CSUSB orchestra performs in Seoul

Tomas Morales, president of California State University San Bernardino /Courtesy of CSUSB

By Bahk Eun-ji

Students from California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB) Orchestra and Seoul Cyber University held a joint concert at Seoul Art Center, Wednesday, in celebration of their partnership.

Tomas Morales, president of CSUSB, led his students, many of whom are Hispanic, to Korea for the concert and a CSUSB alumni reception, Tuesday, as well as for several more events between the two schools.

“The special performance by our university orchestra is a life-changing experience for our 45 students taking part. Under the direction of Lucy Lewis, the program will feature selections representative of both Hispanic and Korean culture as well as works of Western classical music,” Morales told The Korea Times in Seoul, Wednesday.

Since 2017 when the two schools started their partnership, they have launched various exchange programs. Every year, five students from Seoul Cyber University are invited to the California school to take an entrepreneurship program.

The president said his visit to Seoul from Sept. 27 to Oct. 8 also serves to highlight the expanding cultural connection between the university and Korea.

Morales said Korean students are attracted to the CSUSB for a number of reasons.

“Of course we have outstanding faculty, both Korean and non-Korean who really care about our students, and we have a very dedicated staff throughout the university. But in particular, the International Center ensures that our international students and Korean students have a strong enjoyable transformative educational collegiate experience. That's why we had an extraordinary number of Korean students who have studied at CSUSB at last night's (alumni) event.”

Morales said he would define the transformative educational experience as that students who come to the university without many skills leave the university as people who are better prepared and trained in their chosen fields.

The International Center is where foreign students can get help with visa issuance, orientation and the admissions process, while also handling procedures for domestic students' overseas study plans, so domestic and international students can interact there.

In November, the university will hold the official opening of Center for Global Innovation, a 6,600-square-meter complex with a new three-story building. The International Center will move into the building, and the complex will also accommodate new classroom space, a 250-seat lecture hall, administration offices, student study areas and an outdoor plaza.

“The facility will centralize service provided to our international student population ― those visiting as well as those matriculating on our campus. And because it is located in the hub of activity close to our library and student union, it will also provide better access for international students to the campus environment,” he said.