Biography
Dr Kyungsook Yeum is the Director of SMU TESOL and the faculty of Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea. She has served on the TESOL Board of Directors, TESOL International Association, USA, 2015-2018.
Dr Yeum’s leadership skills and understanding of the TESOL profession have been honed through her work as Chair of Program Administration Interest Session at TESOL International Association, as National President of Korea TESOL, as Vice President of the Applied Linguistics Association of Korea (ALAK), and also as Conference Chair for the KOTESOL-hosted Pan-Asia Conference. Dr Yeum has served as the Director and Administrative Professor responsible for the TESOL certificate programs at Sookmyung for 20 years. In the process, she has gained a deep understanding of the notion of program quality assurance and leadership.
“TESOL BEYOND” is a term that she created to inspire further innovation within the already globally recognized TESOL institution where she was the Director. “TESOL BEYOND” embraces the notions of taking TESOL beyond conventional classrooms, beyond traditional educational boundaries, beyond national borders, and beyond ‘A’ cultural framework.
Dr Yeum has an MA in TESOL from the University of Maryland. Her first PhD is in English Literature, and she is a University of Macquarie PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics with a concentration in Program Evaluation. Her concentration areas are: Teacher Education, Program Evaluation, Cross-cultural Leadership, and Testing & Assessment.
