New Gift Creates James Joo-Jin Kim Center for Korean Studies

A $25 million gift from James Joo-Jin Kim, W’59, G’61, GR’63, and Agnes Kim, and the James and Agnes Kim Family Foundation, will support a range of initiatives at Penn. The largest portion of the multifaceted commitment created the James Joo-Jin Kim Center for Korean Studies at Penn Arts & Sciences.

The gift builds on Kim’s longstanding support for Korean studies. He endowed the James Joo-Jin Kim Program in Korean Studies in 2011, putting Penn in the top echelon of universities offering programs in Korean studies. This new commitment will establish an academic center that will provide long-term support for academic and community-focused activities (see Engaging With Asia).

“The newly created James Joo-Jin Kim Center for Korean Studies will advance the study of Korea and its expanding role in the world, and will elevate Korean Studies at Penn and cement its prominence with our academic peers and in the larger community,” says Steven J. Fluharty, Dean of Penn Arts & Sciences and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor. “Through this generous gift, we are well positioned to support excellence among our current faculty, recruit top Korean studies scholars in the future, expand opportunities for students interested in the study of Korea, and make significant contributions to the field in perpetuity.”

The gift also creates the Kim Family Neurovascular Surgery Program at Penn Medicine and the Kim Korean Studies Fund at the Joseph H. Lauder Institute for Management & International Studies, with additional support for the Dean’s Discretionary Fund at the Wharton School.