ELIGIBILITY

Applications are invited from American educators who are professionally engaged as textbook writers and editors, and East Asia specialists in higher education who would like to include Korea in their teaching, research or writing. Priority consideration will be given to applicants who are planning to author textbooks on world history or Asian history, those who contribute articles to reference works and those who will be editors of such works.

ACTIVITIES

The program will begin in Seoul with three days of lectures and fieldtrips and continue with a seven-day docent-led tour to major points of interest throughout the southern part of the Korean peninsula. The lectures will be delivered by prominent scholars from leading Korean universities on topics such as language, art, architecture, literature, economics and the politics of a divided country. The field trips during this initial phase of the program will take participants to places of historical and cultural significance in the Seoul area, including royal palaces, the royal ancestral shrine, museums and historical districts. In the second phase of the program, the participants will travel to various points of interest throughout the southern part of the Korean peninsula on an extended docent tour.

Dr. Mark Peterson of Brigham Young University, a distinguished expert on Korean history and culture, will accompany the participants throughout the entire program. He will lecture informally on topics related to Korean history, society and literature as well as the impact of Shamanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity on the Korean people.

APPLICATION

Applicants are requested to submit a completed application packet, including the application form (download Word .doc file) and supporting documentation, by July 5, 2009 (postmarked) to:

Yong Jin Choi, Senior Director, Korean Studies Program

The Korea Society

950 Third Avenue, Eighth Floor

New York, NY 10022

June 24 - July 10, 2009

The Korea Society is pleased to announce openings for 20 American educators to participate in the 21st Annual Summer Fellowship in Korean Studies Program. This program is held in Korea with financial support from the Korea Foundation and the Freeman Foundation. All the expenses of the participants will be covered, including round-trip international airfare, accommodations, meals and program fees. We invite applications from social studies and language arts educators, including K-12 classroom teachers, and professors or instructors in schools of education. Administrators, supervisors, specialists and mentors associated with social studies and language arts education with a minimum of three years of experience are also encouraged to apply.

Nine education professionals participated in the 13th annual Fall Fellowship in Korean Studies, conducted in Korea from October 11 through 22. The fellows included three textbook editors, one project coordinator for East Asia education, one curriculum developer and four professors of history, Asian culture and art. The group began its study tour at the Academy of Korean Studies in Seoul (a major supporter of the fellowship) and was accompanied by Yong Jin Choi, senior director of Korean studies at The Korea Society; Mark Peterson, professor of Korean studies at Brigham Young University; and Sharon Park, who led the group’s fellowship trip.

The fellows attended lectures on Korean art, economics and current affairs at the Academy and enjoyed local field trips to Myongdong Catholic Cathedral and Kyongbok Palace. After leaving Seoul, the group embarked on a six-day tour of major cultural and historical sites throughout the rest of the country, including first Ch'ongju and its Early Printing Museum. For the next two days, the participants were exposed to Buddhism in Korean society through an overnight stay at the Unmunsa convent outside Taegu. They helped the nuns with their annual red-pepper harvest, before continuing on to Haeinsa monastery, where they viewed the ancient wooden blocks used to print the Tripitaka Koreana, one of the oldest Buddhist texts in the world. A visit to Yangdong Folk Village, where residents live in the rural, agrarian manner of their ancestors, helped the participants understand the lasting influence Confucian values have had on Korean society. The fellows visited the National Museum of Korea, Sokkuram Grotto and Pulguksa Temple in Kyongju. A tour of Hyundai's high-tech shipyard gave the participants a view of Korea's economic history and future. The fellowship concluded with the fellows returning to Seoul to visit the Leeum Museum and enjoy a performance at the Seoul Arts Center before returning to the U.S.