Inside the International Institute with Director Youngju Ryu

By Sara Carrier

Professor Youngju Ryu has spent her career illuminating the intersections of literature, politics, cultures of authoritarianism, and mediatized publics in modern Korea. As the new director of the International Institute, she brings that same global lens to one of U‑M's most vital academic hubs. Going Global learned from Ryu about her vision for the International Institute, why philanthropic investment in global education matters now more than ever, and what a K-Pop performance at the Oscars tells us about the state of the world right now.

As the new director of the International Institute, what priorities are you most focused on in your first year—both for students on campus and for U‑M’s global engagement more broadly?

My first year of directorship will be focused on mitigating the challenges presented by shifts in the federal funding landscape. We have incredibly supportive leadership in the college under Dean Rosario Ceballo, but the issues ahead are challenging. Finding ways to continue to provide such life-changing opportunities to U‑M students is a particular priority of mine.

Beyond that, I am also a big believer in the truism that every difficult situation is also an opportunity. Since 1947, when the first area studies center was established at U‑M, we have really been the visionary leader in the nation with respect to international education. It seems to me that the field itself is due for some reflection about what international education means now, and it will be important for Michigan to lead in that process—this is another priority.

You’ve spent your career studying Korean literature, media, and modern political culture. How has that lens shaped the way you understand today’s global challenges?

It just so happens that I am answering this question the day after the Oscars, where “KPop Demon Hunters” took home a couple of big awards, including the best original song for “Golden.” The song’s performance featured a stage filled with traditional Korean culture and music, including shamanic dance and folk drumming. Watching that celebration was a bit of a surreal experience for me. I grew up in the Bronx, NY, mercilessly teased everyday in my elementary school for being Asian. If you had told me then that I would one day be watching Korean pageantry unfold at the Oscars, I would have told you, “Get outta hea.” 

But, even more memorable than the performance on stage was the sight of the celebrity audience—Steven Spielberg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Teyana Taylor, to name just a few—all waving their K-Pop glow sticks in time with the beat of “Golden.” Now, glow sticks are an essential prop in the K-Pop fan universe. At a concert, the act of waving it instantly turns you into a participant in the performance rather than a mere spectator. Glow sticks also became the defining symbol of the “K-democracy” that the world witnessed in 2024-2025 following the declaration of martial law by South Korea’s president (who now sits in jail). This “revolution of lights,” popular culture meeting peaceful protest leading to participatory politics, has plenty of lessons that the world can contemplate.

International studies are evolving quickly, especially amid geopolitical tension, misinformation, and shifting alliances. What do you think international education needs to do differently to stay relevant and impactful?

Today, we have to be simultaneously more idealistic and more pragmatic, and look within in order to look outward. Is the international really the opposite of the national? Whether one answers “yes” or “no” to that question, the mission of international education has to be firmly rooted in the fundamental belief not only in the virtue, but also the power of coexistence as the universal human condition. At the same time, it has to be more pragmatic. The fact is, our students were born world citizens. They appreciate much more instinctively than my generation ever did that their lives are carried by global flows, that there is no disconnection possible even if they wanted there to be. Climate change and pandemics, after all, do not recognize national borders. International education has to be able to offer our students the tools with which they can better navigate the grand challenges that await them in their own lifetime, so that they can secure better terms of coexistence for their generation than their parents managed to do.

You’ve also held major leadership roles focused on faculty development and inclusive excellence. Can you share some examples of how the International Institute supports underrepresented cultures and languages, and why this is important?

Let me focus on the question of languages here. On average, U‑M offers instruction in 50-60 languages every year, and the International Institute supports the instruction in the less commonly taught languages within this mix, ranging from Quechua to Uzbek. Why do our students choose to learn a foreign language above and beyond the level required for graduation? 

Motivations vary, but without exception, students who learn a foreign language also walk away with two key capacities of immeasurable importance. The first is the ability to decenter their own language and reflect on the rules that structure how they communicate from a different vantage point. It goes without saying that this ability to relativize one’s own experience and assumptions is an essential quality for coexistence. The second is humility. Learning a foreign language is one of the few opportunities we have as an adult to be a child again. Entering the world in a foreign language, we do not have mastery over our own speech, and we become radically open and vulnerable to others who do not share the rules that have been natural to us. Learning a foreign language allows us to develop strength through humility.

Philanthropy has played an important role in advancing international education at U‑M. Can you share how philanthropic support has shaped the International Institute’s impact and where you see the greatest need for investment moving forward?

The International Institute is the umbrella unit for 16 distinct centers and programs, and philanthropic support has shaped them in different ways. Some named centers have benefitted from major donor gifts, such as the Donia Human Rights Center, Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia, and Nam Center for Korean Studies. The Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies is interesting in that it is named both after the donor who made the philanthropic gift and his teacher at U‑M that he wished to honor with that gift. And then there’s a center like the Copernicus Center for Polish Studies, whose endowment consists of more than four decades of small gifts by hundreds upon hundreds of individuals. It is incredibly moving to think about that history and the trust encoded in each of these gifts—trust in a better future for our shared world and also trust in the power of education to get us there. 

At the level of the International Institute as a whole, we have a great need, as I noted earlier, to provide student support for the kind of deep, immersive foreign language study that federal Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships once made possible. I can’t emphasize enough how life-changing such opportunities are for the students. 

But, if you ask me about something a bit more “out of the box” that philanthropy can support, my pie-in-the-sky dream is to have a cafe/foreign language book exchange called “Polyglot” right on the first floor of Weiser Hall, where the International Institute is housed. I am finding that as AI and digital technologies inundate students’ worlds, students are increasingly looking for physical, analogue spaces of refuge on campus where they can have genuine, human-to-human interactions. At Cafe Polyglot, students could chance upon a foreign language experience in the form of a book; music curated by a student DJ; or a random conversation with a fellow foreign language learner, faculty expert, visiting scholar or international student. And there would be snacks from around the world, sold by student groups interested in fundraising for their activities. How fabulous this would be!