Chung Awarded Fulbright to Study Effects of Coronavirus and Racial Backlash on S. Korean Students

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 27, 2021) — Professor Angie Chung of Sociology, who has written and taught extensively on urban sociology and community studies, race and ethnicity, Asian and Asian American studies, globalization of higher education and more, has been awarded a Fulbright Award to teach and conduct research this coming year in South Korea.

Chung, who authored Saving Face: The Emotional Costs of the Asian Immigrant Family Myth (Rutgers University Press) in 2016 and has a book manuscript in progress titled Immigrant Growth Machines and the Politics of Urban Growth and Redevelopment in Koreatown and the San Gabriel Valley, will be conducting research and teaching at Korea University, one of that nation’s top three institutions of higher education.

“It is an honor and privilege to be given this opportunity to serve as a cultural ambassador for the United States, especially during a difficult period for Asians and Asian Americans around the world,” said Chung. “I look forward to building our university’s reputation in South Korea, as well as teaching and learning different ways we can broaden our global mindset, adapt to change and diversity and address social inequities in the new post-COVID era.”

“Professor Chung is much deserving of this honor,” said Peter Brandon, professor and chair of Sociology. “She has been on the vanguard of teaching and research to promote inclusiveness and diversity, especially as those activities relate to Asian international and Asian American students. The Fulbright is a perfect mechanism for her to extend her outreach, expand her teaching repertoire and broaden her important research.”

Chung will teach courses on social problems such as race and immigration, and develop her current research project on international education between U.S. and South Korea, which she first embarked upon as a UAlbany Provosts Fellow of Internationalization in 2013.

Although her research to date has focused on U.S. perspectives, she said, “I will now be able to use my time overseas to collaborate and publish with South Korean faculty on a survey project exploring the changing educational climate and strategies of South Korean students given racial backlash, healthcare inequities and shifting geopolitical relations in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.”

Chung has been a faculty member in Sociology since 2002, rising to full professor status in 2020. Her range of scholarship and expertise is reflected in the fact that she holds affiliate professor positions in the departments of Women’s Studies and East Asian Studies and is an affiliate researcher with the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis.