Donations, Legislature boost Korean program

The Korean studies program at the UW received a major donation toward its effort to keep and improve the program.

A major shipping company, Hanjin, donated $20,000 towards the program. This is only a piece of a large fund-raising effort by the program. The final goal is $2 million.

"It's a very generous donation ... to support a good cause," said Anand Yang, director of the Jackson School of International Studies. "I think they take great pride in their own country and they're pleased that this University is still interested in learning about Korea."

This fund-raising project was launched after a key faculty member in the Korean studies program, professor James Palais, retired in 2001.

"The state's budget has been terrible for the past few years and our historian retired," said professor Clark Sorensen, Korean program chair. "The University wasn't able to replace him so, rather than let the program die on the vine, we decided to see if we could find the money to endow his position."

Because the UW was unable to replace him, Palais has been teaching part-time. However, he said this is only a temporary solution.

"The graduate students, they need a full-time professor," said Ick-Whan Lee, chairman of the Committee for Korea Center at the UW. "They need someone to work with or they'll just get really lost, so it's very important."

After the initial goal of replacing Palais, the Korean studies program also hopes to launch a Korea Studies Center, which could focus on such issues as community outreach.

"There are a lot of teachers that want to include Korea in their curriculum," said Sorensen. "But they have no background because Korea hasn't been taught that much in the past, except at specialized institutions like the University of Washington."

To raise money, the Korean program is relying on many types of donations.

"We got a half million pledge from the Korea Foundation in Korea," said Sorensen. "We have to match that, so to match it we're doing community fund-raising here, but we also are asking for corporate donors."

"About three or four weeks ago we visited Olympia to appeal to the state Legislature," said Lee. "We emphasized that we deserve support from the state government because we're getting support from a foreign government: Korea."

Both the Senate and House versions of the operating budget include $500,000, to be matched by $1.5 million of non-state funds.

"I think [the effort] is a good example of the University working together well with the community both locally as well as internationally to advance a cause that will have implications for not only faculty but also students," said Yang.