Hanna Kim is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership with concentrations in global studies in education and higher education. Her research interests center on the impact of education policies on marginalized students (e.g., international, low-income students and academically underrepresented students), equity in education and civic engagement in education. Her dissertation centers on institutional perspectives on the sense of belonging and the experiences of East Asian International Students in U.S. universities.

Kim is primarily involved in the Developmental Education Reform Act (DERA) as a part of the Illinois Developmental Education Equity in Action project at OCCRL. She is also involved in the Humanism-Statistics program, which is grounded in social justice and civic engagement in higher education, as well as the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History project as a response to equity in education.

Kim has worked for the International Program in the College of Education, the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies and the Global Leaders Program in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Prior to starting her graduate programs in the U.S., she worked for World Vision Korea (NGO) as a broadcast filming coordinator, assisting in industry and work.