6/13/01
CONTACT: Siri Wennberg Pratt, Institute for International
Studies; (650)723-8490
Elaine Ray, News Service; (650) 723-7162; elaineray@stanford.edu
COMMENT: Gi-Wook Shin; (310) 206-7290; gwshin@soc.ucla.edu
Korean scholar Gi-Wook Shin will join Stanford's faculty as an associate professor of sociology and a senior fellow at the Institute for International Studies. The joint appointment was announced by the Institute for International Studies Wednesday.
Before the appointment, Shin, 39, was associate professor of sociology at the University of California-Los Angeles. Shin's research concerns the process of democratization in Korea, Korean nationalism and the social roots of rapid post-war Korean industrialization.
According to Andrew Walder, co-director of Stanford's Asia/Pacific Research Center, Shin is one of the most accomplished and promising social scientists specializing in Korea today.
At Stanford, Shin will be in charge of developing Stanford's new Korea Program. "Gi-Wook Shin's appointment will fill a large hole in Stanford's East Asian Studies programs. He will be the only specialist on modern Korean politics and society on campus," Walder said.
Shin is also an accomplished teacher with a broad appreciation of 20th-century Korean history and politics, says Walder. "The breadth and depth of his regional and social science knowledge will make him a valuable teacher and adviser across the campus."
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By Elaine Ray