uilding on its formidable academic strength in the study of the culture and language of East Asia, the University has been awarded a $135,000 grant from the Korea Foundation to establish a new, tenure-track assistant professorship in Korean studies in the Department of East Asian Studies. �This grant will make Korean studies an integral part of the University�s undergraduate curriculum,� said V. Mark Durand, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. �The large Korean-American student population at UAlbany has for many years supported courses in beginning Korean, and now this generous grant from the Korea Foundation will strengthen and expand this foundation.� Susanna Fessler, associate professor and chair of the Department of East Asian Studies, noted that the timing of the Korea Foundation grant for UAlbany is ideal. �For one thing, Korea is becoming an economic world presence,� said Fessler. �Consequently, more and more students are becoming interested in Korean studies. It will give them a competitive advantage in a specialty that is growing in importance. �Korea itself over the past 100 years has been considered by Western scholars as �the third nation� in East Asian studies. The focus was overwhelmingly on China and Japan. But that is changing, and people are becoming more culturally aware of Korea�s distinctiveness and value. It is now getting much more attention as a culture, and that will be reflected here. �I also believe that there is a particular relevance to expanding this program at the University at Albany. Not only are we the flagship campus in the SUNY system in East Asian studies for China and Japan, but if you look at the two largest groups of international students on our campus, the first is Chinese and the second is Korean. And there are a lot of UAlbany students of Korean descent. So, in many ways, this is the perfect time for this expansion.� The Korean studies program at UAlbany began in 1994-–5, but until last year had only a first-year Korean language course — always filled to capacity; the second-year language course was added in 2000-01. �This will allow us to add the third-year language course,� said Fessler. �Plus, it will add classes taught in the cultural specialty of the professor eventually hired - whether that be in Korean economics, history, literature, or society.� The additional language courses will also increase the annual study abroad pool of UAlbany students who travel to Yonsei University in Korea as part of a long-standing exchange agreement, said Durand. �Enrolling more students in study-abroad programs in East Asia is one of the department�s major goals,� he added. The Korea Foundation grant marks the third successful major faculty expansion application in the history of the Department of East Asian Studies, now in its 10th year. In 1992, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation awarded the department a three-year grant to establish a faculty position in Chinese, and in 1994 a similar award was received from the Japan Foundation. Both positions are now fully funded by the University and staffed by tenured or tenure-track faculty. �Over the last 10 years, the Department of East Asian Studies has expanded considerably,� said Carlos Santiago, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs. �While we are the oldest and largest department devoted to teaching the languages and cultures of East Asia in the SUNY system, our significant strengths have been in the areas of China and Japan. �We see all around us the reasons for bringing Korean studies up to this high level. Our international student population at UAlbany is at an all-time high, and 65 percent of these students are from Asia, and a full 20 percent of those from Korean. Our agreements of exchange and collaboration with Korean universities and fruitful and expanding. In addition, we have many alumni residing in Korea.�