Appointment of Department of Social Welfare Graduates as Tenure-Track Faculty at Leading Overseas Universities
- Date2025.09.15
- 23276
Alumni Jin Young Kim and Na Ri Yoo
Jin Young Kim, a graduate of the Department of Social Welfare at Ewha Womans University, has been appointed as a tenure-track faculty member at the University of Oklahoma in the United States. In August of this year, Kim was appointed as an Assistant Professor on the tenure track in the Department of Social Work at the University of Oklahoma, an R1 research university in the United States. Kim earned a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies and Social Welfare (Class of 2017) and a Ph.D. in Social Welfare (Class of 2022, under the supervision of Professor Jong-Sul Jeon) at Ewha Womans University. Following graduation, Kim served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, participating in a project evaluating the child welfare system of the State of Maryland. Kim has conducted active research on child abuse, foster care, substance use and addiction, and various forms of violence, contributing to the development of trauma-informed approaches that promote resilience and well-being for children and families.
In addition, Na Ri Yoo, a graduate of the Department of Sociology (Class of 2018) and the Graduate School of Social Welfare (Class of 2020, under the supervision of Professor Ok Kyung Yang) at Ewha Womans University, has been appointed as an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Yoo will receive a Ph.D. in Social Work from New York University in 2025. During the doctoral program, Yoo received the Doctoral Dissertation Award from the American Psychological Association (APA) and was selected as a Doctoral Fellow for the Grand Challenges for Social Work, among other academic distinctions. Yoo’s research focuses on mental health disparities and service utilization gaps among immigrant and minority populations. Yoo integrates computational social science methodologies such as digital technology applications for improving accessibility, natural language processing, geospatial analysis, and large-scale administrative and digital data analysis into social work research. Yoo also serves as a Michigan Program for Advancing Cultural Transformation (M-PACT) Scholar and continues to advance research to promote mental health equity among immigrant and minority communities.
The Department of Social Welfare at Ewha Womans University, as part of the BK21 FOUR Education and Research Group, has continuously enhanced the standards of social welfare education and research through professional training, productive scholarship, and international leadership. With systematic guidance from distinguished faculty, support for research capacity development, extensive research infrastructure, and global academic networks, the Department has nurtured creative and pioneering global leaders in social welfare. The recent appointments of these graduates are recognized as achievements resulting from the Department’s sustained support for research activities, international academic exchange, and systems for fostering the growth of emerging scholars.