Dyron Dabney, associate professor of political science and department chair at Albion College, has been named director of Japan programs at Earlham College, where he will lead the Japan Study Program and other Japan-related study abroad and faculty programs administered by the college.
ACM has long-standing connections with Japan Study and its exchange program with Waseda University in Tokyo. Japan Study offers study abroad for students and visiting positions for faculty from the ACM colleges and member institutions of the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA). The program also brings Waseda students and faculty to the ACM and GLCA campuses.
Japan Study students and staff during the program’s spring retreat in Tokyo.
Knox College history professor Michael Schneider has been selected as 2016-17 resident director of Japan Study in Tokyo, and will lead the program’s activities for students and teach courses in Waseda’s School of International Liberal Studies.
Dabney gained firsthand experience with Japan Study and Waseda University as the program’s resident director in 2011-12. He is also a member of the Japan Study Advisory Committee and served on the ASIANetwork Board of Directors in 2011-13.
A specialist in Japanese politics, Dabney holds a Ph.D. in comparative politics from the University of Michigan. His research and teaching interests invite comparative analysis of East Asian politics and culture and American politics, including a recent focus on gendered differences in political participation and behavior.
At Albion, his courses include topics in comparative politics, Government and Politics of Japan, and a class he team-teaches with art professor Lynne Chytilo on Pottery and Politics: Examining the Art and Politics of Tea Culture in Japan.
In his new role at Earlham, Dabney succeeds Gary DeCoker, who has retired after serving as Japan programs director for 13 years.
Schneider was resident director of Japan Study once before, during the 1998-99 academic year, and also has led students on Knox’s Japan Term program four times. He was the founding chair of the college’s Asian studies program and is completing a four-year term as associate dean for faculty development.
A member of the Knox faculty since 1992, Schneider received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in modern Japanese and international history. His teaching interests include East Asian civilization, modern China, modern Japan, social life of food, culture and diplomacy in modern East Asia, approaches to international history, and nationalisms.
As resident director, he will teach two courses at Waseda. Tokyo: Rise of a Megacity will explore the evolution of Tokyo into the world’s largest city and Culture and Diplomacy in East Asian History will examine the history of East Asian international relations through the lens of cultural interaction.
Japan Study offers students a cultural immersion in Japan through intensive language study, a homestay with a family in Tokyo, and a four- to six-week cultural internship in a rural or urban setting outside of Tokyo. In addition to Japanese language, students choose among a wide array of elective courses at Waseda, taught in English, and can participate in student clubs and organizations at the university.
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