Media Advisory: Friday, Aug. 20, 2010;
noon–3 p.m., Cal State L.A.’s University Club
Largest cohort to engage in Korean summer intensive program
Cal State L.A.’s fourth cohort to advance the CSU Strategic Language Initiative
Los Angeles, CA — From learning how to play traditional Korean games, to how to pen Korean calligraphy, 17 college students spent six weeks fully immersed in Korean culture and language as part of Cal State L.A.’s Strategic Language Initiative (SLI) Korean Program.
Gary Chaing and Ashley Lin (c) competing in a traditional Korean three-legged race as part of the University’s Korean Summer Intensive Program.
“This year’s cohort of 17 students is the largest since the program’s inception in 2007,” said faculty director Namhee Lee. “Through the program, the students focused on the fundamental structure of the Korean language and were introduced to Korean culture and traditions,” he added. “They also had opportunities to go on excursions and to attend lectures by experts in Korea and Korean studies, such as a sociologist, economist, historian, pedagogist, linguist—and even a North Korean defector to help them practice speaking Korean and to deepen their knowledge of the Korean society.”
Lee further said, “This program is simply one of the best of two in the nation; the other is the Korean Flagship program of University of Hawaii. Through our program, students mostly reach an advanced or even superior level of proficiency.”
Cal State L.A.’s Korean intensive summer program will conclude with a reception this Friday, Aug. 20, from noon-3 p.m. at the University Club on the CSULA campus. (Reporters are welcome to meet the 2010 cohort at the culminating event, which includes a lunch along with a slide and poster presentation. Please call the CSULA Public Affairs in advance at 323-343-3050 to make reservations for the lunch.)
This year’s students are:
Gary Chaing, computer science major, Cal State L.A., San Pedro resident;
James Choi, sociology major, UCLA, Torrance;
Robert Gonzalez, history major, Cal State L.A., Baldwin Park;
Elena Jeon, linguistics major, UCLA, Buena Park;
Roy Kim, political science major, Tulane University, South Pasadena;
Quynh Lam, business-economics major, Cal State L.A., Monterey Park;
Christopher Lee, criminal justice major, Cal State L.A., Hacienda Heights;
Hye Na Lee, history, CSU Long Beach, Anaheim;
Joy Seon Lee, communication disorders major, Cal State L.A., San Gabriel;
Ashley Lin, Cal State L.A., Hacienda Heights;
Heather Kim, Art major, Cal State L.A., Rosemead;
Stephanie Martine, Japanese/psychology major, Cal State L.A., Los Angeles;
Ashtyn Ripp, Cal State L.A., Santa Monica;
Stephen Rhim, applied mathematics major, UCLA, Diamond Bar/Walnut;
Sophia Shin, communications major, UC San Diego, Cerritos;
Silvia Silvia, National Taiwan Normal University, Los Angeles;
Eunice Yum, rhetorics graduate student, UC Berkeley, Torrance.
The CSU SLI program covers the expense of student fees, textbooks, lunches and excursions. The students will also be offered language courses related to their majors in the upcoming fall, as well as a four-week study-abroad project in summer 2011. Ten students from the third cohort at Cal State L.A. have already completed their studies in South Korea this summer.
Part of the federally-funded CSU Strategic Language Initiative (SLI), this highly-competitive, semi-immersion program at Cal State L.A. is designed to help fill the need for strategic and diplomatic expertise in the Korean language.
For more details on the SLI Korean program, call the CSULA Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at (323) 343-4230.
# # #
Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 215,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu