In March 2022, SPICE released Introduction to Issues in International Security, an online lecture series that was developed by Irene Bryant in consultation with the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). Four CISAC scholars are featured in accessible video lectures that aim to introduce high school students to various global security issues. 

• Biosecurity, by Dr. Megan J. Palmer, Executive Director of Bio Policy and Leadership Initiatives at Stanford University, Adjunct Professor in the department of Bioengineering, and Affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation
• Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide, by Dr. Norman Naimark, Professor of History and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
• International Security and North Korea’s Nuclear Program, by the Honorable Rose Gottemoeller, former Deputy Secretary General of NATO and Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
• Terrorism and Counterterrorism, by Dr. Martha Crenshaw, Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies 

In spring 2023, Dr. Ignacio Ornelas Rodriguez, teacher at San Jose’s Willow Glen High School and lecturer at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford, introduced Introduction to Issues in International Security to a group of students at Willow Glen High School. Rodriguez’s course culminated in the second International Security Symposium that was held on May 24, 2023. Three representatives of CISAC gathered online with the students. The representatives were Professor Naimark, Post-Doctoral Fellow Dr. Laura Courchesne, and Associate Director of Administration and Finance Kelly Remus. The objectives of the symposium were to offer students a chance to interact with scholars in the field of international security and to learn from the scholars about careers in the field.

During the symposium, Naimark and Courchesne shared thoughts on a teacher(s) in high school or a specific event(s) in high school that had a significant impact on their academic careers and professional careers. This was followed by student presentations, during which the students were given the opportunity to present on one of the four topics covered in Introduction to Issues in International Security. Each student presentation was followed by a question-and-answer session with Naimark, Courchesne, and Remus. 

After the symposium, Rodriguez commented:

I was thankful for the opportunity to provide this educational outreach and collaboration with SPICE. The students are enrolled in the Two-Way Bilingual Immersion program at Willow Glen High School and are highly skilled, analytical, and critical thinkers. They were inspired by the opportunity to learn from Stanford scholars and experts in international security. I look forward to providing more outreach and continuing to collaborate.  

Given the success of the second symposium, CISAC and SPICE hope to expand on the lecture series, which is part of their DEI-focused efforts, and reach more underrepresented minority students. CISAC and SPICE are grateful to Rodriguez for his extraordinary work with the students and to SPICE Event Coordinator Sabrina Ishimatsu for her meticulous planning of the symposium. 

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Sponsored by Stanford Global Studies (SGS), the Education Partnership for Internationalizing Curriculum (EPIC) Community College Faculty Fellowship program brings together a cohort of community college faculty and academic staff from various disciplines to work collaboratively with Stanford staff for one academic year (August–May). Each EPIC fellow designs a project that aims to internationalize curricula and develop global competencies among community college students. Jonas Edman and I met monthly with six of the 11 2022–23 EPIC fellows throughout the academic year. For me, some of the more meaningful discussions revolved around topics related to culturally relevant pedagogy; non-Western perspectives on topics like psychology, global citizenship, and finance; community college demographics; and the fellows’ communication with Stanford faculty and/or the incorporation of Stanford scholarship in the fellows’ projects. The fellowship culminated with the EPIC Symposium, “Integrating Global Topics into Community College Curricula,” which was held on May 20, 2023 and featured panels of current EPIC faculty and leadership fellows. The six EPIC fellows with whom Edman worked are listed below and their projects all focused on curriculum, which is a key component of SPICE’s mission to help make Stanford scholarship on global issues accessible to K–12 and community college educators and students. Each fellow gave an overview of their project to an audience of Stanford faculty and staff, EPIC alumni, and other community college faculty and staff. 

• Amy Coren, Professor of Psychology, Pasadena City College 
  

  • Project: Beyond WEIRD: Reconceptualizing the Introduction to Psychology Course

• Fran Farazdaghi, Associate Professor of Global and Peace Studies, Golden West College

  • Project: An Expanded Boundary of Care: Global Citizenship in the Modern World

• Michelle Macfarlane, Agriculture Faculty and Distance Learning Coordinator, Sierra College

  • Project: Decolonizing the United States Food System

• Yuliana Mendez, Associate Professor of Business, Yuba Community College

  • Project: Expanding the Borders of Personal Finance Curriculum Through Global Perspectives

• Elisa Queenan, Professor of Business and Economics, Porterville College

  • Project: International Virtual Collaboration: Where the Only Thing More Unpredictable Than Your Wi-Fi Is the Conversation

• Mark Rauzon, Professor and Chair of Geography Department, Laney College

  • Project: Breaking Up in the Bering Sea: Russia/U.S./Climate Change Chaos and the Effect on Native Communities and Bering Sea Ecology

Summaries of all of the 11 2022–23 EPIC fellows’ projects can be found here. 

After an engaging question-and-answer session, Edman made closing comments and mentioned how much he had learned from the EPIC fellows not only in terms of subject matter content but also pedagogical content knowledge, especially at the community college level. 

At the end of the symposium, the EPIC fellows received certificates from SGS Executive Director Kate Kuhns and Academic and Outreach Manager Kristyn Hara for their successful completion of the fellowship. During the symposium, they were invited to join the Global Educators Network (GEN), which in partnership with SGS seeks to inform, inspire, engage, and empower community college educators—and their students—to more deeply engage with global themes and learning resources, as well as international dialogue, research, and pedagogical strategies.

Following the symposium, I reflected on each of the presentations. I was, of course, already familiar with the content of their projects prior to the symposium. However, something unexpected from each presentation really stood out. Coren and Mendez described how their collaboration with other EPIC fellows in the group really enhanced their work with their students and commented on how their EPIC projects became a bridge between the cohort of EPIC fellows and their students. Farazdaghi spoke about how EPIC enabled her to empower her students to drive and shape her new curriculum on global citizenship. Macfarlane shared insights on the challenges of integrating her new course in departments like ethnic studies. Queenan spoke about how she adapted the five-step Design Thinking framework into her course. And through a video interview of a Siberian Yupik, Rauzon integrated an Indigenous perspective in his talk. These comments will help to further refine how Edman and I approach working with the 2023–24 EPIC fellows. 

Importantly, Edman and I are most grateful to Kristyn Hara for expertly facilitating the EPIC program over the past year and for planning and implementing this year’s EPIC symposium.

The EPIC Community College Faculty Fellowship program is made possible through the support of U.S. Department of Education Title VI funding. 

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Applications opened this week for Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan (SeEJ), an all-English online course to foster Japanese students’ creative thinking and innovative problem-solving skills to address social issues. SeEJ is offered twice annually in the fall and spring by SPICE and the non-profit organization e-Entrepreneurship in Japan. The instructors are Irene Bryant (fall) and Makiko Hirata (spring). It is open to Japanese students in their first and second years of high school. The spring 2023 course will run from early July through September.

The application form is now live at https://forms.gle/C8gTBAae71yHi5bZ8. The deadline to apply is June 19, 2023 23:59 Japan Time.

SeEJ offers students an opportunity to engage with impactful entrepreneurs from California and beyond through its virtual classes offered twice a month on Sundays. The course will culminate in an individual research paper and final group research projects, the latter of which will be presented at the last virtual class of the course in September. Students who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion from SPICE, Stanford University, and NPO e-Entrepreneurship.

Testimonials from recent alumni attest to the transformative experience that the course has offered students since its inaugural year in 2020. Yura Mizutani (fall 2022 SeEJ) wrote about how the course introduced her to more complex, layered, and multidisciplinary approaches to addressing social issues. “Before joining Stanford e-Entrepreneurship, I was passionate about solving social problems from a public policy perspective. Participating in the program has broadened my world enormously, as I have learned that there are many ways to solve social problems from an entrepreneurial perspective as well.”

For more information about Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan, visit the program webpage. To apply, submit the online application by June 19.

Stanford e-Entrepreneurship Japan is one of several online courses offered by SPICE.

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On May 5, 2023, the Spring 2023 TEACH Conference attracted people from across Stanford University for professional development, networking, and socializing around undergraduate and graduate teaching and learning. The conference engaged participants in the following key topics: 

• Engagement: How can we captivate students and motivate them to apply what they are learning effectively to their projects, assignments, research, and so on?
• Well-being: How can we support thriving among learners and teachers?
• Belonging: How can we invite learners and teachers to bring their whole selves to class?  
   

Makiko Hirata touched upon each of the three key topics through her perspective and experiences as a concert pianist, educator, and researcher. Hirata opened her session on “Sound Communication” with a performance of Chopin’s “Etude Op. 25-1 in A-flat Major” a.k.a. “Aeolian Harp” and immediately drew in the audience.

Hirata demonstrated how music can encourage people to be more empathetic and imaginative through a series of short vocalization and listening exercises. Between different exercises, she interspersed research on the synching or coupling of brainwaves between listeners in effective communication. She structured her talk around four components of music—silence, rhythm, melody, and harmony—and she offered insightful remarks on how understanding such components can make people better educators who can also help to facilitate the well-being and belonging of their learners.

Her interactive session included asking the participants to sit in silence. “If you only have two minutes to relax,” Hirata told the participants, “studies show that sitting in silence is more effective than listening to so-called ‘relaxing music.’ We only have so much cognitive capacity, and the brain needs silence in between inputs to process the information it receives.” Another exercise focused on rhythm as she engaged the audience in a clapping exercise. It was a lesson on non-verbal leadership, including the importance of using breath, body language, and eye contact as cues. 

Hirata also made references to neuroscience, which has documented the effects of music. A summary of this is captured in the March 31, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times: “When we listen to music together, our heartbeats actually start to align and we start breathing together to the lyrics. Even our brain waves start to synchronize, according to Makiko Hirata, an international concert pianist who works with neuroscientists to quantify the benefits of music on our well-being.” 

After participating in her workshop, I was eager to apply these musical concepts to my teaching for more enhanced sense of belonging and engagement among my students. In addition to the four components of music, I will also keep the following four questions—outlined by Hirata—in mind as I plan my future lessons. 

• How much attention do you pay to your tone of voice in the classroom? 
• What is the range of your vocal inflections during your presentations? 
• What is the tempo of your bullet points and rhythms in your choice of words? 
• Do you know the power that sonification can give to a set of data? 

Hollie Fortcamp, one of the organizers of the TEACH Conference, noted, “It was a joy to attend ‘Sound Communication’ by Dr. Makiko Hirata, SPICE, at the TEACH Conference. We are so blessed to have her expertise and delight! She captivated the room. She gave us all much to ponder about how the various aspects of musicality influence communication, especially the communication of teaching and learning. We are still talking about it.” In addition, three of the participants’ written comments noted “Makiko’s lovely piano playing and moments of silence in a great workshop”; “the measurable value of silence in information processing”; and “music/sound and more importantly, silence in teaching is important.” Fortcamp continued, “Makiko was an ideal presenter as she highlighted all three topics of the TEACH Conference—that is, engagement, well-being, and belonging.” 

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Reference: 

“Can music inspire more people to care about climate change?” Los Angeles Times, 31 March, 2023; https://www.latimes.com/podcasts/story/2023-03-31/column-one-podcast-lu…

Applications opened this week for the China Scholars Program, an intensive, college-level online course on contemporary China for U.S. high school students. The China Scholars Program (CSP) is offered by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) at Stanford University, and is open to rising 10th, 11th, and 12th graders across the United States. The Fall 2023 online course will run from late August through December. Applications are due June 15, 2023.

Stanford University China Scholars Program for high school students
Fall 2023 session (late August through December)
Application period: May 8 to June 15, 2023

Accepted applicants will engage in a rigorous academic exploration of key issues in China, spanning politics, economics, social issues, culture, and the arts, with an emphasis on the relationship between the United States and China. In real-time conversations with leading scholars, experts, and diplomats from Stanford University and other institutions, participants will be exposed to the cutting edge of U.S.–China relations and scholarship. CSP students will also have an opportunity to meet online with Chinese students in our Stanford e-China Program. Students who complete the online course will be equipped with a rare degree of expertise about China and international relations that may have a significant impact on their choice of study and future career.

“CSP was one of the best academic programs that I have attended,” said Michelle Jin, a recent alum of the program. “By engaging with CSP’s rigorous and unique curriculum, I explored aspects of contemporary China that were not covered in my high school curriculum and had meaningful discussions with invited professors and cohort peers. The curriculum culminated with an independent research paper that allowed me to delve deeper into understanding China’s ‘Rust Belt,’ a topic of immense personal interest. I would highly recommend CSP to any student willing to challenge themselves and grow!”

More information on the China Scholars Program is available at http://chinascholars.org. Interested high school students should apply now at https://spicestanford.smapply.io/prog/china_scholars_program/. The deadline to apply is June 15, 2023.

The China Scholars Program is one of several online courses offered by SPICE.

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Thirty years ago, Katsusada Hirose spent a year (1993–94) as a Visiting Scholar with the Global Affiliates Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC). Hirose represented Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) at APARC and worked closely with the founding director of APARC, now Professor Emeritus Daniel Okimoto. Hirose fondly recalls being able to commute by bicycle to campus. In his last position at MITI in 1999, Hirose held the post of Administrative Vice-Minister of MITI and METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) and after a distinguished career with MITI and METI, Hirose became Governor of Oita Prefecture in 2003. Governor Hirose has also served as the President of the Governor’s Association of Kyushu Region since 2010.

On August 26, 2019, Okimoto organized a California-Japan Governors’ Symposium at Stanford University and invited Governor Hirose as well as Governor Ryuta Ibaragi (Okayama), Governor Heita Kawakatsu (Shizuoka), Vice Governor Yutaka Ota (Nagano), and Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki (Hiroshima). The California-Japan Governors’ Symposium was co-hosted by the Silicon Valley Japan Platform (SVJP) and the U.S.-Japan Council. Okimoto serves as Co-Chair of the SVJP Executive Committee.

On the same day as the Governors’ Symposium, SPICE officially launched Stanford e-Oita, an online course that is offered annually to high school students in Oita Prefecture and is taught by Kasumi Yamashita. Former Ambassador to Japan and former APARC Fellow Michael Armacost joined the ceremony and made opening comments, including a statement about how leaders like Governor Hirose have been pivotal in strengthening U.S.–Japan relations. Governor Hirose followed by not only recalling the invaluable intellectual experiences and opportunities to network that his year at Stanford provided him, but also fondly recalling the informal experiences like outings with Armacost at Stanford Golf Course. Stanford e-Oita would not have been possible without the vision and leadership of Governor Hirose.

I had the honor of meeting with Governor Hirose last month in his office in Oita Prefecture and learned that he will be retiring this year after serving 20 years as governor. We were joined by Superintendent Tetsuo Okamoto of Oita Prefecture. When I informed Professor Okimoto of the Governor’s upcoming retirement, he stated, “Governor Hirose is a highly respected political leader who has devoted his long career to public service as a higher civil servant in Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and as the elected Governor of Oita Prefecture from 2003 to 2023, spanning a productive era of two decades. What an extraordinary career and remarkable legacy.”

Stanford e-Oita Instructor Kasumi Yamashita added, “Empowering Stanford e-Oita high school students has been a highlight of my teaching career, and I am grateful to Governor Hirose for his unwavering support and for this opportunity.”

Professor Emeritus Okimoto, Instructor Yamashita, and I would like to wish Governor Hirose a wonderful retirement and look forward to his next visit to Stanford University. 

Stanford e-Japan is an online course that teaches Japanese high school students about U.S. society and culture and U.S.–Japan relations. The course introduces students to both U.S. and Japanese perspectives on many historical and contemporary issues. It is offered biannually by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE). Stanford e-Japan is supported by the Yanai Tadashi Foundation.

In August 2023, three of the top students of the Fall 2022 Stanford e-Japan distance-learning course will be honored at a Japan Day ceremony through Stanford University. The three Stanford e-Japan honorees—Yukie Arashida (Yonezawa Kojokan High School, Yamagata), Yohkoh Hineno (Tokai High School, Aichi), and Ami Osaka (International Christian University High School, Tokyo)—will be recognized for their coursework and exceptional research essays that focused respectively on “Proposals for Appropriate Employment System: A Comparative Study of Employment Systems Between the United States and Japan,” “Gender Equality: The Potential Incentive,” and “Abortion: The Current System That Is Failing to Protect Women’s Rights in Japan and the United States.” 

Risa Fukushima (Senzoku Gakuen High School, Kanagawa) received an Honorable Mention for her research paper on “The Legitimacy of Implementing Electoral Gender Quota System in the United States and Japan.” Kotaro Tomita (Shibuya Junior and Senior High School, Tokyo) also received an Honorable Mention for his paper on “Saturday Night Live’s Leftward Shift and America’s Political Polarization: How SNL Can Help Unify Americans.”

In the Fall 2022 session of Stanford e-Japan, students from Hiroshima Global Academy (Hiroshima), International Christian University High School (Tokyo), Katoh Gakuen Gyoshu Junior and Senior High School (Shizuoka), Keio Girls Senior High School (Tokyo), Kumamoto High School (Kumamoto), Matsuyama East High School (Ehime), Mita International School (Tokyo), Municipal Urawa High School (Saitama), Okayama Prefectural Okayama Asahi Senior High School (Okayama), Otemaetakamatsu High School (Kagawa), Ritsumeikan Keisho Junior and Senior High School (Hokkaido), Sagami Koyokan High School (Kanagawa), Seikyo Gakuen Senior High School (Osaka), Senior High School at Otsuka, University of Tsukuba (Tokyo), Senzoku Gakuen High School (Kanagawa), Shibuya Junior and Senior High School (Tokyo), Shibuya Kyouiku Gakuen Makuhari Senior High School (Chiba), Shirayuri Gakuen Senior High School (Tokyo), Tochigi Prefectural Utsunomiya Chuo Girls’ High School (Tochigi), Tokai High School (Aichi), Tokyo Gakugei University International Secondary School (Tokyo), Tsurumaru High School (Kagoshima), Waseda University High School (Tokyo), and Yonezawa Kojokan High School (Yamagata) participated in the course.

For more information about the Stanford e-Japan Program, please visit stanfordejapan.org. The application period for the fall 2023 session will begin June 30, 2023.

To stay informed of news about Stanford e-Japan and SPICE’s other programs, join our email list and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The following is Part 10 of a multiple-part series. To read previous installments in this series, please visit the following articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8 and Part 9. 

Since December 8, 2020, SPICE has posted nine articles that highlight reflections from 72 students on the question, “What does it mean to be an American?” Part 10 features eight additional reflections. The reflections below do not necessarily reflect those of the SPICE staff.

The free educational website “What Does It Mean to Be an American?” offers six lessons on immigration, civic engagement, leadership, civil liberties & equity, justice & reconciliation, and U.S.–Japan relations. The lessons encourage critical thinking through class activities and discussions. On March 24, 2021, SPICE’s Rylan Sekiguchi was honored by the Association for Asian Studies for his authorship of the lessons that are featured on the website, which was developed by the Mineta Legacy Project in partnership with SPICE.

Tai Brown, Oregon 
When I think about what being an American means to me, in my mind, it’s about how I am able to voice my opinion and be heard by others. This is a reality that many people take for granted. The ability that I, and all other Americans have, to influence the people around us with our voices and our individual opinions is something which I feel many Americans think of as more of a right, and don’t realize it is such a privilege. I recognize that I have this privilege, so even when I don’t get my way, I’m able to realize how people in some countries aren’t able to say what they want. Being aware of this freedom makes me realize how lucky I am to be an American. 

Thea Louise Dai, California 
When I think of the term “American,” my mind immediately drifts toward the American dream: a promise of opportunity and freedom that drew my parents—and so many others like them—to this country. But the United States, as I’ve grown to learn, is far from perfect. In the past few years alone, I’ve witnessed that inequalities can divide our country, violence can terrorize our communities, and systemic racism can cripple our institutions. In the classroom, I’ve read about racist housing policies, discriminatory immigration practices, and failed U.S. military missions. To me, being American means seeing the United States with all its blemishes and imperfections, and still believing in the possibility of change. Americans actively invest in the U.S.’s future by celebrating our successes and values, acknowledging our shortcomings, and fighting for the prospect of a better country.

Tadeusz Jose, California 
There is something abstract about America. Being so vast in the experiences of its people, America is hugely interpretable. And each interpretation, however contradictory to another, is justifiable and valid. To many, America has been a land of safety and success. To many, America has been a cruel home, a source of pain and anguish on the individual to the societal level. So then, how can a common identity exist between people without a common experience? How can people who live in such different Americas have a common American identity? Because our identity lies in the American ideal, not the American reality. Every American believes in this country’s promise of opportunity, freedom, and equality. I think someone who came to America ten minutes ago believing in those ideals is just as American as a founding father. Being American is believing in America.

Kai Kaplinsky, California 
I do not have a short and clear answer. I was born in Israel and raised in Tel Aviv, Tokyo, and now California. My family is both Japanese and Israeli/Jewish, and my upbringing and nationalities are filled with diversity. When I think of the United States or being an American, it means having opportunities; viewing failure as not trying or an incentive to try harder; appreciating differences; and having an impact as an immigrant. Like any other place, differences in gender, race, and ethnicity can make life as a minority challenging in the United States. But I feel that the United States, as a country, is represented by people who are vocal and trying to execute changes and are constantly moving in a better direction. I feel that what it means to be an American depends on us, and how we live our lives.

Abigail Kim, California 
To me, the American identity is like the inside of a mixing pot. I cannot think of one culture that ties us all together. We are the product of so many different cultures and people from all over the world interacting and learning from one another, eventually evolving into a broad identity labeled as “American.” As the daughter of two Korean immigrants, it’s hard for me to feel “American.” Being American in its very essence is not limited to my own experience. Even though the American identity is so inclusive, I feel as though knowing only one culture—my Korean American culture—and knowing less about the other cultures that mix into being American limits my ability to truly be an American. Thus, I think that being American is really about education: how keenly aware one is of the people who make up this country and the individual experiences we have as we intermingle with each other.

Joshua Koo, California 
I am fully Korean by birth and spend every summer there. So do I feel fully “American”? That is something I’ve always wondered. Sometimes I feel like a stranger in a strange land in both countries, despite having dual citizenship. People always ask me in what country I will choose to live my adult life, and, to be honest, I don’t know. But that is the beauty of America. America does not make me choose. America allows everyone to find out who they are and live for that. I can live in Korea for twenty years and still return as a U.S. citizen, and I will feel at home. That is the dream of America: to make everyone feel at home. Not everyone does, of course, but America is the one place whose ideal is to always try.

Elise Lamb, Oregon 
To me, being an American means having the rights I am entitled to while being confident in my ability to take a stand against any who attempt to strip them away from me. Looking at the patriotism of those around me, it often feels as though the privileges of being an American get drowned out in the negative aspects of the country. However, unlike the vast majority of the world, America not only allows, but encourages independence and self-determination, placing importance on those finding their own identity and success. Of course, America is far from perfect, but it’s essential that Americans acknowledge the liberties and opportunities allotted to them, especially in a setting where those privileges are hard to find.

Alyssa Wang, California 
To me, being American means being free. This concept is shown throughout our history, from the First Amendment (the right to freedom of speech and religion), to America’s icon of Lady Liberty, and so much more. Being Japanese on my mother’s side and Chinese and European on my father’s, I have heard stories from my maternal grandparents about the Japanese American internment camps and stories about my paternal grandparents’ experiences in New York. Looking back, I feel incredibly grateful for the freedoms that we have today. Even though the United States is not perfect, we are doing our best to provide liberty and opportunities that aren’t possible in some other countries. We, as Americans, have the freedom to pursue our dreams and make our own choices. We have the freedom to determine our government, to decide our beliefs, and to define our own future.

The Stanford/SPICE East Asia Seminars for Teachers in Hawai‘i or “Stanford SEAS Hawai‘i” is a nine-month fellowship program created to empower educators to reinvigorate their teaching of Asia. The program is made possible through the generous support of the Freeman Foundation.

Stanford SEAS Hawai‘i convenes Stanford/Freeman SEAS Hawai‘i Fellows for four virtual seminars during the academic year and a culminating three-day in-person institute the following summer. So far, this year’s Fellows have participated in virtual seminars featuring Stanford-affiliated scholars Ethan Segal (Associate Professor of History and Chairperson of the Japan Council at Michigan State University), Zoë Gioja (PhD candidate in History and a PhD minor in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Stanford University), and Andrew Walder (Denise O’Leary and Kent Thiry Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University). These sessions have focused on Japan, Korea, and China, respectively. The final virtual seminar will take place next month, when Fellows will meet Scot Marciel, former U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar and Indonesia, and deepen their understanding of Southeast Asia.

“I’ve really enjoyed learning in this environment alongside all of the SPICE fellows, and [I] find the content very interesting and informative to my work,” commented Fellow Jonathan Chang, who manages a national mentorship program for Asian American youth. “I’ve had several conversations with my family, friends, and colleagues about our learnings and it’s been really great!”

Besides receiving content lectures and engaging in Q&A sessions with the guest speakers, Fellows also debrief their learnings and share favorite teaching resources with each other, so that everyone can benefit from their shared learning and teaching experience.

The current 2022–23 cohort of Stanford/Freeman SEAS Hawai‘i Fellows is comprised of 19 teachers representing three islands (Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, and Hawai‘i Island). Most teach world history and/or U.S. history, and others teach subjects such as English, math, foreign language, and civics. The SPICE staff is pleased to work with the Hawai‘i educators below. 

Amy Boehning, Mililani High School
Carl Wright, Kapolei High School
Chayanee Brooks, Ka‘u High and Pahala Elementary School
David Brooks, Ka‘u High and Pahala Elementary School 
Grace Nguyen, Konawaena High School  
Gregory Gushiken, Punahou School 
Hannah Lim, ‘Iolani School 
John Ates, Le Jardin Academy 
Jonathan Chang, Apex for Youth 
Jonathon Medeiros, Kauaʻi High School
Laura Viana, Mid-Pacific Institute 
Mariko Shiraishi, Hawaii Baptist Academy 
Michael Hamilton, Leilehua High School 
Molly M. Satta-Ellis, Konawaena High School 
Niti D. Villinger, Hawai‘i Pacific University 
Patricia Tupinio, Leilehua High School 
Ria Lulla, Kawananakoa Middle School 
Sarah Fujioka, Waipahu High School 
William Milks, ‘Iolani School

Fellow Amy Boehning launched Mililani High School’s Asian Studies class eight years ago, offering it for a single period. Now it is offered for four periods and still has a waiting list. Like many others in her cohort, she joined Stanford SEAS Hawai‘i in hopes of adding more depth and richness to her existing practice. “I’m so excited to be a part of [this] program. Everything so far has been stellar, and I have immediately been able to add to my Asian Studies curriculum and Social Studies Directed Studies curriculum.”

Boehning also leads Mililani’s National History Day program, and she has noticed that each year more students choose to focus their projects on Asia-centric topics.

“It’s our goal to support teachers like Amy as they coach and mentor students like that,” said Sabrina Ishimatsu, a coordinator of Stanford SEAS Hawai‘i. “It’s always gratifying to know that our program is making a positive difference for both educators and students.”

Stanford SEAS Hawai‘i is coordinated by Ishimatsu and Rylan Sekiguchi.

In addition to Stanford SEAS Hawai‘i, SPICE offers teacher PD opportunities virtually to teachers nationwide and locally in California to middle school teachers, high school teachers, and community college instructors.

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