About ClemsonAbout the CoordinatorsKishimoto ToshikoProfessor Kishimoto is a specialist on Japanese language pedagogy, business communication and overseas education for Japanese children. She has published several articles on communicative oriented project works and innovative teaching methods. In the past twelve years she has given lectures on multi-cultural communication for both Japanese and American business communities. She has also conducted teacher training workshops in Japan. Her recent research focuses on Language Education for Heritage Children. She has conducted a nationwide survey on the language background of Japanese children in the United States. She is studying the relation between language performance and circumstances surrounding children. Kishimoto is also involved with the Japanese Saturday School and was a principal between 1989 and 2003. Japanese government recognized her excellent work and awarded her as the first recipient of the Certificate of Commendation of the Consul General in the southeast of the United States in 2002. As a faculty advisor, Kishimoto supervises the Clemson Japanese club and the Anime Club. Prior to joining Clemson in 1988, she taught at Furman University, USC Spartanburg and University of Hawaii at Manoa. Leslie WilliamsE. Leslie Williams is Assistant Professor of Japanese and Anthropology. He received his doctorate in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh. Presently, he coordinates and leads the Clemson University Study Abroad in Kyoto, in addition to teaching courses on Japanese language, literature, culture, religion, and East Asian history. His research interests include Shinto and Taoist cosmological influences in Japan, the socially-determined cognitive structures of the supernatural in Japan, and also Japanese language pedagogy. He is currently writing a monograph which examines the ancient Shinto worldview that structures rituals observed in both shrine and popular contexts in contemporary northern Kyushu. |