Cathi Choi graduated cum laude from Columbia University in May 2013, with a B.A. in History and Art History. She specialized in International History, with a focus on U.S.-Korea relations. Her senior thesis, "Shifting Gears of Public Pressure in U.S. Policy in South Korea, 1980-1987,” focused on the impact of the Kwangju Uprising on U.S. policy and South Korea’s political transformation.
For her master's thesis, researched the history of transnational adoption of Korean adoptees in the U.S. after the Korean War. She is specifically interested in the development of regulatory social welfare legislation and the role played by U.S. Catholic groups and other nongovernmental agencies in facilitating adoptions.
Her research interests include: Asian American history, the history of the U.S. social welfare establishment, U.S. immigration history, and legal history. Through her personal and academic experiences, she has become deeply invested in understanding the local and transnational histories that have connected the U.S. and Korea throughout the twentieth century.
