Biographical Text
Professor Emeritus of Communication Seong Hyong Lee (1941-) was born near Taegu, South Korea, the oldest of seven children of Sangyoon Lee (1910-) and Obong Choi (1919-1963). His ancestors have lived in the Korean peninsula for generations. Lee earned his B.A. degree in English in 1967 from Sung Kyun Kwan University, Seoul, Korea,graduating summa cum laude. He came to the United States in 1969 as a participant in an exchange program between Kent State University, Kent, Ohio,and Sung Kyun Kwan University. Lee received his M.A. degree in journalism (1971), graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and his Ph.D. degree in communication theory (1976) from Kent State University. In1971, he attended a summer session at the University of Oxford, Oxford, England, studying contemporary British history and mass communications. Dr. Lee married Jae S. Chong (1950-) at Kent, Ohio, when they were both graduate students at Kent State University. Jae S. Chong was also born in Taegu, South Korea. The couple has two sons, Benjamin (1978-), and Frederick (1983-). Lee received his American citizenship in 1984. Dr. Lee was a reporter (1966-1969) and a stringer in the United States (1969-1975) for the Joong-Ang Mass Communication Center (daily paper and broadcast network) in Seoul, Korea. In the spring of 1976, he became an instructor of communication at Kent State University, and, from August 1976 until June 1978, he was an assistant professor of communications at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. Dr. Lee joined the faculty at Appalachian State University in July 1978 as an assistant professor of communication, and was promoted to associate professor and then professor. Dr. Lee returned to Korea in the fall of 1993 as a visiting professor and researcher in the Department of Communication,at the Chonnam National University, Kwangju, Korea. Dr. Lee was the president of the Korean-American Communication Association from 1981 to1983, and again from 1992 to 1993; he was the founding president of the Korean-American University Professors Association, from 1986 to 1988.He also has coordinated and organized a number of professional/academic lectures and discussions at various service organizations in the Korean-American community and at universities in Korea.Dr Lee, received the Outstanding Teaching Award from the Appalachian State University Board of Trustees in 1980. In September 2000, Lee was selected as one of the one hundred distinguished Korean-Americans in the academic and professional fields by the Korean Cultural Center, New York, New York.Dr. Lee is a prolific writer and lecturer and has published seven professional essays in trade journals and newspapers; four hundred columns, essays,and commentaries in Korean-American mass media; twenty-five research papers and book chapters on media-related subjects; and two collections of essays and commentaries, including The October Wanderer. Among the three books Lee has co-edited is the work titled The Korean-American Community:Present and Future. Dr. Lee retired, in June 2004, after twenty-seven years of service to Appalachian State University. The Board of Trustees granted him emeritus status in December 2004. Sources: Appalachian State University files and personal correspondence.-Lynn K. Hulcher
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