Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the president of Dartmouth college surprised his student body when he showed up at “Dartmouth Idol,” and rocked with some of the students during their performance of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. If you go to the 2 minute mark, you’ll see Dr. Kim approach the stage in MJ costume and speak the interlude made famous by the dark Vincent Price. Now that’s a president who is engaged with his student body. Who would’ve thunk it? A Korean-American heads up an Ivy league institution and this same gentleman dances to Michael Jackson. Very cool!
Dr. Jim Yong Kim will be the first Asian-American to head up an Ivy League Institution. His inauguration will occur on Tuesday morning at Dartmouth University. It’s about time because it’s been a long time coming, especially with the fact that so many Asian-Americans have passed through these Ivy league institutions. Dr. Jim Yong Kim is a physician, educator and global health pioneer who was once named Time Magazine’s Top 100 Influential people in the world.
President Kim has said that serving as the leader of Dartmouth is “the greatest honor of my life.” He began his presidency on July 1, 2009, with a clear mandate. “There’s always a sense in young people that they want to do something great. A lot of young people don’t think they can make a difference,” President Kim has said. “That’s what I am at Dartmouth to do, to tell the young people, as Margaret Mead once said, ‘Never doubt that a small group of committed souls can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.’ I am trying to think hard about what would it take to train a group of young people, who would leave the College energized, inspired and really thinking that there’s no problem that they couldn’t tackle. ‘What do you need to do to prepare yourself for a meaningful life?’ That’s the question I’m going to ask students every day, as president of Dartmouth.”
July 1 was a historic day for Asian-Americans as Dr. Jim Yong Kim stepped into his post as the first Asian-American president of an Ivy league institution. Dr. Kim comes to Dartmouth from his tenure at Harvard and what you may not know is that he first arrived in Iowa at the age of 5 before 99% of all Korean-Americans immigrated to the U.S. He even played high school football growing up in Iowa. Along the way, Dr. Kim was the director of the HIV/AIDS department of the World Health Organization and was once named Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential people back in 2006. Fast forward to yesterday: Dr. Kim officially became the president of Dartmouth College, a truly historic day. So what was on the agenda yesterday? Dr. Kim toured the engineering and business schools and met with faculty, students and then addressed the Dartmouth community.
Kim told the students, alumni, faculty and staff gathered on the Green that it was his belief in the ability of Dartmouth students to take on global problems broader than those of his own work that led him to forgo those other career possibilities.
“It’s a gamble for me but it’s a gamble that I took knowing that we were going to win,” Kim said, referencing his confidence in the potential of the College’s students. Read more>
In light of recent racial tensions on college campuses, including Dartmouth and Harvard as well as Tufts, incoming Dartmouth president Dr. Jim Yong Kim told a group of about 50 students at a Harvard forum last week that he hopes to act as a “referee” and let students with different perspectives duke it out.
Every Dartmouth student should have the experience of debating classmates with opposing perspectives, said Kim, a Harvard medical school professor and the first Asian-American president of an Ivy League school. Only with honest, spirited debate and conversation can true understanding occur, he said during the event sponsored by The Harvard Foundation.
“I want every Dartmouth graduate to know their own views and be able to defend it to anyone,” Kim said. “And not hide behind name-calling.”
While he said students should take advantage of their time in college to interact with and learn from classmates from different backgrounds, minority students should not have to shoulder the burden of constant engagement in such discussions, which are often uncomfortable.
“African-Americans are not on campus to be the condiments in the lives of white students,” Kim said. “We are not here as students of color to enhance the lives of the ‘real’ students.”
This article is from the Boston.com
Jim Yong Kim became the first Asian-American to head up an Ivy league institution. He will become the president of Dartmouth college on July 1st. Jim Yong Kim, 49, is a former director of the HIV/AIDS department of the World Health Organization where he was credited with helping expand access to lifesaving treatment in the developing world.
Mr. Jim Yong Kim wasn’t your ordinary Korean immigrant. He first came to the United States at the age of 5, arriving in Iowa. He later attended public school and even played quarterback for his high school. Now that’s pretty cool. In 2006, he was named Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people. What an amazing year. We have our first black president and now a Korean has ascended to the helm of an Ivy league institution. Things are changing!
Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the president of Dartmouth college surprised his student body when he showed up at “Dartmouth Idol,” and rocked with some of the students during their performance of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. If you go to the 2 minute mark, you’ll see Dr. Kim approach the stage in MJ costume and speak the interlude made famous by the dark Vincent Price. Now that’s a president who is engaged with his student body. Who would’ve thunk it? A Korean-American heads up an Ivy league institution and this same gentleman dances to Michael Jackson. Very cool!
Jim Yong Kim became the first Asian-American to head up an Ivy league institution. He will become the president of Dartmouth college on July 1st. Jim Yong Kim, 49, is a former director of the HIV/AIDS department of the World Health Organization where he was credited with helping expand access to lifesaving treatment in the developing world.