Yunghi Choi (Ch’oe Yŏng-hŭi, 최영희) is an accomplished Korean-American landscape architect and a proud graduate of Harvard College and the Harvard Graduate School of Design during a time when very few Korean women were able to attend.[1] Her work ranges...
Herbert Choy (Ch’oe Yŏng-jo, 최영조, 1916–2004) was the first person of Korean ancestry to be admitted to the bar in the United States, and the first Asian American to be appointed as a United States federal judge.[1] Choy was born on January 6, 1916 in the...
Younghill Kang (Kang Yong-hŭl, 강용흘, 姜鏞訖, 1898?–1972) was an acclaimed and pioneering Korean American writer.
Kang has been credited as the first Korean American novelist and “the Pioneer of Asian American Literature.”[1] His semi-autobiographical novels Th...
Joungwon Alex Kim (Kim Chŏng-wŏn, 김정원, 金正源, meaning “Correct Origin,” 1936-2023)[1] was one of the first Koreans to receive a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School and practice as an attorney on Wall Street. Kim was born on December 13, 1936, in...
Lena Kim (Kim Ri-na, 김리나, 金理那, 1942–present) was one of the first Koreans to obtain a PhD degree in art history from the Department of Fine Arts at Harvard.She was an esteemed professor of Korean and Buddhist art at Hongik University from 1976 until she...
Kwang Lim Koh (Ko Kwang-nim, 고광림, 高光林, meaning “Shining Forest,” 1920–1989) was the first Korean to receive both a master’s and a doctorate degree from Harvard Law School.[1] Koh was born on October 20, 1920, in Cheju (Jeju) Island in Japanese-occupied...
Kyunghoon Claude Lee (Yi Kyŏng-hun 李慶勳, 1944–present), one of the earliest Koreans who studied at the Harvard Business School, was a successful businessman.[1] Lee was born on July 17, 1944, in Seoul, Korea, as the first child of Yi To-yŏng (李道榮, 1913...
Samuel Homer Kim (Kim Sang-yŏl 김상열, 1936–present) was one of the earliest second-generation Korean Americans to have graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School.[1] He went on to have a long, productive career in medicine as a pediatric...
Andrew Ho Kang (강호, 姜虎, 1934–present) is the Goodman Professor and Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee.[1] He overcame adversity and tragedy as a young man growing up...
Hyung Nai Song (Song Hyŏng-nae, 宋亨來, 1914–2012) was one of the first Koreans to study abroad in the United States after the end of Japanese colonial rule (1910–1945) who became a central figure in establishing South Korea’s public health system after 1945...
