KDI has added another distinguished professor to its ranks. He is Dr. Chrysostomos Tabakis and hails from Thessaloniki, Greece. Prof. Tabakis obtained his undergraduate degree in Economics from Brandeis University in Boston, U.S.A. He then went on to complete his graduate and post graduate degrees in Economics at Columbia University in New York. Before coming in South Korea, Prof. Tabakis taught at universities in Portugal and Cyprus.

According to Prof. Tabakis, the KDI School’s emphasis on policy is very appealing to him. “I like the school a lot in terms that academically it has a very good faculty, very good reputation. I also like--in a sense--the style of the school, the public policy. It is a policy school and a lot of my research is on policy, trade policy.”

Some students are already familiar with the new professor and are taking his Analysis of Market and Public Policy class. Prof. Tabakis says when teaching, he strives to abide by certain principles. “What I teach, I try to make it a bit relevant, give a lot of real world examples. This is a policy school, so I try to give a lot of policy examples. I try to focus as much as possible on intuition, minimize the math and talk a lot about the intuition behind things.”

Aside from enjoying his class, the professor and his family are also enjoying the sights, sounds, and tastes of their new home. “Seoul is an amazing city, it is very dynamic, very lively... I like Korean food a lot, I think the cuisine has a lot of variety. I like the meats, the seafood, the vegetables and I think Korean cuisine mostly is quite healthy.”

By Kendra GRIFFITH (2013 MDP, Belize)