Dr. Choonghee Han
Professor of Communication
Dr. Choonghee Han is the chair of the communication department and teaches broadcasting and other communication and media courses. He is a former broadcaster/journalist turned academic with an interest in media production, journalism as a cultural practice and collective memory.
Dr. Han works closely with Hope students interested in documentary filmmaking, who are frequent winners of Michigan Student Broadcast Awards. In 2020, his students Aiyana Cisneros ’20, Abigail Krueger ’20 and Elizabeth Melb ’20 placed second in the MSBA documentary division for their film Everything. In 2019, Ben Douma ’20 and Eunice Maruhi ’21 received the first place documentary award for 95 Stories, as did Tony (Robert) Byrne ’17 and Noah Jurik ’17 for Shaped by Flames in 2016.
Areas of Expertise
- Digital media production and management
- Storytelling
- Film aesthetics and criticism
- Media technologies and culture
- Collective memory and social politics
- East Asian culture and politics
Education
- Ph.D., journalism and mass communication, University of Iowa, 2010
- M.A., digital storytelling and telecommunication, Ball State University, 2005
- M.A., journalism and mass communication, Kyung Hee University, 2002
- B.A., journalism and mass communication, Kyung Hee University, South Korea, 1993
Honors and Awards
- Top Faculty Paper Award, Ethnicity and Race in Communication Division, International Communication Association, 2012
- “Grand Prize in Broadcasting” in Korea Catholic Mass Communication Awards, 1995
Professional Experience
- Chair, Documentary Division of the Broadcast Education Association, 2018–2020
- Digital media consultant, University of Iowa Information Arcade, 2005-2009
- Producer/reporter/director in TV/radio/programming, EBS (Korea Educational Broadcasting System), 1993–2005
Selected Publications and Creative Productions
- Live broadcasts and online publications of the TEDxMacatawa events (TED in Holland, Michigan), as producer, 2013–2017
- Live broadcasts and streaming of athletic and NCAA events and musical concerts at Hope College, as producer, 2011–2017
- “50 Years and Beyond,” documentary history of international exchange programs between Hope College and Meiji Gakuin University (Japan) supported by the Fried International Center of Hope College, 2015
- “The Ambiguity of Memory in East Asian Newspapers: Journalistic Representation of War Memories,” in Japanese Journalism and the Japanese Newspaper: A Supplemental Reader, 2014
- “The Contemporary Trend in the Use of Multi-Platform Delivery Systems: Case Studies of North American Public Broadcasting and Service Providers,” published by Educational Broadcasting Research Institute of EBS (South Korea), 2014
- “National Memory in News Discourses: The Influence of War Memories to National Identity,” Communication and Community, 2013
- “Readiness Series” instructional online video series and DVD, as producer/director/editor, published by Ready for School, 2012

616.395.7242
han@hope.eduMartha Miller Center-Room 122 257 Columbia Avenue Holland, MI 49423-3615