Congratulations to 2024 Community Leader Award Recipient Dr. Kyungsook Kim

Dr. Kyungsook Kim

Dr. Kyungsook Kim, director of the Korean language program in East Asian Studies, is the recipient of the University of Alberta 2024 Community Leader Award which is one of three Community Connections Awards awarded annually. This award celebrates how individuals or teams bring the University of Alberta promise of "uplifting the whole people" into their communities (Community Leader Award).

Over the past 16 years, Dr. Kim has built the East Asian Studies Korean language program from a single section of KOREA 101-2 into one of the largest and most successful Korean programs in Canada. Integral to that success has been Dr. Kim’s constant engagement with Korean-Canadian communities, including business and government partners. Through Dr. Kim’s work, Korean language program students have the opportunity to meaningfully engage with the Korean-Canadian community.

Dr. Kim also lead a project, that she worked on with the Korean instructors team, to create the Discover Korean series of Korean textbooks tailored for students learning Korean at the University of Alberta. The main aim of these textbooks is to foster communicative interactions through innovative pair and group work activities and to incorporate the cultural and societal norms of South Korea into the Korean language program's curriculum at the University of Alberta.

Read more about Dr. Kim’s community engagement on the 2024 Honourees page.