Stanford receives $2 million for Korea Studies

The Korea Foundation will donate $2 million to the School of Humanities and Sciences to endow a new professorship in Korean studies, a gift University officials hail as a major boost to the Stanford's Korean Studies Program.

The donation will allow the program to hire a scholar either in social sciences or humanities. When the position is filled, the program will have three faculty members.

"With three faculty, we will have a critical mass in Korean Studies," said Korean Studies Director Gi-Wook Shin, an associate professor of sociology and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for International Studies, in an interview with The Daily. "It's important for any program to have faculty, and with this third chair we will have very good infrastructure in place."

This gift follows a donation last year from telecommunications entrepreneur Jeong H. Kim in honor of Management Science and Engineering Prof. William J. Perry, an SIIS senior fellow. Shin said that he is currently searching for a scholar on contemporary Korea to fill this position and expects to hire someone by fall of this year.

The Korea Foundation, with the Tong Yang Group, a financial services provider, and the Korea Stanford Alumni Association, donated funds for the establishment of Stanford's first Korean Studies chair in 1996.

"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," said Sharon Long, dean of Humanities and Sciences, in a press release. "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."

As part of the University's Hewlett Challenge, the Korea Foundation's gift will be matched by $2 million from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Shin said he hopes to fill this third professorship by fall 2006.

"With this addition, Stanford will be a prime center for Korean Studies in the nation," he said. "I'm very excited."

The Korean Studies Program has conducted seminars, workshops and conferences, sponsored research projects and brought visiting scholars to campus. Current staff includes two postdoctoral fellows and two professional fellows. Shin's own research focuses on colonialism, nationalism, and development.

On Wednesday, Korean Consul General in San Francisco, Sang-ki Chung, will deliver the first check of $1 million to Long at a reception on the Stanford Campus.