Benjamin Cho tended to keep a low profile in class, recalls Michael Rich, Emory professor and chair of political science.
Cho sat in the back row, but he wasn’t half asleep or scrolling on his phone. Instead, he paid rapt attention during Rich’s course introducing students to the Community Building and Social Change (CSBC) Fellows Program. The Emory program helps students hone the skills needed to transform a passion for social justice into meaningful action.
“He was in the back, but you could see the wheels turning in his head,” says Rich, who describes Cho as one of the most successful CSBC fellows since the program’s founding in 2002. “Ben absorbed everything. That helped him see the lay of the land and really sparked an interest in housing and neighborhood revitalization.”
In the three years since, Cho has more than made up for his initial reticence to speak in class. A commitment to community building has been the throughline to Cho’s extracurricular activities at Emory; they range from tutoring in local high schools to advocating with Atlanta’s Housing Justice League at the Georgia State Capitol. He also designed sidecar courses as an IDEAS Fellow, conducted research and landed an internship at a national housing nonprofit.
Now Cho is weighing whether to launch his career through working directly with community-housing residents or in housing policy as he graduates with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. Either way, he will bring with him the $30,000 in funding, no strings attached, that comes with being named the 2025 Lucius Lamar McMullan Award recipient.
Made possible by a generous gift from Emory alumnus William Matheson 47G, the McMullan Award is granted annually to an Emory College of Arts and Sciences graduate who is expected to do extraordinary things on a community, national and global scale.
“It still doesn’t feel real,” Cho says of the award. “I try to be helpful where I can so I can learn more.”
Commitment to community housing
Cho became involved with community housing issues shortly after arriving at Emory. His internships at a local domestic violence shelter and Habitat for Humanity gave him insights into the need for safe and affordable housing.
The topic had been in the back of his mind since high school, when his family lost its home in Dallas after Cho’s father lost his job. As immigrants from Korea, his parents viewed the setback as a personal challenge to tackle alone.
Rich’s course introduced Cho to the complex web of government interests, business demands and social policy surrounding issues of disinvestment, redevelopment, gentrification and more.
Cho deepened his interest and knowledge by assisting Rich on a year-long project to research affordable housing in Atlanta. He also conducted community-based research in Atlanta’s Edgewood neighborhood as a CSBC fellow. His team’s survey of community needs drew a record number of responses, in part due to Cho’s idea to set up tables in barbershops, at community festivals and at a subsidized housing complex.
At Graduation Generation, a K-12 outreach effort between Emory students and local underserved communities, Cho volunteered for two years as director of external partnerships and traveled to area schools for tutoring and other programs.
“You can’t be effective if you are not being reflective about your role in the community,” says James Roland, senior director at Emory’s Center for Civic and Community Engagement. “Ben in many ways embodies that ethos, of learning from the community where you are sharing no matter your talent or expertise. Ben puts other people and the work first.”
Cho’s community housing efforts also include gathering data on development and displacement for Rich’s research, conducting archival research on segregation and housing in Atlanta, taking courses in housing policy and infrastructure, and advocating with Atlanta’s Housing Justice League at the Georgia Statehouse.
Teaching other students
As an Emory Interdisciplinary Exploration and Scholarship (IDEAS) Fellow, Cho co-taught two sidecar courses, which bring together at least two professors from different departments to provide interdisciplinary perspectives on a single topic. One course used Atlanta’s Beltline as a case study to examine racialized gentrification, and the other discussed the role of public sector financing in providing affordable housing.
Cho also participated in a third sidecar course focused on murals in the Atlanta landscape by local artist/activist Yehimi Cambrón.
“Ben is able, in a principled way, to acknowledge what he doesn’t know,” says Vialla Hartfield-Méndez, professor of pedagogy in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, who co-taught the murals course. “He learned so much because of that and his willingness to observe, ask questions and really listen.”
That willingness to absorb different perspectives helped Cho land an internship with Enterprise Communities Partners, a national nonprofit supporting community development and safe housing. As the organization’s Green Communities intern, Cho learned about sustainable affordable housing and the policies that support successful projects.
Fellow Emory senior David Lee also appreciates Cho’s ability to weave together perspectives. He notes that as co-president of Emory’s Tibet-China Initiative, Cho encourages dialogue and questions.
Lee recalls the first time he shared his honors thesis idea with Cho. After listening to Lee’s idea, Cho offered thoughtful feedback throughout the process. When Lee attended a potluck dinner Cho hosted, Cho surprised him by sharing a book that ended up helping Lee frame his thesis.
“You walk into Ben’s house and his kitchen is filled with all these different spices and ingredients,” Lee says. “It’s a good representation of his brain and how he sees all these different ingredients to cultivate into something unexpected or new.”
Before choosing what job to pursue for his first step after Emory, Cho hopes to use part of his McMullan Award funding to take his first family trip back to South Korea since grade school. The rest will go toward graduate study.
“The best thing I’ve learned the last four years is there are a lot of ways to contribute,” Cho says. “I can see myself as a lawyer, urban planner or policy advocate, but I have no idea how I will ultimately contribute. I just know there is a lot of work to be done.”