The University of Michigan representing the Midwest of the U.S. was one of the universities that needed balanced development of Korean studies to stand comparison with the university's Chinese and Japanese studies programs of long history and tradition. Recently the University of Michigan decided to three professorships in Korean literature, art history, and history (modern or pre-modern). The university has already finalized the holder of the Korean literature professorship, and is currently taking a faculty employment procedure including interviews for history and art history positions. It is unprecedented for a large research university like Michigan to put this kind of financial and scholarly commiment to Korean studies program. What is encouraging above all is that the decision of the University of Michigan to give an emphasis to and invest in Korean studies research and education at a university level reflects on scholarly interest in and demand for Korean studies. With the addition of the professorships in Korean literature, modern/pre-modern history and art history to the existing faculty in the fields of Korean politics and art as planned, the Korean studies program at the University of Michigan will emerge as a stellar program in North America. It is expected that the Korean studies program encompassing humanities and social sciences will become a model for an excellent area studies program, that can train generations of excellent scholarship on Korea.