Academic career in Japan served as vital lesson in culture, says dean

Bruce Stronach, current dean of the Japan campus of Temple University, has a career in academia that spans two countries and over three decades. Sixteen of those years were spent with schools in Japan and have taught him much about Japanese society.

Stronach holds a Ph. D. in international relations, a master's degree in arts and an M.A. in law and diplomacy at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and Harvard University. He worked for Keio University from 1976 to 1985, and was an assistant professor of political science at Merrimack College, Mass., from 1985 to 1990 as well as dean and professor at the International University of Japan, Niigata, from 1990 to 1997. He then returned to the United States to work at two universities and came back to Japan as president of Yokohama City University in 2005.

"My base bedrock experience in Japan was at Keio University, but my experience as the president of YCU was very rewarding and enlightening," says Stronach.