FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 10, 2017 – As part of a developing exchange program, 21 students from two South Korean universities spent a week in the Texas Christian University (TCU) Department of Strategic Communication. Students from Sookmyung Women’s University (SMU) and Keimyung University (KMU) audited various strategic communication courses, conducted field research on consumer behaviors by visiting retail stores in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, met with TCU students, and toured global corporations and agencies headquartered in the area, for example, PMG agency and Mary Kay, Inc. while on exchange. The visit from the two South Korean universities follows a visit from SMU in summer 2015, and is now the first step in a developing partnership between TCU and the universities. Assistant Professor Jong-Hyuok Jung Ph.D, helped coordinate the visit. He said, “As a part of TCU’s global and diversity initiatives, the strategic communication department is striving to increase and diversify learning opportunities of TCU students by developing new summer study abroad programs, and hosting international scholars and students from different countries.” To further this partnership, the Department of Strategic Communication is planning a new summer study abroad program in summer 2018. TCU students will visit Seoul and Singapore. Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul will be the first place TCU students visit during the two week exchange program. Additionally, the department plans to establish an annual student exchange program between TCU and KMU following this visit. Senior Sydney Green thinks the partnership will be beneficial to TCU students, as well as the South Korean students. “I wish I wasn’t graduating because I would be interested in participating in the exchange to South Korea. I think it’s a great opportunity for strategic communication students to learn about other cultures and have a better global view.” Erin Arnim, a senior strategic communication major, met with the 21 students during their visit. Arnim showed the students around Roxo, a student-run advertising and public relations agency housed in the Department of Strategic Communication. “It was interesting to learn about the differences and similarities between not only our cultures but also the class we take and what we learn about in our major,” Arnim said. Sookmyung Women’s University’s visit is funded by SMU’s competitive global visiting program fund. The group’s award-winning project, “Globalization Strategies of Global Brands in U.S.,” will explore how global brands (7Eleven, Mary Kay, Inc., etc.) localize their brands in different markets. The visit to TCU and the Dallas/Fort Worth area is beneficial to conducting research for the project. The students from SMU and KMU will finish the visit to TCU on Friday, Feb. 10 with a barbeque dinner at Cooper’s BBQ in the Fort Worth Stockyards. TCU students and professors are invited to join the celebration. Following their visit to TCU, the students will tour corporations and agencies in Dallas before heading back to South Korea on Wed. Feb. 15.