Boston University and ERI Collaborative Meetings

At the invitation of Professor Dana Robert, Co-Director of the Center for Global Christianity and Mission at Boston University School of Theology, who earlier this year visited East Rock Institute (ERI), Dr. Hesung Chun Koh, ERI Chair, and Young-aie Kim, Manager of the National Library of Korea & ERI Digitization Project, met with Boston University’s Asian Studies Faculty. Representatives of ERI and BU engaged in a wide-ranging discussion on how ERI can contribute to the development of Korean Studies at BU. The meeting was held in the library of BU’s International Center for East Asian Archaeology and Cultural History, where the Kwang-chih Chang Collection on Asian archaeology is housed.

On March 27, 2012, ERI representatives also met with Dean Mary Miller of the School of Theology and its advisory board, also joined by graduate students from Korea. A Korea Foundation grant had made it possible for BU to appoint a fulltime Korean literature professor this fall. In light of the news, the collaboration between ERI and BU generated much excitement. The potential joint project would not only allow the physical collections of the Koh and East Rock Institute Library to be available for wider use, but also enable distribution of digital research resources for the active promotion of Korean cultural understanding.