Youngju Ryu is the director of the International Institute, effective January 1, 2026. She is a professor of Asian Languages and Cultures and a scholar in modern Korean literature. Her research includes the politics and aesthetics of protest, cultures of authoritarianism, and the role of media in shaping public life in modern Korea. She received her BA in English literature from Harvard University and earned her PhD in Korean literature from the University of California, Los Angeles. 

Professor Ryu’s books include the Writers of the Winter Republic: Literature and Resistance in Park Chung Hee’s Korea, published in 2016 by the University of Hawai‘i Press. It was named one of Foreign Affairs’ “Best Books of 2016” and received the Association for Asian Studies James B. Palais Book Prize in 2018.

Her scholarship also includes the edited volume Cultures of Yusin: South Korea in the 1970s (University of Michigan Press, 2018), as well as numerous articles on Korean literature, film, and cultural politics, and multiple translations of Korean literary works and criticism. She co-edits the book series Perspectives on Contemporary Korea, published by the University of Michigan Press, and is currently completing a cultural history of US-Korea relations titled Little Lower than the Angels: Korea in the American Century.

Professor Ryu joined the University of Michigan faculty in 2007 and has held a range of leadership roles at the university and beyond. Prior to her appointment, she served as the director of the Nam Center for Korean Studies, where she played a central role in the center’s growth and development. Her service also includes leadership in national scholarly organizations and sustained engagement in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

As director, Professor Ryu will work with faculty, staff, and students across the International Institute’s centers and programs to advance research, teaching, and public engagement addressing global and regional themes.