including vice president of the Wonju campus, dean of academic affairs, dean of the graduate school of information and director of the economics research center.

His academic research focuses on industrial organization and international economics.

His papers have been published in prestigious journals including the Review of Economics and Statistics and the International Journal of Industrial Organization since 1990.

By Lee Woo-young  (wylee@heraldcorp.com)