The State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, widely recognized for its esteemed research facilities, will be the first American college to open a campus in the Songdo International Business District in Incheon, South Korea. According to The Chosun Ilbo, SUNY Korea will soon be recruiting students for attendance in March 2012 for the graduate programs in computer science and technology & society. The school expects a first enrollment of approximately 400 students.

Citing a recent press release, The Wall Street Journal speculates that the establishment of the campus will help to increase foreign investments, along with academic competitiveness of global education. Although the Stony Brook University campus in Korea is opening as a graduate school, there is ongoing consideration for setting up an undergraduate program as well.

[Photo: Stony Brook University's website]

The South Korean telecom company KT recently released the Kibot, a robot designed to teach toddlers how to read, sing and speak in different languages. In a country where becoming fluent in English is almost a prerequisite for gaining admission at the most prestigious private schools, the Kibot is a great way for working parents to make sure their toddlers are getting the education they need.

ABC News reports that this foot-tall interactive toy has the face of a monkey, has video functions that allow parents to monitor their children on their smartphones while they are at work. By tapping a card on the monkey’s nose, the children can call their parents, who can then direct the Kibot around the house to see what is going on at home.

One of the major selling points of the Kibot, however, is that when it is left idle, it moves around on its own to look for the children and initiate playtime. The educational games and programs can be easily downloaded onto the Kibot, which ABC News notes is possible because 98 percent of Korean homes have broadband access, making South Korea one of the most connected countries in the world.

The Kibot is currently being sold for 485,000 won (that’s $450).

Watch the Kibot in action below:

[Photo: ABC News]

A month ago we started our top ten countdown and now we’re into “twenty ten.” We’ve finally arrived at our #1 most influential Korean-American(s) for 2009.  Naturally the most influential people in our lives outside of our parents and friends are the educators, and they touch the lives of many young people.  Margaret Rhee and Jim Yong Kim share the top spot as they find themselves in very distinguished positions: Margaret Rhee is the chancellor of the Washington D.C. public school system and Dr. Jim Yong Kim is the newly minted president of Dartmouth College.

Dr. Jim Yong Kim became the first Korean-American to head up an American university and it happens to be Dartmouth College of the Ivy League. Dr. Kim came to the United States at the age of five, living in the middle of Iowa. Imagine being the only Korean in the Iowa in the 60′s. It sure ain’t Los Angeles of today. Of course he studied hard but he also was a student athlete in high school. Fast forward to today and after a distinguished career in medicine, at the World Health Organization, and at Harvard, Dr. Kim now heads up Dartmouth College. He is leading one of the elite universities and therefore molding the lives of our future generation.

Michelle Rhee is controversial but an innovator because she’s defying the status quo within the Washington D.C. educational system. Prior to arrival, the metrics were abysmal with kids failing out of the system and not coming close to meeting national standards. Ms. Rhee arrived on a mission to not simply reform but to put a jolt into the system by taking a radical approach with teacher evaluations and compensation. It remains to be seen if her changes are effective but she is influencing the direction of not only the Washington D.C. students under her leadership but her approach could radically influence other school systems if they’re found effective.

Michelle Rhee appeared on CNN’s Anderson Coopers 360 this past week. AC chose Michelle Rhee because she’s at the forefront of change and innovation within the educational system.

Michelle Rhee is the lighting bolt chancellor of the Washington D.C. school district and she’s made a lot of press lately because she let go a handful of teachers last month.  She’s been viewed as controversial and she’s approaching her second anniversary on the job.  History will be the judge of her work but what can be said is that prior to her arrival, the school district was an abysmal failure and the people who were truly hurt by this were the children who were educated in that school district.  Obviously the status quo could no longer be acceptable and she’s made some clear and dramatic changes.  Let’s hope that we start seeing the results for the sake of these kids.

So what does she think as she enters deeper into her administration?  The Washington Post conducted a video interview of her and asked how things have progressed.

Go to the Washington Post for the video interview.

Interesting headline came across the news wire from the Chosun Ilbo about how Korean students – who are the largest group of foreign nationals that study at U.S. universities – seem to be struggling to graduate at the top tier colleges and they include Ivy League institutions. Really? There goes the stereotypes! So what’s the key takeaway? Deficiency in English proficiency seems to be a significant factor in students not reaching their goal of graduation.

Korean-American academic Samuel Kim, a doctoral candidate at Columbia University’s Teachers College, reviewed data of 1,400 Korean students at 14 top universities such as Harvard, Yale and Cornell between 1985 and 2007 for his doctoral dissertation and found that only 784 or 56% graduated while the rest dropped out.

Kim said the main reasons for the high dropout rate were lack of preparation and proficiency in English, and wrong choice of major and university. By lack of preparation, Kim means inability to cope with independence after the coddled upbringing and constant parental supervision typical of Korea’s affluent children.

Despite getting the high required scores on standardized multiple-choice English tests, students often realize that their actual language skills are insufficient to follow lectures and take part in discussions.

Many students are also ill-informed about their chosen academic fields or universities, which can harm students’ sense of identity and deepen insecurity and fears about the future. Jeon Seong-soo, a professor of early childhood education at Bucheon College, said, “The abilities of ‘mama’s boys’ or ‘teacher’s pets’ are only valid until the moment they enter university” because such passive students cannot continue in their ways at university or graduate schools, where independent study habits are valued. “Students who studied against their will because of pressure from parents lack a strong motivation, so they tend to have harder time finding meaning in study,” he said. “When they are suddenly given their freedom, they struggle to find new ways of studying, and unfortunately not all are successful.”

Source: Chosun Ilbo

Linda Sue Park’s charming book “Bee-Bim Bop!” was recently chosen by the public libraries of New York as one of the Top 20 favorite stories to read aloud.  Fun and melodic, it’s a great gift for a child that already loves Korean food or for parents that want to pass the pleasure of eating and mixing bibimbap along to their kids. For recipes or how to cook bibimbap, see the videos we found below on YouTube.

Gwyneth Paltrow’s version

Michelle Rhee is the young chancellor of the Washington D.C. Public Schools and she’s out to reform one of the worst public school systems in the country.  She calls the status of the current system “a crime.” She’s taking on one of the biggest challenges out there and her approach has been scrutinized and criticized but when the status quo has failed the children miserably, why not pursue an unconventional path.  Michelle was featured in this weekend’s Washington Post and she shares insights about her approach to reforming the school system that she is tasked to oversee and her approach to leadership.

The two insights she gives into leadership is to lead from the front and to better communicate. What does leading from the front mean? Don’t get so mired in bureaucracy and get out front and show a vision and bring people to where you are. And secondly, proactive communication is critical to make sure the message is clear.  She’s a woman of extreme candor and this will naturally cause friction, but she continues to lead out in front.

Source: Washington Post

Tim Hwang is 17 years old and he was recently elected to serve on the Montgomery County Board of Education.  Pretty cool that a young gun just went for it. 

My name is Tim Hwang and I am a proud resident of the State of Maryland. This past year, I was elected to serve on the Montgomery County Board of Education, serving a county of 1 million residents, 140,000 students, 200 schools, and a $2.2 Billion Operating Budget for 22,000 public school employees. I am 17. On top of this, I was recently elected as the President of the Maryland High School Democrats and have served as the CEO/President of Operation Fly, Inc. – a non-profit that I started in my 8th grade now serving inner-city populations in DC, Baltimore, Chicago, Boston, and New York with a volunteer base of over 800 for which I have won citations from the Governor and awards from TIME Magazine and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Program. All this while serving on (then Candidate Obama’s) campaign team as the Regional Director for the Students for Barack Obama campaign and an avid student organizer at the local and state level. As of now, I serve as the only Asian American elected to county-wide office.

I’ve been an active member of our local OCA-DC chapter and have worked with numerous Asian American Community leaders in the past by founding the Maryland Association of Asian Americans. But something bothered me. There were very few Asian Americans in government – in a county where 14% of the population consisted of Asian Americans. Recently, I attended a joint meeting between the County Council and the Board of Education to discuss construction, population projections, growth policy, and our capital improvement budget (a $1 billion dollar project apart from the Operating Budget). The room was filled with all of the most powerful legislators and staffers in the county system – ones that dictated the regulations and the taxes of 20% of the State of Maryland. Yet, in a room filled with the movers and shakers of this powerful county, I was the only Asian American in the room. I hadn’t noticed it before, but it’s been nagging at me ever since that meeting. It wasn’t just in the room, but at school board meetings, at lobbying events, fundraisers, even that national political conventions. I was almost always the only Asian American in the room. Now, I am not a very cynical person and many may say that I am one of the last people that would notice these kinds of things, but it bothered me that there weren’t any people in those chairs that either looked like me or identified with me. That is why I was so excited to see the composition of our President’s Cabinet.

I am glad that many members of our State General Assembly are of Asian American descent: Del. Susan Lee, Del. Saqib Ali, Del. Kumar Barve, Del. Kris Valderrama (not a single Senate Member – mind you), but I am in no way complacent. I feel that there inherently needs to be more Asian Americans who have the guts and the commitment to run for public office. As a second generation Korean American, I have seen my parents struggle to make their mark in American society. And I feel the compelling need to see more of their voices represented where policy and regulations are made. My father and mother emigrated from South Korea with with the very little resources that they had managed to salvage before their trip. Attempting to find new hope in the United States, they settled down in Michigan, where they lived off food stamps, while struggling to attend classes at a graduate school. This was the environment where I had lived prior to moving to an urban neighborhood in Baltimore and eventually the suburbs or Rockville, MD. I have never forgotten their suffering, their pain, or their sacrifice. As I enter a new stage of my life by entering college, thanks to their sacrifice and the example of many of our nation’s politicians, I have determined to grow up to serve this country and this government in any way possible.

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.”

Additional coverage can be found at Boston.com>

What is a Kyopo?  What is the Kyopo Project?  We interviewed Cindy Hwang who explored, studied and brought to life the word “Kyopo.”  What is a Kyopo?  It is people of Korean ancestry who reside outside of the Korean peninsula.  Kyopos are everywhere and in almost every country, but the vast majority reside in just three countries: China, Japan and the U.S.  There are approximately 6.5 million Kyopos—one for every ten Koreans residing in the Korean Peninsula. However, it’s more complex than that and what Cindy discovers through her encounters with many Koreans is that there is incredible diversity.  Yet among Kyopos, we are woven together by our identity as outsiders of Korea.  The Kyopo Project is a collection of photographs that illustrate the diversity of this “tribe.”

BEING A KYOPO IS BEING PART OF A TRIBE, FOR WE ARE TIED TOGETHER BY OUR EXPERIENCE, RACE, CULTURE AND ETHNICITY IN A SPECIFIC WAY. INDEED, THE INDIVIDUALS WHO APPEAR IN THIS BOOK REPRESENT THE COMPLEX AND RANDOM INTER-WEAVINGS OF THIS TRIBE; TAKEN AS A WHOLE, THIS GROUP IS NOT MEANT TO SUGGEST A REPRESENTATIVE GROUP, BUT SOMETHING MUCH MORE INTERESTING: IT IS A VISUAL AND TEXTUAL EXPRESSION OF AN ORGANIC WEB OF RELATIONAL CONNECTIONS. PUT IN ANOTHER WAY, THE PROJECT BEGAN WITH A SINGLE PERSON BEING PHOTOGRAPHED. THAT PERSON WENT ON TO RECOMMEND OTHERS, WHO WENT ON TO RECOMMEND OTHERS, AND SO FORTH, UNTIL THE ONE BLOOMED INTO MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED SUBJECTS, AND THE INTRICATELY OVERLAPPING AND INTERCONNECTING RELATIONSHIPS OF A CERTAIN KYOPO COMMUNITY IS WHAT THE WORK HAS PRODUCED…

IT INCLUDES KYOPOS WHO HAVE LIVED IN COUNTRIES BESIDES AMERICA, INCLUDING ARGENTINA, CANADA, CHINA, DENMARK, FRANCE, INDIA, JAPAN, THE UK, THE PHILIPPINES, CUBA, AND BRAZIL. THERE ARE KYOPOS ADOPTED INTO WHITE FAMILIES, MIXED-RACE KYOPOS, AND A RANGE OF AGES FROM TEEN TO SEPTUAGENARIAN. PROFESSIONS INCLUDE BANKERS, A CHEF, A HAT DESIGNER, TAE KWON DO INSTRUCTORS, A HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER WHO REPRESENTS THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY, WRITERS, A WELL-KNOWN ACTOR. SOME CAN SPEAK KOREAN, SOME CANNOT, AND SOME SPEAK ONLY A CHILD’S VERSION OF KOREAN EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE ADULTS. SOME HAVE KOREAN FIRST NAMES, SOME HAVE BOTH AMERICAN AND KOREAN NAMES, ONE PERSON, CABIN GOLD KIM, HAS A NAME HIS PARENTS CHARMINGLY MADE UP FOR HIM…

KYOPO LIFE, YOU WILL SEE, CONTINUALLY CHANGES AS THE INDIVIDUAL AND ALSO THE WORLD CHANGES. WHAT AT FIRST GLANCE APPEARS TO BE A BOOK ON “KOREANS” AND “KOREAN CULTURE WILL PROVE TO BE INSTEAD ONE ENCOMPASSING THE WORLD.

For more information on the Kyopo Project, visit kyopoproject.com.