An open house retirement reception honoring Won W. Koo, professor of agribusiness and applied economics and director of the Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies, is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 29, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the atrium of the Harry D. McGovern Alumni Center. A program is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.
Koo has taught and conducted research at NDSU for 33 years. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Chonbuk National University and Korea University, respectively. He earned his doctorate in economics from Iowa State University.
Koo’s research and teaching areas include international trade, economic development, demand analysis, econometrics and quantitative method.
“Dr. Koo is an internationally recognized scholar. He provided excellent service to our students and stakeholders,” said William Nganje, department chair and professor, noting several faculty members published journal articles with Koo. “An important contribution of Dr. Koo’s legacy is being the pioneer faculty member to teach econometrics in our department. This elevated the quality of our program significantly.”
Prior to joining NDSU, Koo was a faculty member at Montana State University. He also was an adjunct professor in agricultural economics at the University of Florida, an honorary professor of economics in Zhengzhou Institute of Technology, China, and an honorary scientist for the Rural Development Administration of the Republic of Korea.
His honors include the 2009 Fred Waldron Award for Outstanding Research, Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Professor, 45th Faculty Lectureship in 2003 and Eugene R. Dahl Excellence in Research Award, Senior Career from the College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources. In addition, he received the Outstanding Research Award from the American Agricultural Economics Association and the Western Agricultural Economics Association.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.