ISU graduate donates $12 million to university’s art program

NORMAL, Ill. – An Illinois State University graduate who now an internationally-known artist, and her husband, have donated $12 million to the school’s College of Fine Arts.

Wonsook Kim says she wants the gift to be a celebration of America as a land of opportunity. Both Kim and her husband, Thomas Clement, were born in Korea.

With the donation, the university is renaming the college and school of art the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts and the Wonsook Kim School of Art.

President Larry Dietz said Kim and Clement are providing for current students and “investing in the future of Illinois State.”

Kim’s work is on display at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Washington’s National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Vatican Collection in Vatican City.

The 56-year-old Kim came to the United States in 1972 and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Illinois State.