December 8, 2011
Dedicated to teaching: Curriculum and instruction professor is awarded faculty excellence award
Submitted by Communications and Marketing
The College of Education at Kansas State University has chosen Jeong-Hee Kim, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction, as the recipient of this year's Faculty Excellence in Research/Creative Activities Award.
Kim was chosen for the award because of her commitment to making a difference in education through her rigorous research agenda and her continuous search for ways to improve education at all levels, said Michael Holen, dean of the College of Education.
"Jeong-Hee's growing national research reputation stems from her application of exciting new methodologies to critical problems of practice to guide the profession's efforts to improve the learning of our most at-risk students," Holen said.
Kim teaches graduate courses in curriculum and instruction, and her research and scholarship centers on curriculum theorizing grounded in narrative inquiry and phenomenology. Her research interests include exploring the experiences of at-risk students to find ways to improve education for disenfranchised students and understanding teachers' experiences to promote teacher agency, autonomy and professionalism.
"I am very honored to have been selected to receive the Faculty Excellence in Research/Creative Activities Award," Kim said. "However, in accepting this award, I must thank my department and college, along with my colleagues and students for providing endless support, encouragement and inspiration for my research over the last six years. Without them, this achievement would not have been possible."
After joining the K-State faculty in 2005, Kim has earned several other awards, including the Best Narrative Research Article Award in 2007 and the Best Theory Article Award in 2009. She has also received numerous research grants from the university, including the Tilford Multicultural Incentive Award.
Kim grew up in South Korea, where she was a public school teacher for 10 years before coming to the United States to earn her doctorate in curriculum studies from Arizona State University.
As the award recipient, Kim will be recognized at the College of Education's commencement ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 10 in Bramlage Coliseum.