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KOREAN STUDIES |
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| ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY | ||
Department of Languages and Literatures |
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| - Newsletter No.1, January 2000 - | ||
Welcome to the Korean Studies Program at Arizona State University. The Program was founded in 1995 by the late Professor John Koo, who had retired from his faculty position in Linguistics at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. His vision for the future and his time, energy and experience were the catalyst for the establishment and development of the program. Under Dr. Koo's leadership, the local Korean American community mobilized, raising seed funds for the Korean studies program as well as various cultural and scholarly events at ASU. Sadly, Dr. Koo passed away in China during a research trip, but his legacy has continued in the strong support from the local Korean community. Two years ago, the University authorized a tenure-track assistant professorship in Korean, a strong sign of the university's commitment to Korean Studies. In fact, our program at ASU is the first and only program devoted to Korean Studies at the university level in the state of Arizona. Last year, we were able to hire one more full-time instructor with a 3-year grant from the Korea Research Foundation. We currently have two full-time faculty members who offer a variety of courses and are actively engaged in research related to Korean language, culture and society. Just three years ago the only course we were offering was an Elementary Korean language course. We are now offering Korean language courses covering Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced levels, and various culture courses, such as "Korean Culture and Society," "Women of Korea" and "Korean Film and Literature." Enrollments in Korean are growing steadily. The number of students taking Korean language and culture classes nearly doubled, from 22 in Fall 1998 to 50 in Fall 1999. Students have already requested that we offer a degree in Korean. Although we are not able to offer a major at this point, we are working toward that goal, creating a core curriculum and electives. The Korean Studies Program at ASU enjoys the advantages of being located in the greater Phoenix area, one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the US. The city of Phoenix has attracted an ethnically diverse population, including Korean Americans. The Korean American population was recently identified in a local newspaper as the fastest growing Asian population in Phoenix. In this dynamic and culturally enriching environment, the Korean Studies Program at ASU seeks to educate and inform students and citizens about the language, culture and history of Korea through academic courses, research, and sponsorship of cultural events. Hyaeweol Choi |
Annual Lecture Series: To increase the profile of and promote interest in Korean Studies, we initiated an annual lecture series in the spring of 1999. The inaugural lecture, presented on February 16, 1999, was given by Dr. Robert Mowry of the Harvard University Art Museums. Dr. Mowry presented a lecture entitled, "First under Heaven: Korean Ceramics of the Koryo Dynasty." This inaugural lecture was funded by a generous grant from the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles. For the second lecture in this annual series, we have invited Dr. Chan Eung Park of Ohio State University. Dr. Park has done extensive research on Pansori, the traditional Korean vocal musical form, and she herself is an accomplished performer of Pansori. Dr. Park will present her research on Monday, February 21, 2000, in the Pima Room of the Memorial Union at ASU. Scholarly Lectures: In cooperation with the Center for Asian Studies, Departments of History, Art and Political Sciences at ASU, our program has actively participated in inviting prominent scholars to campus to give lectures. These include the following: Dr. Young Whan Kihl (Iowa State University), "Seoul's Engagement Policy and the United States-North Korea Relations," February 2, 1999 Dr. Hahm Chaibong (Yonsei University), "The Confucian Gentleman and the Liberal Intellectual: Reconstructing Confucianism in Korea Today," April 13, 1999. Joint Conference: On November 15, 1999, the Korean Studies Program hosted a joint conference with members of the Korean Economic Institute of America. Various Korean specialists in the valley area were at the Memorial Union to have a one-day workshop entitled "Challenges of the New Millennium for the Korean Peninsula." The keynote speaker was Minister Hyuk Choi from the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C. Cultural Event: Sponsored by ASU Public Events in cooperation with the Korean Studies Program, the Samul Nori troupe (artistic director, Kim Duk-soo), an internationally-renowned traditional percussionist group from Korea, performed at the Gammage Auditorium, ASU, on October 15, 1999, attracting an audience of 1,500 audience. In addition to this main performance, the troupe led a weeklong Changgo workshop for students and the general public. Taste of Korea: Every semester, students from all the Korean classes get together for a dinner. On December 1, 1999, more than 40 students had a feast of Korean food prepared by the families of Korean faculty members and some of the students. |
In the spring semester of 2000, we have invited three prominent scholars to ASU. Feb 21: Dr. Chan Eung Park (Ohio State University), lecture on and performance of Pansori. March: Dr. John Duncan (UCLA), lecture on the formation of Korean Identity." May 24: Dr. Wayne Patterson (St. Nobert College), lecture on the history of Korean immigrants to the U.S. More information about these presentations will be posted on our web site. |
In the fall of 1999, the following courses were offered by the Korean program.
Each level of language instruction begins in the fall and continues in the spring semester. |
New courses in the Spring 2000! |
In the spring semester of 2000, five courses are offered:
In addition to the continuation of language courses from the Fall semester, there will
be two new courses. |
| Hyaeweol Choi (Assistant Professor): Dr. Choi joined the faculty at ASU in 1998. Prior to coming to ASU, she taught as visiting professor Korean language and culture courses at Smith College (1996-1998) and the University of Kansas (1994-1996). She got her Ph.D. in international education from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and received her B.A. and M.A. in sociology of education at Yonsei University, Korea. Her research interest touches on a variety of disciplines. She has done research on cross-cultural communication and book-publishing. She is the author of two books, An International Scientific Community: Asian Scholars in the United States (Praeger, 1995), and Publishing and Book Development in the Third World: Bibliography and Analysis (co-authored with Philip Altbach, Ablex Publishing, 1993). Her research has also focused on the history of women in Korea, and some of this research has been published: "Women's Work for "Heathen Sisters": American Women Missionaries and their Educational Work in Korea," Acta Koreana, vol. 2, 1999; "Women's Literacy and New Womanhood in Late Choson Korea," forthcoming in Asian Journal of Women's Studies. Continuing her earlier research agenda, Dr. Choi has recently launched a project on Korean academics and their cross-cultural experience. |
| Young Kyun Oh (Full-time Lecturer): Mr. Oh joined the Korean program in the fall of 1999. He teaches Elementary Korean (I, II) and Intermediate Korean (I, II) classes. Before coming to ASU, he had been teaching Korean for three years at the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is currently a Ph.D. candidate. He had received his B.A. and M.A. in East Asian philosophy at Sogang University, Korea, and spent one year in Taiwan, before he came to the U.S. His focus of specialization is the historical linguistics of Chinese and Korean, and his Ph.D. dissertation is on: "Sino-Korean Phonology and the Linguistic Contact between Middle Chinese and Old Korean." His research interests include the history of East Asian languages, intellectual histories of Korea and China, and teaching Korean to foreign speakers. He has translated some philosophical books into Korean, and wrote several papers including the most recent one: "The Translation of Chinese Philosophical Texts in Korea: the next generation" (presented at American Association of Chinese Comparative Literature conference in Vienna, Austria, 1999). |
The establishment and progress of the Korean Studies Program would not have been possible without the help and encouragement of many people from the ASU community and the local Korean American community. We would like to express our sincere appreciation for their unfailing support in the growth of the program. The ASU Korean Studies Program Sponsoring Committee
(Michael Kim [President], Sandra Koo, Steven Choe, Hee Joong Kim, Nam Chu
Yang, Miyoung Gallagher, and An-il Rhee) has provided enormous support
through their advice, time and financial donation. We would also like to
acknowledge very generous donations of books from Mrs.
Sandra Koo and Mrs. Miyoung Gallagher. The Korean Dry Cleaners Association in AZ has given the program a generous donation and has pledged to continue its support. Dr. Timothy Wong (Director, Center for Asian Studies, ASU) and Dr. David Foster (Chair, Dept. of Languages and Literatures, ASU) have provided substantial administrative support for the program. Faculty and staff of the DLL and of the CAS have also helped the program in many ways. Minister Hyuk Choi of the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C., has provided the program with books. Thank you all for your much-appreciated support and your faith in our program. |
Do you want to know what is going on in the Korean program? Do you wonder what courses will be offered in the next semester? Do you want to see if there is any Korean-related events happening on campus? Do you want to pick up some knowledge about Korea? Check out our web site at: /clas/silc/kor/korean.html. You can find our course listings, past and current events, and an extensive list of links to fabulous web sites of Korean culture and society. It even links you to an on-line Korean classroom! |
Please contact: |
The Korean Studies Program Tel: (480) 965-4560 or 965-1628 |
Saehae pok mani paduseyo! /say-hay poke mah-nee pah-doo-say-yo/ (May you be blessed with abundant fortune in the new year!) |
We wish you continuing happiness in the year of the Dragon! |
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