NEW BRITAIN -- Hyundai Motor America, the U.S. subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea, presented a $3-million endowment gift to Central Connecticut State University on Monday. The university will receive $1.5 million this year; $1.5 million in 2006.

The gift is the largest ever awarded to CCSU, Connecticut’s oldest publicly supported institution of higher education. The funds will be used to establish the Dr. Mong Koo Chung/Hyundai Motor America Endowment Fund, named in honor of Hyundai Motor Company’s chairman. The fund will enable students and faculty members from South Korea and Central to study at each others’ universities.

In presenting the endowment gift, Jeon Kap Lee, president of Hyundai Motor Co., said CCSU and Hyundai have been long and steady partners.

"This amicable tie was highlighted in 1989 when CCSU recognized Chairman Chung’s global leadership by awarding him an honorary doctoral degree," he said. "Chairman Chung has always had an appreciation of the recognition and strong wishes of support by CCSU."

During the celebration of the completion of Hyundai’s first U.S. production plant in Montgomery, Ala., this past May, Chung decided to donate $3 million as a scholarship fund to the CCSU Foundation.

"CCSU has always recognized the importance of forming and strengthening Korean-American relationships for the purpose of improving educational opportunities, business exchanges and intercultural sharing," Lee explained.

"In this regard, from 1995 to 1997, many Hyundai business leaders and executives, including myself, had an opportunity to participate in the Global Leadership Program on the CCSU campus," said Lee. "As I take pride in being one of the first graduates of that program, it gives me great pleasure to present the scholarship fund endowment on behalf of Chairman Chung."

Lee told The Herald the program provided him with an opportunity to enhance his business insights and move up in the organization. In 1995, he was vice president; his son, Sang Joon Lee, is currently a senior and business major at Central.

Lawrence McHugh, board of trustees chair of the Connecticut State University System, said, "CCSU has had a long and fruitful relationship with friends and colleagues in Korea. This relationship was begun by then-CCSU President F. Don James and the late Dr. Kwang Lim Koh, a distinguished Korean diplomat."

Koh, later a CCSU faculty member, along with James, nurtured educational and cultural ties between Korea and the U.S. The relationship continued under the administration of President Emeritus Richard Judd, with the assistance of Ki Hoon Kim, professor of economics and leader of the university’s efforts to develop the Asian Studies Program.

McHugh said under CCSU’s new president, Jack Miller, "I am sure this most generous endowment will enable the university to make even further progress in Korean-American cultural and educational programs."

Richard Balducci, former speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives, CCSU alumnus, and member of the CSU board of trustees, said it was "especially gratifying that this endowment honors Dr. Mong Koo Chung, who has been so supportive of CCSU’s exchanges and other programs in Korea. The university holds him in such high esteem that, in awarding him an honorary doctorate, it justifiably places Dr. Chung in the company of such other recipients as former U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and George H.W. Bush, as well as President George W. Bush."

Miller noted that the university and Hyundai "have enjoyed a long and steady relationship dating back to the 1980s. This affiliation is founded on our common belief that improving educational opportunities between CCSU and Korean universities contributes to the overall strengthening of relationships between the people of the United States and the Republic of Korea."

Dr. Ki Hoon Kim, a Korean native and CCSU faculty member since 1967, called his countryman Dr. Chung "an exemplar of the success that can be achieved through hard work in a free society. He began working in the automobile business in 1970 as a manager for Hyundai Motor Company. Pursuing his vision of more efficient and customer-focused methods, he went on to guide Hyundai Motor Service to increased customer satisfaction, and expanded the company’s global management of automobile production."

Chung was appointed chairman of the Hyundai Group in 1996, and helped lead Hyundai’s acquisition of Kia Motor Co. In January 1999, he was named chairman and CEO of Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motor Co. One of his early successes was to improve the quality of Hyundai and Kia cars. Under Chung’s leadership, Hyundai Motor America completed a new state-of-the-art plant in Montgomery, Ala. this past May, where Hyundai cars are now built. In addition to creating more than 2,000 new jobs in Alabama, the new plant has the capacity to produce 300,000 vehicles a year. A second plant in Mississippi is currently on the drawing board.

"Chairman Chung’s life story is one of dedication and success, and it has been a great personal pleasure to have seen how he has advanced over the years," Kim said.

Hyundai Motor America, with headquarters in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co. of Korea. Hyundai cars and sport utility vehicles are distributed in the U.S. by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced by more than 640 Hyundai dealerships nationwide. Hyundai sold its first car in the U.S. in 1986.

Last year, Hyundai and Kia Motors sold 3.3 million cars and ranked 7th in world sales. Lee said Hyundai-Kia wants to one of the top five automakers in the world by 2010.

Twenty years ago, few Americans had heard of Hyundai or its products. Since then, the company introduced its top-selling model, Sonata, and has become the fourth, best-selling foreign manufacturer in the U.S.

Scott Whipple can be reached at swhipple@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, Ext. 224.

©The Herald 2005