Waka Takahashi Brown

Waka Takahashi Brown

  • Instructor and Manager, Stanford e-Japan
  • Curriculum Specialist

616 Jane Stanford Way
Encina Hall, E005
Stanford, CA 94305-6060

(650) 723-6784 (fax)

Biography

Waka Brown is a Curriculum Specialist for the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE). She has also served as the Coordinator and Instructor of the Reischauer Scholars Program from 2003 to 2005. Prior to joining SPICE in 2000, she was a Japanese language teacher at Silver Creek High School in San Jose, CA, and a Coordinator for International Relations for the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program.

Waka’s academic interests lie in curriculum and instruction. She received a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University as well as teaching credentials and M.Ed. through the Stanford Teacher Education Program. 

In addition to curricular publications for SPICE, Waka has also produced teacher guides for films such as A Whisper to a Roar, a film about democracy activists in Egypt, Malaysia, Ukraine, Venezuela and Zimbabwe, and Can’t Go Native?, a film that chronicles Professor Emeritus Keith Brown’s relationship with the community in Mizusawa, an area in Japan largely bypassed by world media. 

She has presented teacher seminars nationally for the National Council for the Social Studies in Seattle; the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia in both Denver and Los Angeles; the National Council for the Social Studies, Phoenix; Symposium on Asia in the Curriculum, Lexington; Japan Information Center, Embassy of Japan, Washington. D.C., and the Hawaii International Conference on the Humanities. She has also presented teacher seminars internationally for the East Asia Regional Council of Overseas Schools in Tokyo, Japan, and for the European Council of International Schools in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

In 2004 and 2008, Waka received the Franklin Buchanan Prize, which is awarded annually to honor an outstanding curriculum publication on Asia at any educational level, elementary through university. In 2019, Waka received the U.S.-Japan Foundation and EngageAsia’s national Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award, Humanities category.

publications

Working Papers
October 2007

The Shang Dynasty, 1600 to 1050 BCE

Author(s)
cover link The Shang Dynasty, 1600 to 1050 BCE
Working Papers
October 2007

Introduction to Buddhism

Author(s)
cover link Introduction to Buddhism

In The News

Japanese cherry blossoms
News

Winners Announced for the Spring 2023 and Fall 2023 Stanford e-Japan Awards

Congratulations to the 10 students who have been named our top honorees and Honorable Mention recipients for 2023.
cover link Winners Announced for the Spring 2023 and Fall 2023 Stanford e-Japan Awards
buildings on Stanford University campus
News

Spring 2024 Session of Stanford e-Japan Now Underway

Stanford e-Japan is made possible by the Yanai Tadashi Foundation.
cover link Spring 2024 Session of Stanford e-Japan Now Underway
Speakers Kathryn Tolbert and Waka Takahashi Brown and webinar moderator Naomi Funahashi.
Blogs

Japanese War Brides: Teaching History Through Multimedia Resources

A teacher professional development webinar featured Kathryn Tolbert and Waka Takahashi Brown.
cover link Japanese War Brides: Teaching History Through Multimedia Resources