Friday, October 23, 1998
Korean studies center receives donation
GRANT: $200,000 given for scholarships, faculty salaries,
library growth
By Sarah Krupp
Daily Bruin Contributor
On Thursday, a small group of UCLA staff and faculty came
together for the donation of almost $200,000 to the UCLA Center for
Korean Studies.
Hyung-Ki Min, Los Angeles’ new Korean consul general, personally
presented three checks to John Hawkins, dean of the International
Studies Overseas Program (ISOP), from the Korean Foundation.
According to Min, this contribution illustrates Korea’s
commitment to UCLA’s Korean studies program.
"I do my part to help you in your strenuous effort to promote
Korean Studies," Min said.
"This is a good example of the relationship between my country
and the U.S.A. The Pacific Ocean has become just a mere river from
the Asian continent to the American," Min added.
These contributions are quintessential to the success of Korean
studies at UCLA, Hawkins said.
"UCLA has invested very heavily in Korean studies … but
without the support of the Korean Foundation and the Korean
government, we could not have reached such a high degree of
excellence," he said.
But last year, when the Turkish government offered $1 million to
establish an endowed chair of Ottoman and Turkish history, the
amount of influence they would have on the quality and content of
education was questioned.
"(The Korean Foundation) has no say in who works, who teaches or
what we teach," said John Duncan , professor of East Asian
Languages and Culture.
"They have been very careful to respect our academic freedom in
this country," he added.
Of the $199,730 donated to the Center for Korean Studies, three
checks were issued. $139,730 will go to the salaries of the
center’s faculty and is the last in a series of contributions from
the Korean Foundation.
Although the foundation will no longer fund faculty salaries,
the size of the center’s faculty will not decrease.
These donations were necessary to "jumpstart" the program, said
Gi-wook Shin, acting director of the Center for Korean Studies. But
the university is "committed" to the program, and will supply
funding to ensure its maintenance, he added.
Currently at nine members, this center has the largest faculty
of any such program at a North American university.
In addition $40,000 will go to fund graduate scholarships in
Korean studies, and $20,000 will go to develop a library consortium
of Asian literature.
Combined with a "top-notch" student body, Shin claims that
UCLA’s Korean studies program is equivalent to, if not better than,
other programs such as the one at Harvard.
"UCLA should be proud of having the best Korean studies program
in the country," Shin said.
Shin explained that those enrolled in classes offered by the
Center for Korean Studies are not all of Korean descent.
Duncan stressed the importance of having ethnic studies programs
at UCLA.
"Its natural to want to know about your own history, heritage
and culture," he said.
"Ethnic and cultural studies might be the only way people of
different cultural backgrounds can come together (so they) have a
good sense of their own cultural identity and other ethnic and
cultural heritages."JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin
Korean Consul General Hyung-Ki Min (left) presents two grants to
the Center for Korean Studies at UCLA totaling $179,730. The grants
were accepted by John N. Hawkins, dean of the International Studies
and Overseas Programs. They exchanged gifts of friendship after the
ceremony.
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