IUB Institute for Korean Studies

The Institute for Korean Studies was founded in 2015-2016 within the School of Global and International Studies. The School of Global and International Studies (SGIS) has a dual emphasis that distinguishes it from other schools in the United States. It puts equal emphasis on cultural fluency and on applied social policy. It believes that, to influence and change U.S. and transnational businesses, governments, and nonprofits, its students and faculty need an understanding, on the one hand, of the languages, literatures, and ways of life of overlooked parts of the world and, on the other, of critical issues (such as global governance, security, trade and development, human rights, migration, health, and climate change) that transcend any one nation or region.

Seung-kyung Kim is the inaugural Director of the Institute for Korean Studies, as well as the founding Korea Foundation Chair in Korean Studies. She also serves as a professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. The Korea Foundation Chair in Korean Studies has been made possible through the generosity of the Korea Foundation, the key institution for Korea's public diplomacy launched in 1991 to broaden understanding of Korea in the global community; as well as donations from alumni Young-Jin Kim and William (Won Suk) Joo, and a third, anonymous Korean alumnus.