Chong Chu Selected as AACC Alumni of the Year
Chong Keun Chu has come full circle from studying art to teaching it. He left Korea for the U.S. in 1975 and when a new community college, Brookhaven College, opened in 1978 he enrolled in a non-credit art class. With encouragement from his instructor, he moved into the credit programs and went on to earn a bachelor of fine arts degree at SMU and master of fine arts degree at Temple University. Chu was selected as one of the American Association of Community Colleges' Alumni of the Year award in recognition of where he began, what he has accomplished and for the fact that he passes on his passion for art to countless students as an art professor at Brookhaven College.
"I spent my first three years in this country dealing with English and cultural changes," says Professor Chu. "Then I wanted to go to school. I wanted to learn more about painting. One day, I took my paintings and drove to Brookhaven College. I stood at the door of a classroom where students were learning to paint, and I told the instructor that I needed an art teacher. When I was a Brookhaven student, my faculty members gave encouragement and confidence so that I knew I could study what I wanted to pursue. I now carry that same spirit to my own students," he says.
Chu has been a full-time Brookhaven College professor for 15 years, and he remains a working artist and periodically returns to his native Korea to lecture art students. His book,
From Trash to Treasure, introduced the system of American art education to Korean students and helped bridge the cultural divide for American and Korean artists.
His work is exhibited frequently in art galleries across the U.S. and in Korea. His work is not just on canvas, either; he and his wife Hyun Ju Chung, also an artist, have designed two of the DART light rail stations.
Chu's award will be presented at the AACC Annual Convention in New Orleans, La. this April. The the Outstanding Alumni Award recognizes those individuals nominated by their community college who have excelled in their field and given back to their community.