Dr. Hyejin Cho By Arthur McEnaney (陈倍)

Farmingdale State College is the proud home to many Asian American faculty members from a wide number of countries, representing a rich tapestry of lives and cultures. In anticipation of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month at Farmingdale State College, I sat down with Global Business Management professor Dr. Hyejin Cho for a wide-ranging conversation covering her upbringing, Korean culture, her career, and current events involving the Asian American community.

Born to Korean parents, Dr. Cho was raised in Nebraska and resided in the United States until high school, when she moved with her family moved back to Korea. In our conversation, Dr. Cho discussed the unique and often difficult experience of being the only Asian student in most of her classes, being that she grew up in a predominantly white town. However, Dr. Cho credits her upbringing with giving her a greater appreciation for strong family ties- the same kind of family ties that would have her move with her parents and live her teenage years in Korea, during which she’d attend international school. Dr. Cho would eventually return to the United States to get her PhD – which she counts among her proudest accomplishments -- and go on to teach here at Farmingdale State College. Given her unique life experience spent living back and forth between the United States and Korea, I asked Dr. Cho what it was like growing up in two different countries and cultures. She said it’s sometimes difficult being perceived by her American friends as a Korean and by her Korean friends as an American, but that she’s come to accept it as a unique part of her life and character, rather than viewing it as something negative.

When speaking about her appreciation for Korean culture, Dr. Cho highlighted her favorite holiday: Daeboreum (대보름), or the Full Moon Festival. Similar to the Chinese Lantern Festival, Daeboreum is celebrated on the first full moon of the new year and involves many traditions. Of those traditions, Dr. Cho explained that her favorite is simply having the family gathered all in one place eating, laughing, and spending time together.

Finally, we rounded out our conversation speaking about the AAPI community in the United States. These last few years have seen a marked rise in prejudice and violent crimes against AAPI people.  We began our conversation contrasting the New York City subway with the various South Korean metros, lamenting that she feels compelled to carry pepper spray on her person when entering the subway. Needless to say, no one should have to live that way. However, Dr. Cho agreed there was cause for hope, as the best antidote for prejudice is exposure. Whether that be in the form of greater exposure to Asian media like K-pop superstars BTS or the best picture-winning Korean-language film Parasite, or through exposing acts of prejudice and making it clear they will not be tolerated, or by simply having people live and grow up shoulder-to-shoulder with Asian American peers and colleagues. By these metrics, there’s certainly cause for hope, but there’s still much work to be done.