Functions

A. Overall:

The CKS fosters the global enterprise of Korean and Asian Studies at UPEI in term of excellent research, scholarship, and teaching, thereby promoting the cooperation and exchange of academic knowledge and practice around the world. It will follow the University’s vision and strategic priorities by motivating UPEI faculty and students to participate in our innovative research activities and international opportunities. This will be done in harmony with UPEI centres policy and strategic plan documents. As the Centers Policy emphasizes, the CKS will contribute to “increasing the visibility of scholarly work…internationally” and “increasing the University’s ability to link research, education….” (p.1). All functions of the Centre will mostly be funded externally by international KS research grants. 1

B. KS Research and Publication:

Once of the Centre’s primary functions is to pursue research projects of international caliber and to publish world-class books and articles in Korean and interdisciplinary Studies (especially philosophy, religion, ethics, intellectual history and culture, political thought, contemporary Korea, etc.), which will help strengthen UPEI’s national and global reputation for research and scholarship. This mission is to go beyond a great international record of scholarly publication that we have accomplished since fall 2018.2
As the Centre advances in the coming years, these areas of research and scholarship will likely expand and other interested topics in Social Sciences (and Business and Education) can be accommodated later. In other words, the Centre will pursue focused research topics but also “cultivate interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research” (UPEI Strategic Plan, priorities 1&3, pp. 12, 14) at UPEI and in collaboration with other universities’ KS institutes or centres in North America, Europe and East Asia (including Korea).

C. International Conferences, Seminars and Speaker Series:

Another primary function is to continue hosting and funding KS international conferences, seminars and speaker series lectures, none of which have existed at UPEI and all other Atlantic Canadian universities until March and June 2018 when UPEI’s KS Seed Program project and Prof. Chung organized and hosted the Korean Studies International Speaker Series (KSISS) and the 2018 KS International Conferences on Good and Evil in Korean Philosophy, Religion and Spirituality for the first time in Atlantic Canada.3
We are confident that this world-class role of the UPEI CKS will promote what the Strategic Research Plan calls “a strategic priority…[to] create or expand…events such as a faculty colloquia series…and symposia on thematic areas of research” (p.14).

D. KS Course Offering and Teaching:

This is another important role for the Centre: support the UPEI KS and Asian Studies programs financially by providing external (international) funding for KS offering, teaching and hiring.4 Furthermore, the Centre will also facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration between KS and other Arts programs (e.g., ML, History, PolSci, RS and possibly others) participating in teaching and course cross-listing.


This function of the Centre complements the UPEI Centres Policy, according to which the CKS assists “the funding, coordination, and/or delivery of undergraduate teaching programs” (sec. 5.2, p.3).

E. KS Student Scholarship and Opportunities:

As  we have done, the CKS will continuously (1) support KS Student Scholarship(two or three annually) to help KS students academically and financially; (2) hire and mentor two student assistants annually for KS research and teaching-related work experience or to assist Centre Director’s regular research and administrative work; and (3) carry out international activities and academic-cultural events such as student workshops, movie evenings, Korean (or another speech contests).5
As the Strategic Research Plan states, these KS student benefits and opportunities can certainly facilitate the Centre to welcome “participation of undergraduate students in research activities led by faculty members” (priority 2, p.13).6

KS 장학금

F. Community Outreach Initiatives:

This is the Centre’s secondary role. When necessary or requested, we will consider relevant outreach activities and information-sharing initiatives in order to promote higher education, immigration and retention improvement, and stronger social and multicultural integration in PEI, with respect to Korean and other Asian communities (e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, South/Southeast Asian) and local PEI provincial educational, cultural, and government sectors.

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Overall, these six functions of the CKS are very consistent with the UPEI Centres Policy because “the key criterion for the establishment and on-going operation of a Centre” is to give more values to “UPEI’s research, educational and/or outreach mission….” (sec. 4.1, p. 2).

If we happen to receive other international funding from Japan, China, or another Asian country in the future, we can update and expand the Centre’s structure, membership, programs, and activities with respect to Japanese Studies, Chinese Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, and so on. When recommended of desired, this may be done according to our updated mission, roles, and interests.

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  1. This plan certainly supports the UPEI Strategic Plan’s emphasis on “new [external] sources of funding” and “actively seek grant and funding opportunities” (priorities 3 & 5, pp. 14, 16). Furthermore, as the Strategic Research Plan amply states, the Centre will therefore “expand…external partnerships that contribute to research and strengthen academic programs,” which is a key priority (goal 1, p.14). ↩︎
  2. For more of our prolific world-class reputation of research and publication, see webpage sections 6-A and 7-A; see also 6-B and 7-B for KS International Conference Presentation. ↩︎
  3. See webpage sections 6-C,D and 7-C,D for details on our planned, ongoing and previous KS International Speaker Series lectures and KS International Conferences. ↩︎
  4. Since Jan. 2018 together with the KS Seed Program project grants, Asian Studies Program at UPEI has successfully offered, funded and taught a large number of popular KS courses with high and growing enrolment. For details, see webpage sections 6-E and 7-E. ↩︎
  5. For planned, ongoing, and previous KS student scholarships, workshops, speech contest, and movie evenings, see webpage sections 6-F and 7-F. ↩︎
  6. They will also facilitate UPEI students’ “experiential learning” opportunities by “foster[ing] UPEI students’ global mindset… and cultural awareness” (UPEI Strategic Plan, priority 1, p. 12). ↩︎