From Austin to Daegu: UT, Kyungpook Collaborate on Cross-Cultural Exchange
- Mar 5, 2025
- English Language Center
- Alex Briseño
English Language Center Director Dr. Michael Smith still recalls the moment in 2007 when Dr. Yaesheik Lee, an English professor at South Korea’s Kyungpook National University (KNU) and alum of The University of Texas at Austin (Linguistics, Ph.D. '05), contacted him with an innovative opportunity.
The conversation would signal the beginning of a fruitful partnership that would come to benefit both universities for years to come.
“Dr. Lee reached out with an idea of creating a formal relationship between our English Language Center (ELC) and the Language Institute at Kyungpook National University in Daegu, South Korea,” Smith said. “We started with a cooperative agreement to have ELC faculty teach academic English classes on the KNU campus during KNU’s summer and winter breaks, beginning in January 2008.”
Prior to the agreement, Lee returned to his alma mater for a preliminary visit, followed by Smith traveling to Daegu later that year. The cooperative agreement soon followed, providing the framework for a cross-cultural exchange that now spans almost two decades.
During those first meetings, Dr. Lee would gather 10-15 UT Austin alumni who were professors at KNU anytime Smith and the ELC team traveled to KNU’s campus.
“They would take us out to eat,” Smith said. “The KNU professors would reminisce about their time on the UT Austin campus and express gratitude for what they learned there and for our partnership with KNU.”
Smith concluded, “What began as a way to bring UT’s resources to the KNU campus for academic English training evolved and expanded to include UT students on KNU’s campus. UT students served as cultural ambassadors and language partners, and KNU students as interns and teaching assistants in language classes at UT.”
The sustained impact of the partnership is rooted in the relationship-building UT and KNU have fostered since 2007, anchored by dedicated faculty, staff, students and interns from Austin and Daegu. Texas Global spoke with several faculty and students to highlight a few of their experiences that underscore the successes of the partnership.
- Inspiring Transformation
Kyungpook sent students like Junhee Park to the United States as part of the exchange. As the first KNU intern to study at UT Austin via the exchange agreement, Park spent a transformative eight months on the Forty Acres in 2013 that ultimately influenced her academic and career paths.
“My experience in Austin inspired me to pursue a Ph.D. in the U.S.,” said Park, who is pursuing her doctorate at the University of Iowa. “In aligning my research interests and career goals, I am pursuing a doctorate in educational measurement and statistics. I am now a Ph.D. candidate, and I am exploring dissertation topics with the aim of graduating in May 2026.”
Although the partnership between the universities has evolved over the years, the heart of the agreement remains, with ELC faculty teaching seven-week English courses at KNU every summer and winter.
“About one-third of my current faculty have had the opportunity to go to Daegu and teach,” Smith said. “One of our instructors, Dr. Crystal Kusey, took her family with her to Daegu on what she described as a transformative trip for them all. Associate Director Teresa Baker spent nearly two years in Daegu.”
He added, “On the other side of the exchange, Assistant Director Kelly Martin traveled to Daegu as a master’s student in foreign language education (FLE) to be a teaching assistant. The result of that experience led to us hiring her as an instructor after graduating.”
- Crystal Kusey: 'The Whole Experience Feels Like a Dream’
For Crystal Kusey, an experienced ELC instructor and UT alum (FLE, Ph.D. '16), the KNU partnership provided a rare opportunity to bring her family to Daegu when she taught in Summer 2024.
It was a return to South Korea for Kusey and her husband, who had taken an initial trip in 2008 to teach at an after-school program in Tongyeong, a small town south of Busan.
After returning from the first trip, Kusey earned her master’s in FLE and joined Texas Global in 2013. Three years later, Kusey earned her Ph.D. in FLE with research interests in intercultural communication from a conversation analytic perspective as well as motivation and the use of learning strategies to improve English pronunciation.
“We’d been wanting to go back to Korea,” Kusey said of her decision to return. “Traveling with the family isn’t something we had done before, and it’s something we value. We wanted our kids to experience Korea, and my husband’s job allows for one month of remote work, so we jumped at the opportunity to go.”
On the way to Daegu, the Kusey-Westers made a two-week pit stop in Japan, exploring Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and Uji. Once they arrived in Daegu, Kusey taught in the mornings, then met up with her husband to grade papers from various coffee shops, including a favorite spot that played jazz and offered the presence of cats. They even found a small school for their daughters to attend.
“In the mornings, my kids took Korean and Spanish classes, learning alongside teachers and students from around the world,” Kusey said. “In the afternoons, they had the unique opportunity to assist in English classes for Korean students.”
Kusey added, “Then on Fridays, they would do a cooking class where they would make different Korean recipes, including Korean street food (Tteokbokki) and popular dishes served on holidays, such as Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) and Seollal (Lunar New Year), which you would find in homes but not in restaurants.”
The experience of teaching Korean students while having the opportunity to explore the country with her family allowed Kusey to draw parallels between teaching and parenting.
“Teaching and parenting go hand-in-hand: You want the kids to learn,” Kusey said. “You set goals, but there are emotions and relationships at play that affect learning as well.”
She continued, explaining that in her work, “A lot of what I do is rapport building to lower a student’s affective filter. People get nervous, and our job is to make sure everybody feels comfortable enough to be willing to take risks.”
Kusey remains most grateful for two specific aspects of the experience: the people they met, both locals and fellow travelers, and the opportunity to experience a different country and culture through a child’s eyes.
“I never had that as a child,” Kusey said. “I didn’t travel overseas until after high school, so it was incredible to see how they were viewing it. They noticed things that I wouldn’t have.”
She added, “Sometimes the whole experience feels like a dream, but then the kids will bring it up in conversation around the dinner table. It’s been something that has brought our family together through this shared international experience.”
- Kelly Martin: From Intern to Lead Instructor, Assistant Director
Kelly Martin, assistant director at ELC, is the only person at Texas Global who has traveled to Daegu in three different capacities: as student intern, instructor and lead teacher.
In 2012, Martin was working on a two-year master’s program in foreign language education through the College of Education when she received an email from Smith regarding an opportunity tied to the growing collaboration between UT and KNU.
“It said, ‘We’re doing this thing with Kyungpook, and we might bring student teachers,’ ” Martin recalled. “It was unpaid, but he told me they could cover flights and housing, and I would receive credit for a teaching practicum, which I needed to satisfy for my master’s program, anyway.”
After meeting for 45 minutes, Smith told Martin, “All right, you’re going to go. I need a copy of your passport.”
Martin’s flights and housing were booked by Texas Global shortly after, followed by a meeting at the Texas Global office. There, she met Baker, who was an instructor for the 2012 course, and ELC faculty member Sarah Episcopo, along with another student intern from the same master’s program as Martin’s. The group flew to South Korea the following day.
In summarizing the experience, Martin said, “I mean, I’m still here at Texas Global today! It was life-changing.”
For both personal and professional reasons, Martin specifically appreciated the stark change in viewpoint she was afforded with her visitor status.
“For the teachers, it gives us a fresh perspective on what it's like to live in a different country,” Martin added. “You get a sense of what is hard about living in a place where you don't speak the language fluently, or the systems work differently than they do at home. For us, it's a refresher of what it's like for the students who come here to us in Austin.”
As a graduate intern, Martin spent much of her mornings observing Baker, who taught listening and speaking, and then Episcopo, who focused on writing.
“In the afternoons, the other student intern and I ran group conversations with the Korean students,” Martin said. “I got to do some student teaching while the teachers observed, so I would get really good feedback. It was amazing.”
The group also found time to travel around South Korea during the trip, which marked Martin’s first-ever experience in Asia. After returning to the Forty Acres, Martin graduated in 2013 and was hired by Smith at the ELC that same year.
Martin went on three additional trips to Daegu through the partnership: twice as an instructor and another time as a lead teacher. In the lead role, Martin oversaw undergraduate interns, equipping her with a unique perspective from every level of the program.
"This partnership is important because both sides are getting real benefits out of it,” Martin said. “I don’t know if this exact partnership could be replicated anywhere else because it is all based on personal connections and relationships. That’s what makes it so special.”
- Teresa Baker: Hitting Reset 6,000 Miles Away
Associate Director Teresa Baker, who has worked at Texas Global since 1999, has been a cornerstone of the ELC throughout her 26-year tenure. Her work in the ELC-KNU partnership is no exception. However, she recalled a bout with burnout while she was working in an administrative role.
“I was kind of at a point in my life where I was dealing with career burnout because our program had just grown and grown,” Baker said.
Acknowledging Baker’s need for a rest, Smith offered her a unique opportunity to step away from her administrative role in exchange for a teaching position in Daegu. For Baker, this opportunity was exactly what she needed to reconnect with the heart of her career: a teaching role.
“Personally, it was a reset,” Baker said. “I got away. I was more than 6,000 miles away. I got back in touch with my teaching roots and got to have that daily connection with the students.”
After arriving in South Korea in January 2012 for a two-year stint, Baker quickly immersed herself in her work and the culture.
“Once I acclimated to the snowy winter, I really enjoyed the warmth of the students,” Baker said. “The people are great and funny, the food is fantastic, and it was a great opportunity that offered a heavy teaching schedule.”
She added, “The experience gave me a much better understanding of our Korean students, which is a sizable population for us. Beyond speaking their language, it also means something to have a deeper sense of their culture, their history, where they're coming from and how that all shapes their personality.”
In addition to the rewarding teacher-student experience, Baker returned to UT at the end of 2013 with a new outlook on the UT-KNU partnership and the key role that administrative work plays in it.
“That experience gave me a fresh perspective on my administrative role and offered insight into how we can best support our students while remaining tethered to the field,” Baker said. “Sometimes it's hard to feel connected to these students when you are in front of paperwork, spreadsheets or enrollment lists, but the experience allowed me to make a connection in understanding the impact of this work upon my return.”
Just like Smith, Kusey and Martin, Baker attributes much of the partnership’s success to longstanding relationships, dating back to the mid-2000s, among faculty, staff and students alike.
“It’s all about the relationships that we’ve built up over that time,” Baker said. “The goal for most of my students was to study abroad right after the following semester, so they were preparing for English interviews. Hearing the students express the impact of not just what they learned from the courses, but what they did with it –– I mean, some reached out after returning from Czechoslovakia and many other countries.”
Baker clarified: “Just one seven-week class put them on a path to experience other parts of the world. It’s a great reminder of how brave each of the students are. And it’s been a humbling experience to work with the KNU students through this partnership.”
