University at Buffalo, State University of New York is working together with Korea’s Literature Translation Institute to promote Korean literature in the U.S. 

The largest state university in New York is planning to have doctoral students of Asian studies from its English department proofread Korean literature, ranging from classical literature to contemporary fiction, and to translate texts into English, according to Satish K. Tripathi, president of UB.

“The State University of New York has its own press, and some of these translated books will be published by SUNY Press so they can have distribution in the U.S.,” he told The Korea Herald.

The project idea was first brought up by Kim Seong-kon, president of the state-run LTI, who earned his doctoral degree in English from UB.

The school, the largest public university in New York with approximately 29,000 students, has a strong relationship with Korea. About 600 Koreans are studying there and there are around 3,000 alumni in Korea.

Tripathi arrived here Monday to attend the annual alumni event and to discuss a partnership with the LTI Korea.

“Korean alumni (are) the best participating alumni network,” he said.

“We had more than 170 people come to our function last night. This is probably the largest alumni gathering we’ve had so far,” he added.

While many universities have been battling to secure their student applications due to the prolonged economic slowdown and a falling birth rate, the UB saw a continuous rise in applications ― in particular the number of overseas students has exceeded 5,000.

“UB has a very strong tradition of attracting international students. It has a very strong reputation in Asia. But I think it’s a pipeline that people in Korea know who studies there and they know the quality of education they can get there,” he said.

“I think it takes a long time for any institution to build this kind of reputation.”

Tripathi attributes the rise partly to an influx of talented faculty from around the globe.

As part of UB’s 2020 plan, the school will increase the number of faculty by 250 over the next five years.

“The idea is to get more faculty members, so we do better job in education and also do a better job in research. Also, the new faculty brings new ideas, new disciplines, and it’s very important to keep doing that,” he said.

“It’s all part of what we’re looking at: academic excellence.”

Since his appointment in 2011, the India-born president led the recruitment of many prominent faculty hired to develop and enhance strengths in key areas of research and scholarly activity.

Tripathi is also guiding strategic planning for UB’s international programs, which led to a significant expansion of UB’s international presence and the continued globalization of the university.

Under his leadership, UB recently placed among the top 200 universities in the world: It is ranked 198th in the 2013 Times Higher Education World University.

Tripathi said that high-quality faculty is the key to transforming the university into a world-class institution.

“We want to provide education that is something interesting but that is also addressing the issues of today,” he said, noting that in order to do that, providing more faculty is crucial.

Profile

● Tripathi joined UB in 2004, serving as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs before becoming the first international-born president of the school in 2011.

● He previously worked at the department of computer science at the University of Maryland, where his 19-year tenure included serving as chair from 1988-95.

● Tripathi graduated from Banaras Hindu University in India, and completed a doctorate in computer science from the University of Toronto.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)