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 and Chair, Department of Philosophy and Religion
Johnson County Community College
E-mail: [email protected]
Dawn Gale is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS. Her main area of interest is ethics with emphases on business ethics, environmental ethics, and food ethics. Professor Gale is co-author of Ethics Introduced: Readings in Moral Philosophy (2019) and co-editor of From Wonder to Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy (2005). She is a faculty advisor for the JCCC’s International Club and JCCC’s Philosophy Club. She received the Burlington Northern Award for Faculty Achievement in 2017 and has received JCCC’s Distinguished Service Award multiple times. Professor Gale participated in the Japan Seminar, two University of Hawaii/University of Tokyo Summer Institutes on Comparative Philosophy, and numerous faculty development workshops organized by the Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP) and JSA. As one of JCCC’s 2018-2019 College Scholars, Professor Gale presented papers influenced by her participation in JSA’s Hiroshima/Nagasaki and Okinawa workshops. She has organized several JSA faculty development workshops held at JCCC and was actively involved in planning JSA’s 2024 workshop in Hokkaido.
Dawn Gale
Professor and Chair, Department of Philosophy and Religion
Johnson County Community College
E-mail: [email protected]
Dawn Gale is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS. Her main area of interest is ethics with emphases on business ethics, environmental ethics, and food ethics. Professor Gale is co-author of Ethics Introduced: Readings in Moral Philosophy (2019) and co-editor of From Wonder to Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy (2005). She is a faculty advisor for the JCCC’s International Club and JCCC’s Philosophy Club. She received the Burlington Northern Award for Faculty Achievement in 2017 and has received JCCC’s Distinguished Service Award multiple times. Professor Gale participated in the Japan Seminar, two University of Hawaii/University of Tokyo Summer Institutes on Comparative Philosophy, and numerous faculty development workshops organized by the Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP) and JSA. As one of JCCC’s 2018-2019 College Scholars, Professor Gale presented papers influenced by her participation in JSA’s Hiroshima/Nagasaki and Okinawa workshops. She has organized several JSA faculty development workshops held at JCCC and was actively involved in planning JSA’s 2024 workshop in Hokkaido.
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.
Vice Provost
Missouri Western State University
E-mail: [email protected]
Michael Charlton is the Vice Provost at Missouri Western State University and former professor and chair in the Communication Department. 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.
Vice Provost
Missouri Western State University
E-mail: [email protected]
Michael Charlton is the Vice Provost at Missouri Western State University and former professor and chair in the Communication Department. 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
Hanae Kurihara Kramer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Communication
University of Hawaii at Manoa
E-mail: [email protected]
Professor Hanae Kurihara Kramer serves as the Communication Program Director at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM), where she teaches primarily intercultural communication and cross-cultural training. Her scholarly publications explore East Asian affairs, the Hawaiian diaspora in the Bonin Islands, wartime media in Japan, Pacific cartography, the 1932 Shanghai Incident, and Japanese militarism. Over the years, she has
collected more than 12,000 Japanese SP records (78s) and related ephemera. The bulk of these audio recordings are from the 1940s and earlier. She studies these rare cultural artifacts to make their contents accessible to scholars and students.
Hanae Kurihara Kramer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Communication
University of Hawaii at Manoa
E-mail: [email protected]
Professor Hanae Kurihara Kramer serves as the Communication Program Director at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM), where she teaches primarily intercultural communication and cross-cultural training. Her scholarly publications explore East Asian affairs, the Hawaiian diaspora in the Bonin Islands, wartime media in Japan, Pacific cartography, the 1932 Shanghai Incident, and Japanese militarism. Over the years, she has
collected more than 12,000 Japanese SP records (78s) and related ephemera. The bulk of these audio recordings are from the 1940s and earlier. She studies these rare cultural artifacts to make their contents accessible to scholars and students.
BOARD MEMBER-AT-LARGE
Barbara Lass, Ph.D.
Barbara Lass is currently an Anthropology instructor at City College of San Francisco in San Francisco, California where she teaches courses on archaeology, cultural anthropology, and indigenous peoples. She earned a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Minnesota, and was previously an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Hawaii-Hilo and a Museum Scientist at the University of California-Berkley where she was involved in the repatriation of museum materials to indigenous groups. Dr. Lass has been a member of the Japan Studies Association (JSA) since 2017 participating in annual conferences and both the Okinawa (2017) and Hokkaido (2024) workshops.
Barbara Lass, Ph.D.
Barbara Lass is currently an Anthropology instructor at City College of San Francisco in San Francisco, California where she teaches courses on archaeology, cultural anthropology, and indigenous peoples. She earned a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Minnesota, and was previously an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Hawaii-Hilo and a Museum Scientist at the University of California-Berkley where she was involved in the repatriation of museum materials to indigenous groups. Dr. Lass has been a member of the Japan Studies Association (JSA) since 2017 participating in annual conferences and both the Okinawa (2017) and Hokkaido (2024) workshops.
BOARD MEMBER-AT-LARGE
Jennifer L. Welsh, Ph.D.
Jennifer L. Welsh is an Assistant Professor of History at Eastern New Mexico University, where she teaches a broad range of Western and Global history classes. She received her M.A. and PhD in History from Duke University, and has taught at a range of universities, including the College of Charleston and the University of Alaska-Southeast. Her main interests include cross-cultural interactions, the history of religions, and gender history. She has been involved with the Japan Studies Association
since participating in their 2021 Freeman Summer
Seminars and has been part of JSA workshops in
Kansas City, Okinawa, Hokkaido, and Philadelphia.
She has also presented numerous papers on topics
related to Japan at various conferences and workshops.
Jennifer L. Welsh, Ph.D.
Jennifer L. Welsh is an Assistant Professor of History at Eastern New Mexico University, where she teaches a broad range of Western and Global history classes. She received her M.A. and PhD in History from Duke University, and has taught at a range of universities, including the College of Charleston and the University of Alaska-Southeast. Her main interests include cross-cultural interactions, the history of religions, and gender history. She has been involved with the Japan Studies Association
since participating in their 2021 Freeman Summer
Seminars and has been part of JSA workshops in
Kansas City, Okinawa, Hokkaido, and Philadelphia.
She has also presented numerous papers on topics
related to Japan at various conferences and workshops.