Jungmin Kwon, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Film, has received the College of the Arts Dean’s Council Award for Research, Scholarship and Creativity.
The $4,000 award, funded by the College of the Arts Dean’s Council through the Dean's Fund for Opportunities and Excellence, recognizes faculty members who demonstrate significant contributions to research, scholarship and/or creative activity at the national or international level.
“Dr. Kwon’s work brings a powerful lens to our collective eyes, giving us insight into an area of Korean culture that might otherwise be invisible to many in our country, and deepening our understanding of the rapidly changing worlds of digital media and gender studies,” said Leroy Bynum, Dean of the College of the Arts. “Her research demonstrates just how critical it is for artists and scholars to learn from each other, in order to create transformative art that is informed by brilliant insights and observations. I am thrilled that the Dean’s Council has chosen to honor Dr. Kwon with this award.”
Dr. Kwon’s research and teaching focuses on film and media, gender and sexuality, fans and audiences, media celebrity, and Korean/East Asian popular culture, and she has contributed to expanding the School of Film’s curriculum to include these topics, which are of growing interest to many students and to scholars in the field.
Her work examines film and digital media through queer and feminist perspectives, looking at how the incorporation of non-normative identities challenge and disrupt traditional hierarchies in Korean culture. Her work has been published in academic journals, including Television and New Media, the International Journal of Communication and the Journal of Fandom Studies, and she has contributed chapters to numerous books on the subject of identity, media and Asian culture.
Dr. Kwon is the author of Straight Korean Female Fans and Their Gay Fantasies (2019, University of Iowa Press) and she is currently writing her second book, The (In)Visibility Dilemma: Queer Media Cultures and Voices in Contemporary South Korea. She was also named the College of the Arts Research Administrator of the Year for 2022.
In making its recommendation, the Selection Committee commended Dr. Kwon for demonstrating “an international prominence” and for helping “to shape the rapidly emerging field of South Korean media culture."
The award was formally recognized by Dean Bynum at the College of the Arts Commencement ceremony on June 10, 2022.
To make a gift or discuss options for supporting PSU arts faculty and programs, contact:
Jaymee Jacoby, Senior Director of Development, College of the Arts
503-725-3396 | jacobyj@psuf.org
Make a gift to the Dean's Fund for Opportunities and Excellence online.