Sungdon Hwang
Dean of the School of Asian Studies at Canadian University Dubai
Dr. Hwang is a Korean, the founding Secretary-General of the Sillk-Road Universities Network (SUN) and Dean of the School of Asian Studies at Canadian University Dubai. He has been a professor at his alma mater, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, Korea since 1997. Being appointed as professor emeritus of public administration in 2022, he was invited to the Samarkand International University of Technology as Dean of the Korean Institute of Technology and Culture in Uzbekistan. After completion of his mission to open the institute in 2025, he was invited to the Canadian University Dubai as Dean of the School of Asian Studies.
He earned his Ph.D. degree in Political Science at University of Minnesota, U.S.A. in 1991. Returning to his homeland Korea, Dr. Hwang was scouted by the President Yongsam Kim of Korea to serve as his policy secretary. He served two positions consecutively at the Office of the President of the Republic of Korea: Secretary to the President on Government Reform (1995~1996) and Secretary to the President on Social Policies (1996~1997). Modernization of the government personnel administration and revolutionary changes in managing government affairs using information and communication technologies (ICT) in Korea was his major contributions. Dr. Hwang served as a member of the Presidential Commission on Policy Planning under President Daejung Kim in 2002. In the same year, he was awarded the Red Stripes Order of Meritorious Services for these contributions by the President Daejung Kim. He was also inducted into the Hall of Fame of the 50 founding fathers of Korea’s e-Government for his contribution.
Professor Hwang devoted himself to enhancing public causes. He founded the Citizens’ Coalition for Better Government in 1997. Professor Hwang founded an internal organization named the Silk-Road Universities Network (SUN; http://www.sun-silkroadia.org) in 2015 in collaboration with thirty universities located along the land and maritime Silk Roads from Portugal to Japan and has served as the Secretary-General of this organization since then. SUN is now composed of eighty seven universities located at 65 cities and 26 countries along the Silk Roads. The network is comprised of more than 800,000 students, professors, and researchers.
Professor Hwang as Secretary-General has executed diverse programs enhancing academic as well as cultural co-operations among member universities of SUN. They include the annual general general assemblies; international academic conferences by the International Association for Silk-Road Studies (IASS; international join-research by the researchers of member universities to which SUN Secretariat channels research funds; development of courses to be taught jointly by professors of member universities; exchanges of professors and students among member universities; the annual contests for the students of member universities such as PHOCOS (Photo Contest of SUN), WRICOS (Writing Contest of SUN), and S-DECOS (Speech and Debate Contest of SUN); annual concerts by the Silkroadia Philharmonic Orchestra; and “Amazing Silk Roads” which is an expedition program for the students and professors of the member universities to travel and study diverse parts of the land and maritime Silk Roads. (https://sun-silkroadia.org)