Department in News

1. Professor Minsun Kim’s new book (coauthored) : “Changing Korea: Understanding Culture and Communication”: Peter Lang Publishing (2008)

In the last 50 years, Korea has transformed itself from an agrarian, Confucian-based culture into a global, technological powerhouse, and one of the most important political and economic forces in the world. Based on previous research and face-to-face interviews, the book shows how contemporary Koreans negotiate traditional Confucian values and Western capitalistic values in their everyday encounters--particularly in business and professional contexts. This is a useful companion book for courses in international business, intercultural communication, and Asian studies.

Min-Sun Kim is Professor in the Department of Speech at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She has authored more than 50 articles and is author of “Non-western perspectives on Human Communication: Implications for theory and practice” (2002). Her most recent work is in the area of cultural relativity of communication theories. She is the past Chair of the Intercultural Communication Division of the International Communication Association.

Coauthors: T. Youn-ja Shim is the former Director of Global Entertainment Business in the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Judith N. Martin is Professor of Intercultural Communication at Arizona State University.


2. CBS 'Numb3rs' Creators Flock To UH
An article from November 18, 2005:
KGMB.com: http://kgmb9.com/kgmb/display.cfm?storyID=6525
Jeff Booth - jbooth@kgmb9.com

Assistant professor Devan Rosen works in the speech department at the University of Hawai'i. Friday he introduced students to his concept of Flock Theory, something he's been working on for about five years.

It's a new way of looking at how organizations and social networks are connected - a complex issue that he's simplified with one idea.

If you're a CBS fan, you may have already heard about it. That's because his theory went to the Internet and caught the eyes of the creators of the hit show NUMB3RS. A month ago, they gave him a call.

"I was the only person who they could find doing research on bird flocks and decentralized organization, and my theory, called 'Flock Theory,' is the only thing out there on that so they called me," said Rosen.

On the show, his work helped solve the crime. On Friday night's episode, the star character, mathematician Charlie Epps, is trying to figure out how a crime network keeps thwarting the FBI. He likens the syndicate to a flock of birds, made up of independent creatures all cooperating and acting as a whole without any one leader telling the others what to do.

"Really the same structural principles that allow a bird flock to be so fluid and react to environmental influence in a quick organized and rapid way without breaking apart the entire organization is really the same way that the crime network is going," said Rosen.

Friday night's show was an example of art imitating life. That's because a flock of birds was an inspiration for Rosen's theory.

Some of his students are fans of the show. They enjoy the real world applications his theory holds.

"I think the perfect example is terrorism today, how it acts as a local entity but it operates on a global scale." said UH senior Douglas Hiu.

Mark Morikawa is a junior at UH. He likes Rosen's class and his new found stardom.

"I think it's cool," he said. "He deserves recognition for the research that he's doing and it's just cool that it gets to be on TV on a cool show."

Rosen may become a consultant for the show. He says creators plan on sending him plot lines of future shows for his input. Despite that, he doesn't plan on leaving the classroom