KAERA NEWSLETTER SPRING 2015
Vol. 6, No. 2
2015 KAERA 6TH ANNUAL MEETING IN CHICAGO
and the U.S.; Issues in Higher Education;
Teacher Knowledge, Practice, and Teacher
Education; Diversity and Teaching; Language, Literacy, and Numeracy Development; Instructional Technology; Measurement and Evaluation; and Student
Achievement and Learning Growth.
At the Business Meeting, outgoing president Dr. Simon Kim (California State University Long Beach) provided an year-end
The annual meeting in Chicago was a great
review of accomplishments and recogsuccess! Approximately 150 members
nized 2014-2015 Executive Group (EG)
attended the sessions. Special thanks to
members and board members. Incoming
the Program Co-Chairs Dr. Dong Gi Seo
president Dr. Dongbin Kim (University of
(National Registry of Emergency Medical
Kansas) introduced the 2015-2016 leaderTechnicians) and Dr. Yujeong Park
ship team and presented her goals and
(University of Tennessee).
vision for the exciting new year to come.
The annual meeting kicked off with Special
Interest Group Mentoring Session. This
year, we had 6 professional development
themes. Many thanks to the fifteen senior
members who shared their invaluable
expertise in each area.
Next was the Plenary Session on The Role
of Diversity in Education. Another round
of applause goes to the distinguished panel — Dr. Yunkyung Cha (Hanyang University), Dr. Clara Lee Brown (University of Tennessee Knoxville), and Dr. Jae Hoon Lim
(University of North Carolina Charlotte), as
well as the facilitator Ms. Elena Son
(University of Southern California).
Special guest Dr. Okehee Lee (New York
University) recognized seven recipients of
Michael B. Salwen Scholars Program. Dr.
Lee shared the background of the travel
award program which was inspired by the
This year, the Roundtable Presentation
fond memory of her late husband Dr. MiSession boasted a record-high submission.
chael B. Salwen. Seven awardees of the
Participants were engaged in scholarly
program include: Dr. Byeong-Young Cho
exchanges at a total of 24 selected
(Iowa State University); Mr. Hyonsuk Cho
presentations on a wide range of topics,
(SUNY Buffalo); Dr. Yoonjung Choi (Ewha
including Multicultural Education in Korea
University); Mr. Jonghun Kim (University
of Wisconsin-Madison); Dr. Kyoung-Ah
Nam (American University); Dr. Ho Ryong
Park (Murray State University); and Ms.
EunJin Seo (University of Texas at Austin).
Congratulations again to the 2015 awardees!
Following the Business Meeting, participants engaged in a fun-filled networking
session led by talented M.C.’s Dr. Yujeong
Park and Mr. Taeho Yu (Purdue University).
The success of this year’s meeting was
thanks to 2014-2015 EG members, board
members, as well as graduate student
volunteers. Many thanks to Graduate Student Coordinators who served at the registration table!: Koun Choi (Pennsylvania
State University); Haram Jeon
(Pennsylvania State University); YongJu
Jung (Pennsylvania State University); Stella
Kim (University of Iowa); Youngwon Kim
(University of Texas at Austin); Katie Koo
Inside this issue:
6th Annual Meeting Recap
1
Michael B. Salwen Scholar
Interview: Dr. Ho Ryong Park
2
Featured Member Interview: Dr.
Clara Lee Brown
3
Kudos and Members on the
Job Market
4
KAERA NEWSLETTER SPRING 2015 — 1
(University of Maryland); Minhye Lee (Korea University); Wendi
Otto (Claremont Graduate University); Jaehee Park (University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); Hye Sun You (University of Texas
at Austin).
2015 MICHAEL B. SALWEN SCHOLAR
Dr. Ho Ryong Park
Dr. Park: It was a great experience. I felt so proud to be one of
the group members. Senior faculty’s advice was priceless to me
and encouraged me to think about what I should do for the rest
of my career. It was also meaningful to meet other junior faculty
and doctoral students and to share some experiences and ideas.
Q: How was your experience with applying for, being selected,
and receiving the scholarship?
Dr. Park: Being selected as one of the award recipients was a
great honor and encouragement. I was not sure about the history
In its 5th year, Michael B. Salwen Scholars
of the award, but Dr. Lee’s explanation at the Business Meeting
Program has supported travel expenses of
made everything clear. I could understand how meaningful and
selected KAERA members, both graduate
students and junior faculty. One of the 2015 honorable the award was.
Michael B. Salwen Scholars Dr. Ho Ryong
I also had to think
Park (Murray State University) shared his
about how I would
experiences with the program and KAERA.
contribute to Korean
communities more as
an educator and reQ: Hello, Dr. Park. Could you introduce yourself, including your
searcher. I will think
research/teaching interests and your involvement in Divisions or
about this and comSIGs in AERA?
municate with other
Dr. Park: I’m Assistant Professor at Murray State University in
KAERA scholars more.
Kentucky. My research includes teaching English to speakers of
Q: Thanks for sharing your experiences. Did you have any final
other language (TESOL) education, second language acquisition
comments?
and literacy (reading) development, and technology integration
in education. I’m mostly interested in how we can use technology Dr. Park: I believe this organization is a great place for Korean
resources to enhance language learning and teaching.
scholars to collaborate and communicate with each other, which
My teaching is diverse and covers many specific areas of TESOL.
At the current institution, I teach or taught Methods and Materials for Teaching ESL/EFL, Language and Culture, Introduction to
Linguistics, Computer-Assisted Language Learning, Testing and
Evaluation in Second Language Teaching, and Practicum.
will definitely strengthen the membership and partnership in
years to come. I hope we can recruit more members who did not
have a chance to learn about this organization, and I hope I can
play a more active role for the organization soon.
Many thanks to Dr. Park for sharing his experiences. Looking forward to seeing his involvement in KAERA in the near future!
For others, I’m very interested in contributing to my educational
communities, especially to help English as a second language
(ESL) learners, their parents, and teachers. I’m currently analyzing
FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW
their needs and communicating with my colleagues in order to
Dr. Clara Lee Brown
develop an outreach program to help them. I believe this will be
very important for ESL students, parents, and teachers, and I
Graduate Student Rep. Ji Hyun Kim (University of Maryland Colhope I can help them through this program.
lege Park) interviewed Dr. Clara Lee Brown (University of TennesIf you are asking about AERA, I’m a member of division C, Learn- see Knoxville), who was one of the plenary session panel speakers.
Dr. Brown shared her experiences with KAERA and her hopes for
ing and Instruction, and Second Language Research SIG. I have
the future of the organization.
served as a co-Membership Chair since 2013 and a Webmaster
since 2010.
Kim: Hello, Dr. Brown. Could you introduce yourself for our readQ: How did you become a member of KAERA?
Dr. Park: When I attended AERA, I had a chance to talk with some
Korean professors and learned that we had KAERA. I had not had
a chance to attend a meeting due to other AERA meetings, and I
joined KAERA in 2014 in Philadelphia for the first time. It was very
impressive to see the productive and pleasant meeting, so I decided to come to the meeting more often.
Q: Can you tell us about your experience with participating in
KAERA?
ers? I would be interested in hearing about your research and
teaching as well.
Dr. Brown: I’m Associate Professor in the Department of Theory
and Practice in Teacher Education at the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville. I advise masters and doctoral students who are pursuing degrees in English as a Second Language (ESL) education. I
feel lucky to have found a life-long job. It is very challenging at
times, but how many people get to say “I love my job”? I also
enjoy very much my job as a teacher-educator who produces
future generations of ESL teachers and as a scholar who has
KAERA NEWSLETTER SPRING 2015 — 2
something to say about educating ESL students, how-to-best-teach-them in particular. My research interests, thus, revolve
around academic success of language minority students. I have keen interests in
helping ESL students develop academic language proficiency in content areas. I truly
believe, as a language minority person, that
ESL education is civil rights: Without helping
them acquire academic language, it is highly
likely that ESL students have limited opportunities to make differences in their lives. I advocate content-based ESL instruction that
is language-acquisition-driven and targets development of academic discourse for English learners. I’m also interested in heritage language aspects of language education. Language minority
students are so suppressed to lose their mother tongue, which is
extremely important in forming their identity. Many of the school
-related problems among language minorities are caused by
break-downs in communication between their parents who might
not be able to explain important things in English and children
whose first language is limited in a way they cannot understand
their parents in their first language. Losing a heritage language is
like losing your name. You realize that no one is talking or calling
you because they don’t know what to call you. I think this is very
sad. We should reverse the trend of heritage language attrition
among language minority communities.
were many, many, Korean scholars! That was the beginning of it.
:) And I must say that it is very inspiring to see my fellow KoreanAmericans who are so accomplished.
Kim: New Orleans was my first KAERA experience as well. :) Could
you tell us more about your experiences with KAERA? For example, what brings you back to KAERA each year? How would you
compare it to your other SIG experiences?
Dr. Brown: My experience with SIG involvements is limited since I
have only been affiliated with REAPA, but actively, besides KAERA. I don’t notice any differences between the two. In either organization, executive members seem to work hard to sustain the
community and draw in as many members as possible. It is, however, very seasonal. What I mean is that you are part of the organizations only during the conference. It is a temporary thing. It
is a delicate balance, I think, especially between growing an organization by members and strengthening it by the quality of
experience felt by participating members. I also believe that care
has to be taken to ensure that each KAERA member feels to be
connected to KAERA. I don’t necessarily have any detailed suggestions to achieve this, :) but it is a very important issue for us to
ponder. Otherwise, KAERA would exist only for and by a handful
of members without far reaching many potential members who
could contribute to the advancement of KAERA. Bringing KoreanAmerican scholars to KAREA might not be as difficult as keeping
them in KAERA. We are a very young organization and as such,
executive members need to develop some ways to achieve those
Kim: Thank you for the introduction. In AERA, are you a member
missions: attracting them to KAERA as well as sustaining interacof a division and/or a SIG as well? Can you share your experiences
tions within KAERA members.
with your involvement in it/them?
Kim: I think they are valid points for the organization. Do you
Dr. Brown: I joined Research on the Education of Asian and Pacific
have any advice for junior members and student members when
Americans (REAPA) before KAERA was established. I was looking
they attend a conference?
for a SIG that I could be part of. Without tagging on to a person
Dr. Brown: This question highlights only one part of the equation,
who has strong connections to a SIG, stepping into the room
filled with strangers is awkward and discomforting. You don’t get if you will. Somewhat mundane answers to the question would
be, “go to the meeting. Meet, greet, and connect with people
to feel that you are accepted or part of the community. At least
that is how I felt in SIG meetings in which I gave it a try: You feel and follow up with emails afterwards.” What do they really accomplish from doing that? Let me put it in another way. How
like you only exist in the parameter, outside of the circle, if you
meaningful is this sort of interactions? I think the question we
will. When I joined REAPA, I felt somewhat more comfortable
being in the same room with the REAPA members. You know how should raise is what kind of experience we want the juniorscholar members to have. I happen to believe that forging the
folks in organizations say, “everyone is welcome and please join
us!” They might have meant it, but not really… For the same rea- kinds of relationships that last long enough to yield meaningful
sons, I am adamant that any newcomers in KAERA should not feel outcomes is more important than just creating relationships. My
point is that senior-scholar members, more established members
that way. KAERA needs to make sure that a welcome-gesture
at KAERA need to reach out to them, not the other way around. I
should go beyond just lip-service. I want KAERA to be different
understand that there was a mentoring session this year in Chicaand special in that regard.
go for junior scholars and doctoral students. I think that was a
Kim: How did you become a member of KAERA?
worthy effort by the executive members. Instead of just telling
Dr. Brown: I have steadily attended AERA over the years and just people to network, KAERA needs to afford such a space and opstumbled across KAERA on the program in 2012 in New Orleans. portunities for those who might not get such mentoring and guidIt was the second annual KAERA meeting, I believe. It was incred- ance in a place where they are. As a matter of fact, I suggested a
ulous to find KAERA on the program and to know such a thing
mentoring program at REAPA some time ago.
existed, indeed. I didn’t have any particular motives to join KAEKim: Yes, indeed. I have learned a lot from the mentoring sesRA, but I wanted to see what it was like for myself. So I made a
sions I attended. This year, the theme of KAERA conference was
point to attend and I was very surprised by the fact that there
“Diversity and Education,” and you discussed multicultural educa-
KAERA NEWSLETTER SPRING 2015 — 3
tion at the plenary session. To follow up, could you comment on
how KAERA can contribute to the topic?
Dr. Brown: I thought that it was a great beginning that KAERA
took a step forward in relating itself to such an important issue.
As we all know, Korean-Americans do not
necessarily run into
the level of discrimination as other minorities do. KoreanAmericans are perceived or stereotyped
as highly achieving
and considered model citizens. And for that, diversity issues are
not as pressing as other issues for Koreans although such issues
impact all minorities. Accordingly, scholarly work by Korean
scholars in diversity and critical pedagogy is not necessarily abundant. Korean-American scholars who work in higher education in
the U.S. need to get involved in the discourse of critical pedagogy
because we collectively are a racial and cultural minority. In my
case, I have one more layer, which is a linguistic minority. I think
it is important for Korean-American scholars to voice dissent
about the way minority students in general are treated in the
public school systems including how we Asians and KoreanAmericans are subjected to subtle racism at the workplace. For
that, this year’s theme was highly appropriate. How could KAERA
contribute to that cause? I think, if KAERA initiates a series of
projects addressing multicultural issues, that would help KAERA
gain visibility among scholars and such a strong presence would
put KAERA on the map within AERA because we have a huge pool
of talented scholars at KAERA.
MEMBER KUDOS
Congratulations!!
Soojin Oh, Ph.D. (Harvard University) recently accepted an
offer for a tenure-track professorship in early childhood and
family studies at the University of Washington College of Education. Dr. Oh also have been awarded the SRCD executive
branch policy fellowship and the summer fellowship to conduct
research in partnership with the National Center for Hispanic
Children and Families.
Seungyeon Lee, Ph.D. (University of Arkansas at Monticello)
was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the
University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM) in Fall 2014. Dr. Lee
received the Distinguished Dissertation Award from the Association of Teacher Education in Kansas (ATE-K) in Spring 2015.
Heejung An, Ed.D. (Associate Professor, William Paterson University of New Jersey) was a Project Director of Fulbright-Hays
Short-Term Projects Abroad grant program “The US-NJ-South
Korea Project: Exploring Korea's History, Culture and Education
System through Experiential Learning” (October, 2013- March,
2015). As one of the final deliverables, the team designed the
lesson plans pertaining to Korea, which are available at
"Dynamic & Globalizing Korea: A Primer for Teaching in U. S.
Schools" (http://nova.wpunj.edu/anh2/fulbright-hays-korea/).
MEMBER ON THE JOB MARKET
Soo Kyoung Lee
Kim: Thanks for your invaluable suggestions. Do you have any
final comments before we wrap up?
Current Position: International Education
Researcher, University of Minnesota
Dr. Brown: I had so much fun at KAERA this year. Such fun-filled
Advisor: Dr. Gerald Fry
activities maybe were necessary and helped tremendously in
breaking the ice among members. I think we, Koreans can be very Dissertation Chair: Dr. Frances Vavrus
Research Interests: International Student
stiff and superficial in settings where we don’t have any estabExperiences; Korean Shadow Education;
lished relationships. We can all sit quietly and smile for a long
Parental Involvement in Education; Neotime. :) Who said that Ph.D. folks cannot have such fun!! It was a
very good change for the better. I appreciate all the efforts put in liberal Globalization
E-mail: leex3791@umn.edu
by the executive members of this year’s conference. As closing,
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?
since I am asked to make a final comment, :) I want to call for
id=226843421&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile)
another change that I think would be meaningful for the
attendees. Perhaps, we might want to create roundtable discussions for the scholars of the same research interest. Providing
such venues would allow more members to be more closely connected. I thank you so much for this opportunity allowing me to
put in my two cents with KAERA members.
Many thanks to Dr. Brown who spared time for the interview during the busy time of the semester!
2014-2015 KAERA Newsletter Publication Team:
Ji Hyun Kim (Graduate Student Representative, University of Maryland College Park); Dr. Eun-Ok Baek (Communication Director, CSU
San Bernardino); Dr. Simon Kim (President, CSU Long Beach)
KAERA NEWSLETTER SPRING 2015 — 4