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