Kim Hei-sook

Kim Hei-sook (김혜숙; born c. 1955) is a South Korean academic and university administrator. She has been a professor of philosophy at Ewha Womans University since 1987, and was elected president of the university in 2017.

Kim Hei-sook
Kim Hei-sook Hangul 김혜숙 Revised Romanization Kim Hyesuk McCune–Reischauer Gim Hyesuk

Kim began her studies at Ewha, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature in 1976 and a Master of Arts in Christian philosophy in 1979. She completed a doctorate at the University of Chicago in 1987, with a thesis on epistemology. Kim subsequently returned to Ewha to take up a professorship in the philosophy department. She specialises in the philosophy of art, epistemology, and women's studies,[1] and has served as an associate editor of the International Feminist Journal of Politics.[2] She won a Fulbright Scholarship in 1995.[3]

As co-chair of the faculty council, Kim was one of the leaders of protests against Choi Kyung-hee, who resigned as president of Ewha in October 2016 over corruption charges and was later sentenced to imprisonment.[4][5] In early 2017, Kim was elected as Choi's replacement as university president, winning the first-ever direct election for the post. In a ballot of the university's students, faculty, and alumni, she won 33.9 percent of the first-round vote and 57.3 percent in the final round.[6] The election process was somewhat controversial, as there was initially an age limit of 61 for candidates; some commentators accused the university board of setting this limit specifically to exclude Kim, who was 62.[7] Kim took office on 31 May 2017, to a term expiring on 28 February 2021.[4] During her election campaign, she promised to "return Ewha to its original state and restore its honor".[8]