| Simon and Haejung Park
Hannam University
133 Ojungodong Daedeoko
Daejeon 306-791
South Korea
Email: Simon
and Haejung Park
Simon and Haejung Park were commissioned to mission service with
the PC(USA) in 1998. After serving for three years in Congo, three
years in Nepal, and three years in the United States, the Parks
moved in January 2007 to serve in South Korea, the country of
their birth.
Haejung is currently associate in the chaplain’s office of Hannam
University in Daejeon, Korea, assisting the chaplains and the
staff as they nurture the university community in the spirit of
Christ.
Beginning in September 2010, Haejung will become the site coordinator for the new Young Adult Volunteer site in Seoul. Young adults can apply to the program at PC(USA)’s “One Door” Web site.
Haejung and Simon accompany the university community on
behalf of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and help develop closer
ties between the PC(USA) and the university.
Simon continues to be available for consultations with partner
churches and institutions around the world. His skill set matches
an urgent need for expert-level skills in administration and finance.
Simon's ministry is to build capacity among PC(USA) partner churches
and institution, especially in the areas of financial management
and property management. From 2005 to 2007 Simon did consultations
for PC(USA) partners in Africa, South Asia, Latin America, the
Caribbean, East Asia, and the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Until June of 2005, the Parks were assigned to work with the
United Mission to Nepal (UMN), which was founded by eight mission
organizations, including the PC(USA), in 1954, and has since grown
to include 51 member bodies and affiliated member bodies from
17 countries. It was the first inter-denominational, multinational
Christian consortium of its kind in the world. UMN exists to serve
the poor and marginalized in the name and spirit of Christ in
the areas of education, engineering and industrial development,
health services, and rural development work. For more about UMN
and Nepal see the United Mission
to Nepal Web site.
During their term of service in Congo, Simon was the business
manager at the Institute Medical Chretienne du Kasai (IMCK) in
Tshikaji, nine miles from Kananga. His primary responsibilities
were organizing and supervising all the financial affairs of the
IMCK.
The Parks felt a call to mission after a long and distinguished
career in finance and academia. Prior the five years prior to
appointment, Simon was a principal consultant with Measurement
and Strategy, a consulting services organization in financial
and marketing management in the service industry. It is located
in Westminster, Colorado. Simon has consulted with companies and
organizations around the world. He has been an adjunct professor
in the department of accountancy at the University of Illinois
in Urbana/Champaign, Illinois, and a professor of economics and
business at the Economic Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
From 1989 to 1994 the Parks lived in Singapore, where Simon was
a senior fellow with the department of finance and banking at
the National University of Singapore, and for two years as the
codirector of the hospitality and management program of the Cornell-National
University of Singapore. Before moving to Singapore, the Parks
spent four years in New Jersey, as Simon was an associate professor
at the Graduate School of Management of Rutgers University.
From 1981 to 1983 the Parks lived in Seoul, Korea, where Simon
was an associate professor in the College of Business Administration
with Korea University. Simon began his teaching career from 1976
to 1985 as an assistant professor in the department of accountancy
at the University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign. Simon received
his B.S. degree in accounting from Illinois State University,
his M.A. degree in accounting from the University of Iowa, and
his Ph.D. degree in accounting and applied statistics from the
University of Iowa.
Haejung graduated from Ewha University in Seoul, Korea, with
a B.S. in education. She taught at Soo Do High School in Seoul
for two years, and when the Parks lived in New Jersey, Haejung
taught at the Presbyterian Nursery School in Westfield for two
years. Haejung spent most of her adult life as a wife and mother,
raising their two sons. She is very artistic and talented in painting,
especially porcelain and calligraphy. |
