KENNESAW — Cobb County Commission Chairman Tim Lee and Kennesaw State University are embarking on a new relationship by assigning a student to serve as Lee’s research assistant.

“It gives me an excellent resource of quality candidate to help me with some of my projects and helps (the student) move forward with what he’s trying to accomplish,” Lee said. “I think it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Lee said his new assistant, first-year Ph.D. student Bradley S. Gardner, would work to strengthen the county’s relationship with its sister city, Seongdong-Gu, South Korea.

“I’m also going to have him help me with implementing a strategic plan, assuming we adopt that in January, and just projects that come up that I need assistance with moving forward,” Lee said.

Gardner will have the opportunity to work with Lee 20 hours per week for a full year. The state Board of Regents pays him $15,000 for fall and spring semesters, and KSU pays $3,000 for the summer stipend, said Rose Procter, spokeswoman for the Ph.D.in International Conflict Management program at KSU.

The Board of Regents approved KSU’s first and to-date only Ph.D. program in 2010. All such students are funded with three-year assistantships while they’re in the program.

Procter said KSU initially assigned the students to working on in-house projects at the university.

“In 2012, I was kind of given a new role in looking at developing some external relationships out in the community, being able to have our students do research projects to benefit our community partners, and that includes Cobb County and the cities, so Tim has gotten one of those first appointments,” Procter said.

Gardner, who begins on Jan. 7, will initially work with Lee for one semester until May 1.

“If it’s a good fit and beneficial to the county and things are going well and there’s not another student who applies, Brad is given the option to continue summer and fall semesters, so really he can be with him a full year to do a good research project,” Procter said.

KSU’s Ph.D. program has 27 students who are enrolled in assistantships, ranging from such organizations as the Georgia Council for International Visitors to the Conflict Resolution Program at the Carter Center in Atlanta.