Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) faculty are achieving notable results in awards, election to prominent society presidencies, and presentation of outstanding research outcomes, based on excellent research and teaching abilities and active external engagement.

  ▲ Professor Baek Jong-in Awarded Order of Service Merit for Contributions to Local Decentralization Reform

  Professor Baek Jong-in (Law School ) was awarded the Order of Service Merit on February 28 for his contributions to decentralization reform.
  Professor Baek has served as a working member of the Local Decentralization Promotion Committee since 2009, and since 2011 has served as the committee's Second Working Chairman, taking a leading role in national projects for decentralization reform and promoting institutional reforms for local decentralization. In particular, he has been recognized for making special efforts to realize rational local autonomy by ensuring that deliberations on decentralization reform adequately consider the interests of local governments with weak finances, such as Jeonbuk Province.
  The Local Decentralization Promotion Committee is a presidential committee that comprehensively coordinates and deliberates decentralization tasks. It has focused on revising laws and systems to rationally allocate and share authority between central and local governments so that the state and localities can coexist and develop.
  Professor Baek also served as a member of the Committee for the Transfer of Central Administrative Authority to Local Governments during the previous administration and previously received a Presidential Citation for his leadership in reforming local autonomy systems. He has served as dean of the College of Law and as vice president of the Korean Association of Local Autonomy Law, and has been a policy advisory member of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security as well as an administrative adjudication commissioner for Jeonbuk Province. He currently serves as president of the Korean Association of Public Law.

  ▲ Professor Jeong Young-hwa Receives Merit Award from the Korean Patent Attorneys Association

  Professor Jeong Young-hwa (Law School ) received a merit award presented by the Korean Patent Attorneys Association (President Yoon Dong-ryeol).
  This award is presented to a researcher who has made the greatest contribution to the development of the patent attorney system, a role for which social demand has increased as intellectual property litigation has surged domestically and internationally.
  Professor Jeong has made major contributions to establishing the foundations of patent attorney education and systems in Korea, and his research has been recognized for being reflected in national policy.
  Accordingly, Professor Jeong will receive the award at the Korean Patent Attorneys Association general meeting to be held in Seoul on the 28th.
  Professor Jeong said, “As intellectual property litigation such as patents has recently surged domestically and internationally, competition among legal professionals and conflicts of interest within the industry have become intense, making the role of patent attorneys more important. We will take the lead in strengthening fair and transparent professional ethics standards in the market to resolve the adverse effects of specialized legal practice.”

  ▲ Professor Choi Baek-ryeol Elected President of the Korean Association for International Trade

  Professor Choi Baek-ryeol (Department of International Trade, College of Business and Economics) was recently elected as the 18th president of the Korean Association for International Trade and will serve a one-year term beginning March 1.
  The Korean Association for International Trade is an academic society involving some 300 university professors and researchers from national research institutes who study international trade. The association actively engages in domestic and international academic exchange, and its journal International Trade Research is regarded as an excellent indexed journal.
  Professor Choi said, “Amid current global economic difficulties, I will strive to make the association present international trade policies that seek ways to revitalize the Korean economy. In particular, to strengthen the international competitiveness of Jeonbuk’s economy in the Saemangeum era, we will hold policy seminars inviting distinguished domestic and international scholars to contribute to the development of the Jeonbuk economy.”
  Professor Choi has served on the JBNU faculty since 1991. He has held positions such as Deputy Vice-President of Student Affairs and Vice President of the Faculty Council. He served as secretary-general of the National Federation of Professors at Public Universities in 2010 and last year served as president of the Korea-China Association for Business and Economics.

  ▲ Professor Lee Yong-chul Identifies Cause of Refractory Lung Disease

  Professor Lee Yong-chul’s team (Department of Respiratory Allergy, Medical School ) has attracted attention by identifying a cause that critically influences the onset of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome, representative refractory lung diseases.
  These research results were published in the online journal Scientific Reports, published by Nature.
  Through animal experiments, the team demonstrated that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress caused by overload of this intracellular organelle is a major cause of these diseases.
  They also confirmed that ER stress–related proteins are markedly increased in blood samples from patients who had been treated in intensive care units for acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome compared with healthy individuals, thereby suggesting a new therapeutic target for these previously untreatable lung conditions.
  Professor Lee said, “Given the current lack of information on the in vivo signaling pathways related to ER stress that cause acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome, this research is highly significant. It is especially meaningful that we clarified a specific mechanism in which ER stress increases the expression of the NF-kB nuclear transcription factor and hypoxia-inducible factor, thereby contributing to disease onset.”

  ▲ Professor Ko Soo-il Selected for the Korean Council for University Education’s 'Top 100 Good Lectures'

  Professor Ko Soo-il (Department of Business Administration, College of Business and Economics) was selected for the "Top 100 Good Lectures" by the Korean Council for University Education and the Korea Educational Development Institute.
  Since 2011, the Council and KEDI have selected the most outstanding lectures as part of research to develop model lectures and discover exemplary cases to improve higher education quality.
  The lecture selected this year by Professor Ko was "Organizational Behavior." It received praise for enabling students to acquire organizational management knowledge through participation-centered classes and for effectively enhancing related competencies.
  In particular, Professor Ko was highly evaluated for using an action-learning teaching method that allows learners to learn through experience and reflection rather than through lecture alone.
  Professor Ko said, “The learner-centered action-learning method has received a positive response from students. I will continue to strive to improve students’ competencies and deliver high-quality instruction.”