Literature Translation Institute of Korea CEO Kim Seong-kon is to be a recipient of the State University of New York at Buffalo’s International Distinguished Alumni Award.

Kim, who is also a professor of English at Seoul National University and a long-running columnist at The Korea Herald, is the first Korean to receive the award, the institute said.

Kim received his Ph.D. in English from SUNY Buffalo in 1984. He joined the faculty of Seoul National University in the same year.

He has been active in academia, holding leadership positions in several organizations. He was the dean of the Language School, director of Seoul National University Press and director of the American Studies Institute. He was the founding president of the Korean Association of Literature and Film and president of the International Association of Comparative Korean Studies, the Korean Society of Modern English Fiction and the American Studies Association of Korea.

The award ceremony will take place April 13 in New York.

(khooran@heraldcorp.com)