The Japanese Studies Program in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures was awarded a $200,000 salary assistance grant from the Japan Foundation, an organization established by the Japanese government in 1972 for “cultivating friendship and ties between Japan and the world.”
The grant will help fund a tenure-line hire in Japanese, including their research and other expenses, and may also be used to bring guest speakers to campus.
The department’s application was ranked first of all applicant files. Takao Hagiwara, associate professor of Japanese, and Peggy Fitzgerald, full-time lecturer, worked on the grant once it became apparent that a new hire would help the Japanese Studies Program. The program is the second-largest in the department, with more enrolled students than all language programs except Spanish.