Awards

Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award (2021)

About Youngbok Hong

Youngbok Hong is a professor of visual communication design in the Herron School of Art and Design at IUPUI. Hong earned a B.A. in philosophy from Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea, and an M.F.A. in visual communications design from the School of Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois. She joined the IUPUI faculty in 2003 and has served as the director of the MFA in visual communication design in the Herron School with an emphasis on Design Thinking and Design Leadership since 2013.

Hong actively engages her local community of Indianapolis bringing together her expertise in design with various local organizations. She has partnered with the Latino Health Organization of Indianapolis as a member of the academic team developing the Your Life. Your Story: Latino Youth Summit (YLYS). The YLYS is a summer youth day camp aimed at reducing the mental health disparities that affect Latino youth. Hong has served as a consultant for the city of Indianapolis in a partnership between the Herron School, the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and the Department of Metropolitan Development to foster a more blended approach to public service design and processes. She has also collaborated with the Indiana’s Governor and the SENSE Charter School to develop an intervention program for children in early elementary school at high risk for opioid.

Hong received the 2021 Thomas Ehrlich Service Learning Award (now called the Indiana University Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award).