Deagu University

We took the KPX from Busan to Dong Deagu on 19 June to meet with Professors Kun-Yong Rhee and Wi-Yung Kang at Daegu University. They were wonderfully gracious hosts, getting us on the calendar of a top administrator at DU, securing a guided tour of a museum, feeding us a nice lunch, giving us a tour of DU’s Braille Library (an excellent facility for serving people with visual impariments or blindness), and then guiding us on a visit to Hahoe folk village. I hope to post a note about the visit to the folk village soon, but for this entry I focus on our time at DU.

Originally founded as Korea School of Social Work in the 1956 by Reverend Young Shik Rhee (Professor Rhee’s grandfather; the photo shows a portrait of Reverend Rhee, Professor Rhee, Pat Lloyd, and Professor Kang) and later renamed Daegu University, the school is situated in a marvelous setting in Gyeongsan City, just outside Daegu proper. Since it was built, however, the city has expanded into the surrounding area. The result is that the university has a spacious and thoughtfully arranged campus.

From its beginning, DU has had an emphasis on special education. Professor Kang told us many stories about Young Shik Rhee’s background and efforts to promote the general welfare of individuals with disabilities, especially blindness. In addition, he explained how Reverend Rhee’s son, Professor Rhee’s father, also served as president of Daegu University. Although it is now a comprehensive institution, the founding of DU came as a consequence of Reverend Rhee’s concern about having adequately trained personnel to teach students with visual impairments.

The Braille Library is the result of Daegu University’s continuing efforts to support people with visual impairments.

The Braille Library aims to be a comprehensive cultural center for the welfare of the visually impaired. The Library serves the visually impaired through publication and distribution of books and tapes needed for their intellectual growth and emotional stability. It also provides other services and resources necessary for the welfare of the visually impaired.

As a part of the tour of the Braille Library, we got to see an exhibit about the history of Braille and then some contemporary work on Brailling. The image at the right shows me (inartfully removing my glasses), one of the technicians at the Braille Library, and Professor Rhee examining a copy of the Braille version of a test; the machine beside us can reproduce the copies at a high rate.

Thanks to Professors Kang and Rhee!

DU has an English-language version of its Web sited.In addition, 대구 대학교 부설 점자 도서관 (the Braille Library of Daegu University) has its own Web site. There are also Wikipedia entries about Young Shik Rhee and Daegu University.