Danny Kim, the Director of the Office of International Student Life (ISL), has left his position at Augustana College.
Kim sent out an email to the international students announcing his decision to leave on Monday January 7th. “Dear international family, I wanted to take a moment to let you know that I am leaving my position as Director of International Student Life at Augustana and that my last day here will be Friday, January 18th. My wife and I are moving to St. Louis to be closer to family and we believe it’s time for us to start a new chapter in our lives. Please know that even though I will not be in Augustana, there will be many in the community who will continue to advocate for you and assist you in your time of need. Augustana is working hard to find someone to fill my position.”
Augustana is currently trying to find someone to permanently fill Kim’s position. In the meantime, Liz Nino, the Director of International Recruitment has stepped in as the interim director of International Student Life.
“I think a lot of international students felt relieved to have a very familiar face and just knowing that someone was coming to this position that they could trust and that they knew and had that foundation and that relationship with,” Nino said. “So, I’m very excited to be here and just to reconnect with all those students that I had the chance to work with at the beginning of their experience here at Augustana.”
Augustana is expecting to have a long term replacement by May of this year. Nino reassures that events and programs that were scheduled while Kim was director will happen as planned.
“We have great students who do most of the work when it comes to community events so we are going to continue through the academic year and once the position has been filled, then we will reconsider the planning for events for the next academic year. But for this year, things will stay the same,” Nino said.
The first event that will occur with Nino as Director, is the International Street Fest that will be held February 1, in the Gavle rooms. According to the website of the Office of International Student Life, “This annual event is designed to celebrate the diversity of international and cultural backgrounds in the Augustana community. Currently, Augustana has international students come from over 40 countries around the world; it is our chance to display and honor the different cultures we have here at Augustana College.”
Many students were saddened to know that Kim was going to leave Augustana College. First-year Rodrigo Ayala from El Salvador shared how the change worried him because Kim had left a high standard for what it means to be a director of the Office of International Student Life: “I was shocked to hear that Danny was going to leave us and became nervous about how it was going to impact the office.”
Nino also expressed her thought about Kim’s departure, “It’s very sad news to have Danny gone at Augustana because he added so much value to this office, but the great thing is that he left a great infrastructure for Augustana to continue to grow and I believe that we are only going to get better. Although, he will definitely be missed.”
