Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

Honoring Mi Ja Kim

Mi Ja Kim, PhD, RN, FRCN, FAAN, is well known for her leadership in broad areas of professional nursing at national and international levels. She was a Senior Fulbright Scholar for one year at Yonsei University College of Nursing in Seoul, Korea, and served on the White House Health Professionals Review Group for the Health Care Reform Task Force under the leadership of then First Lady Hillary Clinton.

She was a member of the board of trustees of the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools, and she is the founder of the Global Korean Nursing Foundation, where she still chairs the board of directors. For the last 35 years, Kim has served UIC and the College of Nursing in a multitude of roles. She served as UIC's vice chancellor for research and as dean of the UIC Graduate College. She also served as dean of the College of Nursing from 1989 to 1995 and interim dean from 2009 to 2010.

In August 2013, she retired from her roles as executive director of the college's Global Health Leadership Office and as director of the Academy of International Leadership Development, and she transitioned from full-time faculty to professor emerita in the college. Kim received her BSN from Yonsei University and her PhD in physiology from UIC; she also received an honorary doctoral degree in law from North Park College in Chicago. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing (FRCN) in the U.K. and, in 2012, she was recognized as a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing.

With an initial gift from Kim, the Dr. Mi Ja Kim Endowed Faculty Research Award became the college's first endowed fund designed to support a top faculty member with research funding for three years.