I have already written many times about how much I am enjoying my work with Japan Study and teaching at SILS, but things just keep getting better, and I want to return to this topic.
The Japan Study Program director made his yearly visit to Waseda and was pleased with the operations this year. Michiyo, the Program Associate, and I have been telling him we have great students and no major problems, and he saw for himself how well things are going as he met many of the students. It is a very positive work environment in JS at SILS, and Michiyo and I have been able to collaborate easily. I am thrilled to have a wonderfully competent colleague who works hard and cares about the students and the program. When issues come up, we are able to talk through them together, and when we disagree, we keep talking until we find a solution that we both can support. Naturally one of the reasons we have no major problems thus far is because two minds is better than one; we have been able to act more effectively and efficiently be collaborating. Also, Gary DeCoker, the director of the program, is very competent and collaborative as well. Good communications are essential to an effective program!
Another positive note professionally is that I applied for an academic position that I am quite excited about. After several years of considering dropping out of academia completely, I did not expect to apply for another academic position. This was the only position I have found interesting in the listings in the Chronicle of Higher Education, and although my living abroad this year may be a liability from the search committee’s perspective, I am happy to be enthusiastic about a job possibility!
A few days ago, I received information from one of the editors, Reva Joshee, of a book in which I have a chapter. Reva let all of the authors know that the book had been through the final external reviewer process and would be moving forward in the publishing process. She forwarded some of the comments of reviewers. The book, editors, and authors were all praised! The books is well-conceived and creative, as well as much-needed. (The focus of the book is multicultural policy. It has a unique organization with each section having three chapters–one chapter on Canada’s policies, one on the US’s policies, and one that critically discusses the issues raised in the previous two chapters in order to move the descriptions and analyses to a broader theoretical level. Ingenious, right!?)
My chapter is in the language policy section, and is the third chapter of the section. I was able to draw the connections between Canada’s and the US’s language policies, to discuss the similarities and differences, and to raise critical questions about language policies.
Among the statements made by reviewers were that the scholarship in all of the chapters is impeccable and the writing is of exceptional quality. All of the reviewers said they would buy and use the book. (One said the book should have been published last year!) I am feeling very happy for the editors, Reva Joshee and Lauri Johnson, who indeed deserve the praise, but I am also feeling very proud to have my work included in the book and to be working with such great people!
Continuing speaking about great people I work with, I am currently working on a research project with Professor Masakazu Iino at Waseda University in the School of International Liberal Studies (SILS). SILS is a new school within Waseda University and has some unique features that piqued my interest even before I came to Tokyo. Three primary distinct features of SILS are (1) an international focus, (2) a liberal arts program, and (3) language instruction in English. Students from Japan and other countries (mostly China, Korea, and Taiwan) earn a four-year degree and students from other nations (many from colleges in the US such as the Japan Study students) study at SILS for 1 term, 1 semester, or 1 year. Professor Iino and I are investigating the students’ experiences in SILS. I am doing interviews with students and learning a lot! Today, we just found out that we can apply for some research funds from SILS so we can pay to have the interviews transcribed! HAPPY!
Life is good!
Karen–glad to hear that things are going so well for you. Good luck with the job application and congratulations on getting your chapter published in such a promising book. Things are truly going your way. It’s about time–you deserve a break after all you’ve put up with in the past!
Ben is really enjoying his new job as “math coach,” also.
Those are exciting developments! Good luck with the application. Sounds like a really interesting book. How long does the publishing process take?
Well, I wrote the chapter in the fall of 2003. I think the book was conceived perhaps in the spring of 2003 or earlier. I was asked to write my chapter by August 2003, but my chapter was dependent on having two others written, so I didn’t get them until much later than August. When I was at your house in March of 2005, we met with a publisher after the first round of external reviews. I am not sure when the book is actually going to come out but there is still a ways to go. At some point we will get page-proofs, which are the actual pages the way they will look in the book. Authors will need to read their own chapters very carefully. Changes can’t be made at that time. Once those are completed, it gets much faster. Sometimes the process is faster, but when the book in edited, there a lot of authors to deal with. Also some university presses are on a slower schedule than others.