Dr. Jim Yong Kim, president of Dartmouth College, shares his thoughts on leadership with the Washington Post.   He says that the most important part of leadership is to have a brutal understanding of who you are.  He delves into his father’s early advice about how having great ideas and philosophies are nice, but that it’s more important to bring something practical to a problem.  He also talks about his Korean identity and what it means to him.  Dr. Kim also emphasizes the nature of our responsibility to the rest of the world.  He says that when he’s in the presence of great leaders, he says that they share something in common and that is that these people have made difficult decisions.  These leaders also take on responsibility when they walk into a room and that you can feel their presence.  Very interesting thoughts from one of the great Korean-American leaders of our generation.

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!

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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.

The Korean American Community Foundation is holding its 4th annual Building Bridges Gala on Wednesday night in New York City at Pier Sixty in Chelsea Piers.  This year’s guests include keynote speaker Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the new president of Dartmouth and Andrew Kim of Sit/Kim International Investment.  Co-emceeing the event will be ABC News Juju Chang and SuChin Pak of MTV.

The needs of current and future grantee partners in the greater New York area are more acute than ever due to the direct and indirect effects of the economic downturn. Therefore, the funds that we raise through this year?s gala will have an even greater impact. It is also our continuing imperative to raise awareness – awareness that there are many in the greater New York area, including Korean Americans, who lack resources and opportunities; that there are great organizations that are working within the community to provide real solutions; and of KACF’s ongoing efforts to bridge the Korean American community and all the other communities for the greater good.

We hope that the Fourth Annual Building Bridges Gala will once again bring the community together in a celebration of the outstanding contributions of our honorees, the courageous work of our grantee organizations and engage supporters in the ongoing work of our Foundation. We look forward to seeing you there.

Click here for more information on the event.

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>

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!