JSA Officers
JSA Executive Board
JSA Executive Board
PRESIDENT
Joseph L. Overton, Ph.D.
Professor of History
Director, Office of International Affairs
Kapiolani Community College
E-mail: [email protected]
Joe Overton received his B.A. in History from Loyola College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park. He taught for 30 years at Morgan State University in Baltimore where he served in several capacities including chair of the Department of Political Science as well as founder and director of the undergraduate and graduate programs in International Studies.
In 2000 he was hired by Kapi'olani Community College to become the discipline coordinator for political science. Later, he chaired the Honda International Center. In 2009 he was made director of the Office of International Affairs. While at KCC Dr. Overton has been responsible for almost $4 million in international grants, including three Freeman Foundation grants, a U.S. Department Title VI grant, and, in collaboration with George Brown of Slippery Rock University, two Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad grants to Malaysia and Singapore.
Joe has received numerous Fulbright grants to countries such as Pakistan, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Israel and Palestine. He was awarded the Distinguished Volunteer Award by the East-West Center in 2008.Dr. Overton is the co-founder and current President of the Japan Studies Association. In this capacity he has been awarded grants for JSA from both the Freeman Foundation and the Japan Foundation. For the last 10 years he has been the director of the three-week Freeman Summer Institutes on Japan. In addition, he is the founder of the Asian Studies Development Program Alumni Chapter at the East-West Center. He is the co-founder of the Association of Regional Centers of the ASDP and currently serves as its Executive Director.
Joseph L. Overton, Ph.D.
Professor of History
Director, Office of International Affairs
Kapiolani Community College
E-mail: [email protected]
Joe Overton received his B.A. in History from Loyola College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park. He taught for 30 years at Morgan State University in Baltimore where he served in several capacities including chair of the Department of Political Science as well as founder and director of the undergraduate and graduate programs in International Studies.
In 2000 he was hired by Kapi'olani Community College to become the discipline coordinator for political science. Later, he chaired the Honda International Center. In 2009 he was made director of the Office of International Affairs. While at KCC Dr. Overton has been responsible for almost $4 million in international grants, including three Freeman Foundation grants, a U.S. Department Title VI grant, and, in collaboration with George Brown of Slippery Rock University, two Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad grants to Malaysia and Singapore.
Joe has received numerous Fulbright grants to countries such as Pakistan, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Israel and Palestine. He was awarded the Distinguished Volunteer Award by the East-West Center in 2008.Dr. Overton is the co-founder and current President of the Japan Studies Association. In this capacity he has been awarded grants for JSA from both the Freeman Foundation and the Japan Foundation. For the last 10 years he has been the director of the three-week Freeman Summer Institutes on Japan. In addition, he is the founder of the Asian Studies Development Program Alumni Chapter at the East-West Center. He is the co-founder of the Association of Regional Centers of the ASDP and currently serves as its Executive Director.
VICE PRESIDENT
Dawn Gale
Professor of Philosophy
Johnson County Community College
E-mail: [email protected]
Dawn Gale is a Professor of Philosophy at Johnson County Community College, KS. Her main areas of interest include ethics, political philosophy, feminism, and Asian philosophy. She is a several time recipient of JCCC’s Distinguished Service Award and received the Burlington Northern Award for Faculty Achievement in 2017. Professor Gale is a faculty advisor for the International Club. She has participated in the Japan Seminar, two University of Hawaii/University of Tokyo Summer Institutes on Comparative Philosphy and numerous workshops, organized by the Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP) and JSA. Professor Gale is one of JCCC’s 2018-2019 College Scholars and will present papers influenced by her participation in JSA’s Hiroshima/Nagasaki and Okinawa workshops. She is planning JSA’s Faculty Development Workshop, "History, Culture, and Society: Japan Moving Into the 21st Century," to be held at JCCC in October 2018. Professor Gale is co-author of Ethics Introduced: Readings in Moral Philosophy (forthcoming).
Dawn Gale
Professor of Philosophy
Johnson County Community College
E-mail: [email protected]
Dawn Gale is a Professor of Philosophy at Johnson County Community College, KS. Her main areas of interest include ethics, political philosophy, feminism, and Asian philosophy. She is a several time recipient of JCCC’s Distinguished Service Award and received the Burlington Northern Award for Faculty Achievement in 2017. Professor Gale is a faculty advisor for the International Club. She has participated in the Japan Seminar, two University of Hawaii/University of Tokyo Summer Institutes on Comparative Philosphy and numerous workshops, organized by the Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP) and JSA. Professor Gale is one of JCCC’s 2018-2019 College Scholars and will present papers influenced by her participation in JSA’s Hiroshima/Nagasaki and Okinawa workshops. She is planning JSA’s Faculty Development Workshop, "History, Culture, and Society: Japan Moving Into the 21st Century," to be held at JCCC in October 2018. Professor Gale is co-author of Ethics Introduced: Readings in Moral Philosophy (forthcoming).
VICE PRESIDENT FOR SPECIAL PROJECTS
Fay Beauchamp, Ph.D.
Professor of English, Emerita
Founding Director, Center for International Education
Community College of Philadelphia
E-mail: [email protected]
JSA Vice President for Special Projects, Fay Beauchamp, Ph.D. English, Univ. of Pennsylvania, has given conference papers at JSA since 1996. She served on the Senior Advisory Board of Education About Asia where she has published articles on The Tale of Genji and its sources in Chinese literature; on Hiroshima; and on the Tale of the Heike. At CCP, she directed five two-year U. S. Department of Education Title VI and NEH grants. With Joseph Overton, Fay organized and led the JSA workshops in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 2003 and 2015; Fukuoka 2008; Kyoto 2014; and during Covid a virtual project on Hokkaido 2021 / 2022 supported by the Japan Foundation. The Mid-Atlantic Association of Asian Studies designated Fay as its 2022 Distinguished Asianist.
Fay Beauchamp, Ph.D.
Professor of English, Emerita
Founding Director, Center for International Education
Community College of Philadelphia
E-mail: [email protected]
JSA Vice President for Special Projects, Fay Beauchamp, Ph.D. English, Univ. of Pennsylvania, has given conference papers at JSA since 1996. She served on the Senior Advisory Board of Education About Asia where she has published articles on The Tale of Genji and its sources in Chinese literature; on Hiroshima; and on the Tale of the Heike. At CCP, she directed five two-year U. S. Department of Education Title VI and NEH grants. With Joseph Overton, Fay organized and led the JSA workshops in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 2003 and 2015; Fukuoka 2008; Kyoto 2014; and during Covid a virtual project on Hokkaido 2021 / 2022 supported by the Japan Foundation. The Mid-Atlantic Association of Asian Studies designated Fay as its 2022 Distinguished Asianist.
TREASURER
Stacia L. Bensyl, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Missouri Western State University
E-mail: [email protected]
Stacia Bensyl is the treasurer for the Japan Studies Association. She received her M.A. from University College, Dublin, Ireland and her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. A professor of English at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri, Stacia teaches postcolonial and world literatures, with an emphasis in both Irish and Japanese writing, as well as gender studies. Currently, she is completing a monograph on literary magazines from the Japanese American internment camps.
Stacia L. Bensyl, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Missouri Western State University
E-mail: [email protected]
Stacia Bensyl is the treasurer for the Japan Studies Association. She received her M.A. from University College, Dublin, Ireland and her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. A professor of English at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri, Stacia teaches postcolonial and world literatures, with an emphasis in both Irish and Japanese writing, as well as gender studies. Currently, she is completing a monograph on literary magazines from the Japanese American internment camps.
SECRETARY
Michael Charlton, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Missouri Western State University
E-mail: [email protected]
Michael Charlton is a Professor of English and chair of the Department of Communication at Missouri Western State University. His work is in composition/rhetoric (particularly technical communication) and popular culture. He has published on a wide variety of topics related to television, film, video games, and comics.
Michael Charlton, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Missouri Western State University
E-mail: [email protected]
Michael Charlton is a Professor of English and chair of the Department of Communication at Missouri Western State University. His work is in composition/rhetoric (particularly technical communication) and popular culture. He has published on a wide variety of topics related to television, film, video games, and comics.
BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE
CO-CHAIR, JSA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Andrea Stover, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Belmont University
E-mail: [email protected]
Andrea Stover is a Professor of English and Director of the Writing Program at Belmont University. She earned her MA from Boston College and her PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her interest in diaries and memoirs has led her to classic Japanese writers such as Sei Shonagon, Murasaki Shikibu, and the unnamed author of The Gossamer Years, among others. Since her participation in the Freeman Institute in 2008, she has incorporated Japanese literature into her writing classes. Her scholarship compares the writing styles and rhetorical strategies of selected Japanese and western writers. Since 2014, Andrea has served as JSA Conference Co-Chair, duties she now shares with Paul Dunscomb.
CO-CHAIR, JSA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Andrea Stover, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Belmont University
E-mail: [email protected]
Andrea Stover is a Professor of English and Director of the Writing Program at Belmont University. She earned her MA from Boston College and her PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her interest in diaries and memoirs has led her to classic Japanese writers such as Sei Shonagon, Murasaki Shikibu, and the unnamed author of The Gossamer Years, among others. Since her participation in the Freeman Institute in 2008, she has incorporated Japanese literature into her writing classes. Her scholarship compares the writing styles and rhetorical strategies of selected Japanese and western writers. Since 2014, Andrea has served as JSA Conference Co-Chair, duties she now shares with Paul Dunscomb.
BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE
CO-CHAIR, JSA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Paul E. Dunscomb, Ph.D.
Professor of East Asian History
University of Alaska, Anchorage
E-mail: [email protected]
Paul Dunscomb is Professor of East Asian History and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is the author of Japan’s Siberian Intervention, 1918-1922: “A Great Disobedience Against the People,” Japan Since 1945, volume 15 in the AAS Key Issues in Asian Studies series, and “Images of What Never Was to Suggest What Might Be: Japanese popular culture and Japaneseness,” in The Dynamics of Cultural Counterpoint in Asian Studies, edited by David Jones and Michele Marion. His current work examines the history of the early Heisei period (1989-2009), in particular the crisis in Japanese professional baseball of 2004. Paul serves as JSA Conference Co-Chair, duties he shares with Andrea Stover.
CO-CHAIR, JSA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Paul E. Dunscomb, Ph.D.
Professor of East Asian History
University of Alaska, Anchorage
E-mail: [email protected]
Paul Dunscomb is Professor of East Asian History and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is the author of Japan’s Siberian Intervention, 1918-1922: “A Great Disobedience Against the People,” Japan Since 1945, volume 15 in the AAS Key Issues in Asian Studies series, and “Images of What Never Was to Suggest What Might Be: Japanese popular culture and Japaneseness,” in The Dynamics of Cultural Counterpoint in Asian Studies, edited by David Jones and Michele Marion. His current work examines the history of the early Heisei period (1989-2009), in particular the crisis in Japanese professional baseball of 2004. Paul serves as JSA Conference Co-Chair, duties he shares with Andrea Stover.
BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE
James Peoples, Ph.D.
Professor of Anthropology
Ohio Wesleyan University
E-mail: [email protected]
Jim Peoples is an anthropology professor at Ohio Wesleyan. He is the author of Island in Trust and co-author of Humanity: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, a textbook now in its 8th edition. With a research focus on cultures of the Pacific islands, Jim has conducted anthropological fieldwork on a small Micronesian island, where he studied the impact of American subsidies on the islands agricultural and cash economy. At Ohio Wesleyan he teaches courses in cultural anthropology, human ecology, Pacific cultures, East Asia, and Native Americans of the Southwest.
James Peoples, Ph.D.
Professor of Anthropology
Ohio Wesleyan University
E-mail: [email protected]
Jim Peoples is an anthropology professor at Ohio Wesleyan. He is the author of Island in Trust and co-author of Humanity: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, a textbook now in its 8th edition. With a research focus on cultures of the Pacific islands, Jim has conducted anthropological fieldwork on a small Micronesian island, where he studied the impact of American subsidies on the islands agricultural and cash economy. At Ohio Wesleyan he teaches courses in cultural anthropology, human ecology, Pacific cultures, East Asia, and Native Americans of the Southwest.