SNU professor to become dean at Ethiopian university

Prof. Lee Moo-ha

Lee Moo-ha, professor at Seoul National University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is to become the dean of the School of Agriculture at Adama Science and Technology University in Ethiopia.

The 65-year-old professor, who will leave for Ethiopia on Jan. 29, will serve as a professor to the university for two years. He will be able to extend his stay for up to three years.

“Ethiopia depends on agriculture as its source of economic activities but it is very much like how Korea was in the 1950s and 60s. Therefore it is making an effort to learn from Korea which has achieved enormous economic development,” said Lee.

“It is my goal to share Korea’s experience with Adama and contribute to enhancing Ethiopia’s income level,” he added.

The school of agriculture at the university has some 800 students but there are only 15 professors that either have a master’s or doctoral degree.

“I will also make an effort to enable faculty members at the university to study in Korea as well as lay the grounds for creating master’s programs,” he said.

Lee was scouted by Lee Jang-gyu, president of the Ethiopian university, who was a former professor at SNU’s College of Engineering.

Adama has been making efforts to benchmark Korea’s industrial development by scouting Korean professors. Since it made Lee its president, the university also invited Kwon Ho-yeol, professor at Kangwon National University, to be the dean of the School of Information Technologies.

Lee graduated from SNU in 1975 with a degree in Animal Husbandry. He obtained his doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in food science.

He has been teaching at the Department of Food and Animal Biotechnology at SNU since 1988. Lee served as the dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the head of the Korean Society of Animal Sciences and Technology as well as the head of the Korea Food Research Institute. <The Korea Times/Kim Bo-eun>