Located in the vicinity of Koreatown in Los Angeles, USC has long maintained strong ties with the local Korean community. These relationships were pivotal in making the university one of the first North American colleges to develop Korean studies as an integral part of its academic offerings. The Department of Asian Studies began to provide Korean language instruction as early as in 1942. By the mid-1970s, the renamed Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures had established the first college-level Korean language program in Southern California. USC’s East Asian Studies Center was founded in 1960 and, ever since, it has greatly bolstered instruction in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean studies across departments and units at USC.
In 1985, the establishment of the Korean Heritage Library (KHL) significantly expanded USC’s resources in Korean Studies. The library received support from local and international agencies including the Korea Foundation, the Overseas Korean Studies and Heritage Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The KHL started in 2001 the Korean American Digital Archive to digitize a collection of materials that included, among others, the historical documents of the Los Angeles-based Korean National Association (1909–88). The Archive has been growing ever since under the direction of Kenneth Klein and Joy Kim, and it includes today an oral history series that was originally collected for the Korean American National Museum.
The USC Dornsife Korean Studies Institute (KSI) was founded in 1995 to serve as a hub of Korean and Korean American studies at USC and in Southern California. The creation of the institute was made possible by a grant from the Korea Foundation, which has since been a generous sponsor of KSI’s various programs. Beginning in 2006, KSI was based in the Ahn Family House, a historic residence once owned and occupied by the family of Korean independence leader Ahn Chang Ho (1878–1938). In 2011, KSI expanded its public engagement efforts by launching the KSI YouTube channel. Ever since, the Institute has maintained a strong online presence across multiple platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and X.
Over its first thirty years of existence, KSI has hosted a number of conferences, symposia, cultural events, and speaker series in Korean and Korean American studies. The Institute has been directed by a distinguished lineup of USC Koreanist faculty, consisting of Profs. Namkil Kim (1995–2005), Chaibong Hahm (2005–07), Kyung Moon Hwang (2007–09), David C. Kang (2009–24), and Sunyoung Park (2024–present). From 2007 on, KSI’s Directors have been flanked by Associate Directors Elaine Kim (2007–15) and Gloria Koo (2015–present). The Institute has over time been generously supported by, among others, the Academy of Korean Studies (2009–19), Hanjin International (2009), the Jamison Foundation (2009–19), the Stand Together Trust (2019–present), and the Sejong Society, (2011–17), an organization of thirty local Korean American community leaders.
In consultation with its core and affiliated faculty members, KSI is currently expanding its programs to include faculty-led research and pedagogical initiatives that encompass not only language, literature, history, politics, media, and performance arts but also technoscience, urban studies, environmental humanities, and more. By fostering new networks of researchers and ideas through conferences, symposia, and cultural events, KSI aims to contribute to creating new scholarship and curricula in response to the pressing challenges of our times. The Institute is also renewing its ties to the local Korean American community by collaborating with the Korean Heritage Library on archival and publication projects.