Profiles
Each issue we profile several members of the IU East Asian Studies Community. Know someone you think should be "profiled"? Email your suggestion to sfurukaw@indiana.edu.
Professor Emeritus Roy Shin retired from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs in 2000 after teaching for 23 years at Indiana University. In 2001 he was named a Global Emissary by Dean Astrid Merget. In this new role, he travels with the Dean to various universities around the world, developing new affiliations and creating new exchanges. Recently ties have been established between Indiana University and Jiao Tong University and Tongji University in Shanghai, China. Seoul National University and Pusan National University in Korea are also part of a growing group of universities in "new areas of rising influence" with which Indiana University has developed strong relations. "South Korea has the largest contingent of SPEA graduates outside of the United States, and five SPEA graduates are serving as secretaries in the office of the Korean president," Shin explains.
Professor Shin's recent publications include "Financial Crisis and Policy Reform. The Korean Experience," in Managing Economic Development in Asia which he co-wrote with Yu-Che Chen (2002), and "Pollution Havens: A Korean Case Study," in Security, Trade, and Environmental Policy (2000). Throughout his career, Professor Shin's sustaining academic interest has been direct foreign investment and the impact of multinational corporations on local environments. "Foreign direct investment does not happen on its own," says Shin. "Multinational companies have to invest somewhere. I am interested in how this affects or impacts the environment of the host country. One important issue is hazardous waste treatment, or should I say trade? Hazardous waste is sent abroad or disappears, dumped into the ocean. This is the invisible side of international trade, and these kinds of environmental issues are interesting and important."
Shin grew up watching how his family's international business was run, and he is the only one of his siblings to go into academia instead of business. Though he admits that teaching and business can seem like two entirely different worlds, his background has enabled him to combine the two quite successfully. Since retiring from I.U. he has become the Chairman of the Board of his international investment company Siskam, Inc. "Doing business has always been second nature to me," he explains. "I am able to use my business experience in the classroom and my research to improve my business dealings. I am quite lucky."
Indiana University and SPEA are lucky, too. Some of Professor Shin's business contacts are quite supportive of the work he has done here at I.U.B., and have enabled him to cultivate some much needed resources for SPEA. "After the Dean and I discussed the need for more scholarships, I began to contact the many business associates I have from over the years. After I told them what SPEA has been doing, they responded by saying, 'What do you need?' Because of their generosity, we have been able to develop a new doctoral research fellowship." In 2002, the Roy Shin Fellowship, SPEA's first and only international fellowship contribution was established. "As the Dean's emissary, I am able to actively contribute to the global mission of the school while having time to pursue my other interests as well." In his retirement, Professor Shin has indeed been able to combine the best in both the world of academia and the world of business! Written by Susan Furukawa.