Chaplin Memorial Award for Excellence in Japanese Language Teaching
2021 Call for Nominations
The Hamako Ito Chaplin Memorial Award will again be conferred in 2021, administered through the Association for Asian Studies. In accordance with the wishes of the Chaplin family, each year a prize of $1,000 will be awarded to either a current graduate student or a full-time instructor of Japanese for excellence in Japanese language teaching at the college-level. A full-time instructor who has completed graduate study within the last 3 years in an area that directly involves Japanese language teaching is eligible to apply. Possible academic fields of specialization are Japanese language pedagogy, linguistics, anthropology, or literature. Current graduate students must demonstrate their intention to enter the teaching field in a North American university. Professor Michiko Kaneyasu (Old Dominion University) serves as Chair of the Selection Committee, Professor Joan Ericson (Colorado College) serves as representative of the Northeast Asia Council of AAS for the committee, and Professor George Chaplin serves ex-officio.
The 2021 nomination period closed on January 29, 2021, and the award winner will be announced at the AAS #AsiaNow blog later in the year. Please contact mkaneyas@odu.edu with any questions or concerns.
Persons interested in contributing to the award fund should send their contributions to:
The Hamako Ito Chaplin Memorial Award, c/o Association for Asian Studies, 825 Victors Way, Suite 310, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108.
2020 Award
The selection committee is pleased to announce that the 2020 Hamako Ito Chaplin Memorial Award will be jointly conferred to Ms. Yoko Hori (Instructor of Japanese, University of Arkansas) and Mr. Shunichi Maruyama (Ph.D. student, The Ohio State University). Ms. Hori has been playing a key role in the growth of the Japanese program at her university. Her excellent teaching ability and co-curricular efforts have led to enrollment boost and student retention in the past three years. Mr. Maruyama specializes in Japanese pedagogy and his current research focuses on narration in Japanese spoken language. He has clearly demonstrated a passion for pursuit of teaching excellence by proactively contributing to team-teaching projects, and by taking on leadership roles in organizing student-centered extra-curricular activities. The selection committee feels confident that both recipients have great promise and will make important contributions to the field of Japanese pedagogy in the coming years.
Past Awards
2001: Misumi Sadler, Leo Shing-chi Yip
2002: Hiroaki Kawamura
2004: Matthew Burdelski
2005: Masako Inamoto
2006: Eiko Ushida
2007: Priya Ananth
2008: Miki Kashima
2009: Scott Alexander Lineberger
2010: Margaret Camp
2011: Wakana Maekawa
2012: Erika Hirano-Cook
2013: Stephen Luft, Kanako Yao
2014: Michiko Kaneyasu
2015: Karen Curtin
2016: Shinichi Shoji, Shinsuke Tsuchiya
2017: Junko Tokuda Simpson
2018: Jae Takeuchi, Yumiko Tashiro
2019: Kasumi Yamazaki