Korea Foundation gives $2 million for professorship at Stanford

The Korea Foundation has pledged $2 million to Stanford University's School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S) to endow a professorship in Korean studies. The gift will be matched with $2 million from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as part of Stanford's Hewlett Challenge, a matching-grant initiative to strengthen the financial future of the university's largest school.

On behalf of the Korea Foundation, Sang-ki Chung, Korean consul general in San Francisco, will hand-deliver the first check of $1 million to Sharon R. Long, the Vernon R. and Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences and the William C. Steere, Jr.-Pfizer Inc. Professor in Biological Sciences, at a campus reception scheduled from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Jan. 26 on the third floor of Encina Hall.

"This gift continues a long-standing and meaningful partnership between the Korea Foundation and Stanford University to further international understanding through the exchange of ideas, knowledge and culture," Long said. "Under the strong leadership of Gi-Wook Shin, director of the Korean Studies Program, Stanford is advancing scholarship and education related to culture, history and politics of Korea. This effort is an important part of one of Stanford's emerging multidisciplinary initiatives, which is the H&S Program in International, Comparative and Area Studies."

This is the second professorship the Korea Foundation has awarded to Stanford. In 1996, the Korea Foundation—joined by the Tong Yang Group and the Korea Stanford Alumni Association—made a gift to establish the first endowed chair at Stanford in Korean studies. The most recent gift of endowment from the Korea Foundation will enable Stanford to add a scholar in Korean studies in the fields of social sciences or humanities. A search to fill the position is under way.

In 2004, another endowed professorship—on contemporary Korea—was established with a gift from telecommunications entrepreneur Jeong H. Kim in honor of William J. Perry, the Michael and Barbara Berberian Professor and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for International Studies (SIIS). In addition, the Pantech Group provided support to establish several fellowships in Korean studies. Together, these gifts are enabling H&S and SIIS to apply significant resources toward building a premier Korea program at Stanford.

Stanford's Korean Studies Program has made great strides since Gi-Wook Shin joined Stanford in 2001 as an SIIS senior fellow and associate professor of sociology. A historical-comparative sociologist whose research has focused on colonialism, nationalism and development, he came to Stanford after teaching at the University of Iowa and the University of California-Los Angeles. While at UCLA he served as acting director of the UCLA Center for Korean Studies. Shin recently completed a book on the origins and politics of ethnic nationalism in Korea and is currently analyzing American and Korean news media to examine the changing U.S.-Republic of Korea relationship.

"I am grateful for the support and resources from generous donors, such as the Korea Foundation and Jeong H. Kim, which enable us to offer our students some of the finest teaching and research available in this field," Shin said. "I am excited about the direction Korean studies is taking at Stanford and, more broadly, about Stanford's recognition of the importance of international studies and perspectives in the global context."

Stanford's Korean Studies Program offers a breadth of seminars, workshops, conferences, research projects and visiting scholars, in addition to undergraduate and graduate courses to explore Korea's economics, politics, history, international relations and culture. The program works with the Center for East Asian Studies at Stanford, which offers a master's degree in East Asian studies with a specialty in Korea.

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