On Thursday, April 23, 2015, the Korean Language Association (KLA) held their tenth annual gala in Manhattan. Professor Pyong Gap Min, the director of the Research Center for Korean Community (RCKC) gave a keynote address.

On Tuesday, May 19, 2015, Queens native Patricia Park gave a reading from her first novel, RE JANE, at Dae Dong Manor and Restaurant in Flushing. Over 150 people attended the event, which was co-organized by the Research Foundation for Korean Community and the Research Center for Korean Community. RE JANE was recently published by Pamela Dorman Books/Viking, a division of Penguin Press. 

Patricia also conducted a very illuminating question and answer session with the audience and signed copies of her book. Those in attendance thoroughly enjoyed the event, which featured welcoming remarks by former NYC Comptroller John Liu, President Hae Min Chung of RFKC, and others. Patricia and her parents were also awarded a citation of recognition from the office of New York Assemblymember Ron Kim.

It is encouraging that there are increasingly more 1.5- and 2nd-generation Korean-American writers emerging. This book is particularly meaningful for the Korean and Korean-American communities in New York City because Patricia was born and raised in Queens, and much of the book is set in the Korean enclave in Flushing. We look forward to reading more of Patricia's work in the future, and we are honored to have been a part of her first book tour.

Below is a brief description of the book:

"This was my America—all Korean, all the time."

RE JANE is a contemporary retelling of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. The novel follows the life of Jane Re—a half-Korean, half-white orphan sent to live with her uncle in Flushing, Queens. She toils, unappreciated, in her strict uncle’s grocery store and politely observes the traditional principle of nunchi (a combination of good manners, hierarchy, and obligation).

Desperate for a new life, she’s thrilled to become the au pair for the Mazer-Farleys, two Brooklyn English professors and their adopted Chinese daughter. Inducted into the world of organic food co-ops and nineteenth–century novels, Jane is the recipient of Beth Mazer’s feminist lectures and Ed Farley’s very male attention. But when a family death interrupts Jane’s new life, she flies off to Seoul, leaving New York far behind.

Reconnecting with family, and struggling to learn the ways of modern-day Korea, Jane wonders whether she is living out of obligation to others, or for herself. RE JANE is a tale from Queens to Brooklyn to the Gangnam district of Seoul and back, as Jane searches for “the motherland” and challenges what it means to belong.

Click the image of the book cover below to order copies of the book from Patricia Park's website:

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Professor Yill-Youn Park, our second visiting scholar for 2015. Professor Park teaches and conducts research at Honam Theological University and Seminary in Gwangju, South Korea. His areas of interest include social welfare, counseling, and Korean immigrant churches. He was originally supposed to arrive in New York City in March, but due to some visa problems, his arrival was delayed until early May. Either way, we are happy that he is here. During his tenure as a visiting scholar at Queens College, he will conduct research on different aspects of Korean immigrant churches. Professor Park will return to Korea on August 15, 2015. His wife, Professor Gil Hee Noh, was our visiting scholar in 2011. RCKC's other visiting scholar for 2015 is Dr. Heejin Lim (National Youth Policy Institute, Seoul, South Korea).

Every year, RCKC invites at least one international scholar who conducts research on Korean Americans to stay in New York City for a year. We assist the visiting scholars by handling paperwork for visa applications and sharing our knowledge and information about local Korean communities and enclaves in the New York-New Jersey area. We also provide an office on the Queens College campus for the duration of the scholars' tenure here.

On Wednesday, April 15, 2015, the Research Center for Korean Community hosted a seminar at Korean American Youth Foundation in Flushing. The featured speaker at this event was ChangHwan Kim, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Kansas. The title of his talk was "The Educational Mating Patterns of 1.5- and 2nd-Generation Korean Americans and Their Family Standard-of-Living." He examined the effects of marrying a less-educated spouse (educational marrying-down) or marrying a more-educated spouse (educational marrying-up) on the family incomes of 1.5- and 2nd-Generation Korean Americans aged 25-34.

Approximately twenty-five members of the Queens/Long Island Korean and Korean-American community attended the seminar, which was very well-received. An interesting question-and-answer session about further implications of Professor Kim's findings followed his talk.

Click the link below for the full abstract of his presentation:

ChangHwan Kim Mating Patterns Abstract

Professor Kim also gave a presentation earlier that day titled "Are Asian American Women Advantaged: A Multidimensional Assessment" at Queens College. It was held from 12:15 PM - 1:30 PM in Room 351 of Powdermaker Hall, and it was well-attended by Queens College students and faculty. 

Professor Kim has published over thirty scholarly articles in journals (national and international), including American Sociological Review, Sociological Forum, and Social Forces. He also contributed a chapter for a book that we published in 2014, and participated in our 2013 academic conference. He specializes in the areas of stratification, race/ethnicity, Asian-American studies, Korea studies, quantitative methodology, and work and organizations.

Click the link below for more information about Professor Kim:

ChangHwan Kim KU Home Page