Dr. Jin-Woo Kim is an Associate Professor of Marketing in the Parker College of Business here at Georgia Southern. Joining the GSU faculty in 2011 after earning his Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Texas at Arlington, Professor Kim previously studied in South Korea, where he achieved his M.B.A. and B.B.A. from Sogang University.

With over thirty years in academia, Kim has found many passions. Above all, there is teaching.

“I believe teaching should be more than delivering a lecture, delivering knowledge to the student. Teaching is kind of showing my philosophy, my attitude, my mindset directly to my students,” he said.

It is students, particularly, that Kim cites as the key proponent of his love for teaching, saying, “I learn so many things from my students who show me their positive attitudes, and kindness, and big smiles…It makes me so happy to see my students grow, and learn, and collaborate with other people.”

One piece of advice Dr. Kim has for current students comes from an especially difficult period of his life, where he encountered a poem that reshaped his view of hardship—“Attitude” by Charles Swindoll. In the final lines of the poem, it reads, “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.”

Swindoll’s brief, yet poignant message drove Kim to start his “positive attitude movement.”

“We try to have a positive attitude. I’m a big ambassador for a positive attitude.” Kim says. “So, at the end of each semester, I make these small pins and give these pins to my students.”

Each button-style pin features a cartoon character of himself with the words “positive attitude” written across the top—a reminder to each of his students that no matter where they go, Professor Kim’s encouraging words aren’t far behind.