SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIVERSITY (SKKU), SEOUL, KOREA

Prof. Oh Sam Gyun, the dean of the Library and professor of Library and Information Science at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), was elected the next chair of iSchools which is a consortium of international information schools on January 11, 2016. It is the first time the chair has been from the Asia-Pacific region. Prof. Oh will serve as chair for two years from 2018 to 2019.

iSchools is at the forefront in the field of information studies. It was founded in 2005 for the purpose of in-depth research on the relationships between information, people, and technology. Its members are from 65 universities from around the world such as the University of North Carolina, Carnegie Mellon University, UC Berkeley, and the University of Tsukuba as well as Korean universities like Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul National University, and Yonsei University.

iSchools holds international conferences every year that attract more than 500 scholars and professionals to participate and share their knowledge on information studies. The number of participants is rapidly increasing every year.

Prof. Oh said, "I feel deeply responsible for being elected as the first chair of iSchools from the Asia-Pacific region. iSchools is the consortium that is most closely connected to the studies of big data that have recently garnered great attention from all over the world. I will do my utmost to promote the advancement of information science and promulgate the preceding level of information science in Korea."

Prof. Oh earned his Ph.D. in Information Transferring from Syracuse University in 1995 and worked as an assistant professor at the University of Washington's Information School and has been teaching at the Department of Library and Information Science at Sungkyunkwan University since 1998.