October 22, 2004: Volume 62, Number 7

Prof. Gilman accepts post at Harvard

Ted Gilman, associate professor of political science and former director of the East Asian Studies, is leaving Union to become associate director of the Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies (RIJS) at Harvard University.

Gilman will continue part-time at Union through the end of the academic year.

The RIJS, a resource for post-graduate and professional research on Japan and Japanese culture, is one of the oldest and most prestigious Japanese studies centers in the world. Gilman will be responsible for the daily administration of the institute and for maintaining contact with Harvard's alumni and friends in Japan.

The RIJS hosts post-doctoral researchers from around the world, welcomes visiting scholars from Japan, runs conferences and events, and serves as a major funding source for Japan-related activities and research across Harvard. Long a resource for graduate- and professional-level Japanese studies, the RIJS is responding to a call from Harvard's president for greater focus on undergraduate education, Gilman said.

"I have spent much of my time at Union bringing Japanese studies into the undergraduate curriculum," Gilman said. "That is what Harvard wants me to do there.  It seems like a good match of needs on their part and experience on mine."

Gilman said he also plans to teach periodically and will continue to do research in Japanese politics.

He is to start part-time at Harvard in late January, and move to full time there in June. Until then, he will teach one course at Union in each of the winter and spring terms, and be on campus Monday through Wednesday. He will work Thursday and Friday each week at Harvard.

"It was not an easy decision to leave Union College," he wrote this week via email from Vietnam, where he is leading a term abroad. "I love it here, and it is the ideal teaching environment for me. However, three years as director of Union's East Asian Studies Program showed me how much I enjoy working in academic administration."

Gilman said the move was also appealing because his wife's family lives in the Boston area.

Gilman, who joined Union in 1995, holds a master's and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. While at Union, he was instrumental in securing and administering a grant of $1.25 million from the Freeman Foundation to allow East Asian Studies to draw more students and to strengthen ties between students abroad and their classmates on campus.  The grant also added two new tenured faculty lines in East Asian Studies and started an annual Asian cultural series.

"I will miss Union College very much," he said. "It is a wonderful place to work. I have great colleagues and super students. The emphasis on undergraduate research is unique, and I will miss it most of all. I hope students at Union realize what a special institution they attend."

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