Soo La Kim has been named from among 23 applicants to fill the vacancy in the District 65 Board of Education created by the resignation in February of Candance Chow.
In a news release, the district says school closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible for the board to seat Kim, its chosen candidate, for the position within the 60-day deadline set by the state school code, and so Kim was appointed by Regional Superitendent of Schools Kevin Jauch, as authorized by the code.
School Board President Suni Kartha said in a statement that the board had “a number of highly qualified applicants for this position, which is such a strong testament to our community’s commitment to public education.”
Kartha said Kim’s work in faculty support and development “will be extremely beneficial to our governance discussions.”
Soo La Kim has over 20 years of teaching and administrative experience in higher education.
As assistant dean of graduate programs in the School of Professional Studies at Northwestern University, Kim oversees professional master’s degree programs and certificate programs across a range of disciplines.
Before joining Northwestern in 2016, she was director of the Center for Innovation in Teaching excellence at Columbia College Chicago, responsible for faculty development programs focused on more effective approaches to teaching, learning, and curriculum design.
She has also worked in writing programs at Princeton and Harvard, and began her career as an educator at the University of California, Irvine, where she earned a doctorate. in English.
Kim and her husband have a 6th grader at Nichols and a 2nd grader at Lincoln. She is a founding member of the Lincoln equity committee and is on the planning committee of the Next Steps education and advocacy series on race, equity, and education.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Kim immigrated with her family to New York when she was six years old, and grew up in Queens and Long Island. She’s lived in Evanston for nearly 13 years.
“I’m excited and honored to join a board dedicated to making meaningful policy changes that promote equitable access to high quality education for all students, and I look forward to supporting Dr. Devon Horton as he begins his leadership in District 65,” Kim said in a statement.
Kim’s term will run through the April 2021 election.
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