MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION
Art educator recognized for international research and creative activity
Collaboration has always been an important part of Dr. Borim Song’s teaching and research.
Song, a painter and associate professor of art education at East Carolina University, grew up in South Korea, where she has been instrumental in starting a new partnership between ECU and Seoul Women’s University.
Her work has expanded ECU’s reach around the globe, said Dr. Chris Buddo, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication.
Song sorts through her students’ artwork in the School of Art and Design.
(Photo by Rhett Butler)
“I’m extremely proud of Dr. Song and the work she and her international collaborators have accomplished,” Buddo said. “Our college has emphasized global outreach as one of our top priorities, and Dr. Song has certainly been a college leader in international research.”
Song has received the ECU Office of Global Affairs International Research and Creative Activity award, which honors an outstanding faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in research and/or creative activities that is international or global in scope. It provides $500 for international travel.
“For me, teaching, research and service are related all the time,” Song said of the award. “It’s based on my students and colleagues’ hard work.”
At ECU, Song teaches future or current art teachers enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs as well as students from other majors — from elementary and special education teachers to recreational therapists and child life specialists. She has had a longtime interest in the integration of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, or STEAM.
“I share my own excitement about art making and art teaching,” Song said. “We share our enthusiasm about the role of visual arts in our society. It really has the power to change people.”
In Greenville, Song developed a service-learning opportunity for her ECU students, who design their own lesson plans and teach art lessons at the local Korean school every other Saturday.
She also works with ECU students to professionally present their work at annual state and national art education association conferences and conventions.
For the past three years, Song has conducted research on intercultural and cross-cultural art education practices and the introduction of contemporary East Asian artists in American K-12 art classrooms.
This year, she co-authored “Teacher Training for Gifted and Talented Programs for Arts Integration,” a 149-page book published in Korea that examines gifted and talented teacher program design for arts integration. The project was organized by the Korean National Research Institute for the Gifted in Arts.
It was the latest in a long line of books, book chapters, translations, articles and presentations dealing with international topics or directed toward international audiences, Buddo said. Song is the associate treasurer for the United States Society for Education through Art, serves on the Korea Art Education Association’s International Relations Committee, and is a member of the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association.
“Dr. Song’s interests in international art education are woven throughout her teaching, scholarship and service, demonstrating international engagement, collaboration and passion,” said Dr. Kate Bukoski, director of the ECU School of Art and Design.
Song works with Joonoh Lee and Cherrie Yoon at the Korean Language School in 2013. (File photo by Cliff Hollis)
ECU’s commitment to distance education attracted Song to the university 13 years ago. In 2019-2020, she was a finalist for the Max Ray Joyner Award for Outstanding Teaching in Distance Education.
Song has taught online courses since joining ECU, and she has published several articles on teaching visual arts online. Her findings show the importance of building a supportive community and peer connections as well as the need for multi-layered feedback. “We need to understand how students learn, and how students learn differently than in person,” she said.
While the pandemic has temporarily halted travel, Song encourages students to get a passport, study abroad and expand their understanding of cultural diversity.
She draws on her own exploration as a teenager and young adult. Her father — enthusiastic in raising his five children as global citizens — arranged an ambitious weekslong trip in 1989 to Washington, D.C., Disney World, Los Angeles, Canada and Tokyo.
“What I did not realize at the time was my father wanted to share with us what kind of world there is — not just Korea,” Song said.
Song was an international student herself, moving at age 25 from South Korea to New York City to attend Columbia University for her doctoral degree in education.
It was in that program that another student unsuccessfully challenged Song’s view that a multicultural art education must do more than focus on the “otherness” of different cultures.
“It should lead students to look back at their own culture, art and life, after experiencing the richness of other people’s culture and art,” she said. “In multicultural education, my belief has been that when we emphasize the learners’ personal understanding of his or her own culture, this individual can truly learn from other cultures.”