The Korea Initiative at the Center for East Asian Studies,

University of Wisconsin - Madison

A UW-Madison student club, Korean Traditional Folk Drumming and Dance Group Ulssu, performs on campus in 2005. (Photo: C. Merritt.)

The goals of the Korea Initiative at the Center for East Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a brief summary of current activities in support of that Initiative.

Press release about our recent grant from the Korea Foundation to create a new tenure-track position in Korean History.

An article in Korean about Korean studies at UW-Madison, written by UW-Madison lecturer Inkyu Kang who taught a course on Korean Popular Culture in Spring 2006.

Greetings from the Center for East Asian Studies!

The Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin - Madison considers the strengthening of our Korean Studies program to be among our highest priorities. We are the coordinating center for teaching and research about East Asia at UW-Madison. We have a long history of excellence in teaching about East Asia dating back to 1962, and now we are providing leadership in planning for the future of Korean studies on our campus. Our vision is to train a new generation of graduates from across all disciplines who combine linguistic and cultural competence with both historical and contemporary knowledge about Korea, students who can contribute to the ever-growing ties between Korea and the United States.

Enrollments in Korean language and area studies courses at UW-Madison are rapidly rising due to the increased interest in Korea among all students because of current economic trends and international security concerns. A new generation of Korean-American students is seeking more information about their cultural heritage. In addition, UW - Madison has one of the largest concentrations of international students from Korea of any university in the U.S., with over 700 students from Korea. Many of these Korean international students are undergraduates, who want to be able to take the kind of courses about their own history and culture that they would have taken if they attended a Korean university. Responding to student demand, over the past several years our Korean area studies faculty and course offerings have gradually expanded to include areas of strength in dance, music, law, and political science, in addition to Korean language.

We have recently made more rapid progress in expanding Korean studies thanks to alumni contributions which have acted as a catalyst for change. In commemoration of the retirement of Prof. Hyuk Yu in 2004, after his 36 years of service in the Chemistry Department, the UW Foundation established the Professor Hyuk Yu Korean Studies Fund. Contributions from his friends and former students have provided vital seed funds that in turn enabled us to procure a grant from The Korea Foundation. This grant brings a visiting professor to our campus for two years to teach new courses on Korean culture, literature, religion, and philosophy.  In addition, support from alumni spurred increased university support for Korean language instruction. This increased university support combined with help from a U.S. Dept. of Education Title VI National Resource Center grant has enabled us to expand Korean language instruction to include 3rd and 4th year level courses. Funds raised by alumni have played a crucial role in this expansion as matching funds which allow us to leverage more support from foundations and other funding sources. Most recently, the Korea Foundation has kindly agreed to a major grant to enable us to establish a new permanent faculty position in Korean History.

This recent growth in Korean studies helps to meet the immediate educational needs of today’s students, but we must now plan a secure future for Korean studies at the University of Wisconsin. To build a solid foundation, we need to create more permanent tenure-track faculty positions in Korean studies to teach students about Korea’s rich culture, history and traditions. Please take a look at the documents linked above to learn more about the Korea Initiative at the Center for East Asian Studies. We think you’ll agree that these are exciting times at UW-Madison, and we invite you join us in building a top-notch Korean studies program to serve present and future generations of students.

A Brief History and Present State of Korean Studies at UW-Madison

Since the earliest PhD on Korea was granted in 1929, more than 140 PhDs representing a dozen disciplines have been granted for research related to Korea by the University of Wisconsin – Madison.  In 1962, a Department of Chinese was founded, which, after the addition of Japanese and a graduate degree program, became the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature in 1967. Today, the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature offers B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Chinese and Japanese languages, linguistics, literature and thought, and has recently increased its offerings and enrollments in Korean language and area studies courses. Korean language instruction at UW-Madison now includes four years worth of instruction with courses in all four levels offered every year. UW-Madison has a study abroad exchange agreement with Ewha Woman's University for students focusing on Korean language and culture, and is currently investigating establishing additional opportunities for collaboration with other Korean universities.

During the same era, faculty with an interest in East Asia increased on campus and the East Asian Studies Program was established in 1962. At first the East Asian Studies Program had fewer than a dozen faculty, thirty graduate courses, and 80 graduate students in the associated departments. Today the Center for East Asian Studies as a whole has over 70 core and associate faculty members who teach some 240 undergraduate and graduate East Asia-related courses through 30 departments in 6 different schools and colleges. Of those core and affiliate faculty, 15 teach and/or do research focused on Korea. In addition to Korean language courses, over 15 courses substantially or solely focused on Korea are now offered regularly. The Center offers a B.A. in East Asian Studies, a Certificate for undergraduates who wish to combine their primary discipline with an East Asia focus, and a Ph.D. minor for graduate students focusing on East Asia. A graduate certificate for professional and terminal master’s students is currently being developed. Each of these degree options offers the opportunity to student to concentrate on Korea in their studies.

There is also considerable activity related to Korea in the professional schools at UW-Madison. Faculty members in law and business teach comparative courses including Korea. The School of Law offers Master's in Law and Master's in Legal Institutions degrees in cooperation with Korea University. In addition, the East Asian Legal Studies Center has faculty exchanges with Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University. The Center for International Business Education and Research in the School of Business in cooperation with the Center for East Asian Studies plans to lead a faculty development study tour to Korea in 2009. The College of Engineering has a study abroad agreement with Handong University.  The School of Social Work has a faculty exchange agreement with Hallym University and the School for Workers has a faculty exchange agreement with the Korean Labor Education Institute (KLEI).