I’m Dr. Shine Kim, Your Alt Advisor

I’m a first-generation scholar and second-generation Korean American. I received my PhD in Education from Claremont Graduate University and BA from the University of California, Irvine. During my undergraduate education, I never imagined pursuing a PhD. I had my eyes set on finding a well-paying, full-time job to fulfill the (now obsolete) American Dream. Then one day, my statistics professor started class with a spiel about how he earned a PhD. He ended his speech with, “Anyone can get a PhD. Why not you?” I thought to myself, “Yeah! Why not me?”

That inspiration was only the beginning of a long, exhausting journey. In my PhD journey, I grew passionate for advocacy, taking action, and creating space so that students can thrive in academia. I committed my dissertation research to name and make sense of power dynamics in PhD advisor-advisee relationships.

Now, with my expertise and experiences, I provide a personalized capacity-focused approach to help you balance the PhD and life so that you have more support in taking care of yourself when life, work, and school feel like too much.

Make progress at your capacity, understand how power dynamics impact your experience, and build a student life that honors you as a human first.