East Asian Studies Alumni

East Asian Studies alumni who presently hold jobs pertaining to East Asia are generally employed by American and Japanese firms as well as state and federal governments. Other graduates are teaching in universities and high schools (both in the US and abroad), practicing law, or pursuing careers in science. The faculty works closely with students to define their interests and identify specific opportunities.

The following list is just a sample of what some of our EAS alumni have accomplished in their years (or even months) following graduation from Wittenberg.

Matt Burke, '02, now lives in Beijing and sells real estate to foreign expats.

Jeremy Borland, '95, recently finished his M.A. in English (Linguistics and Composition Rhetoric) at Southwest Missouri State University. He is now helping to set up an ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) program at Osbourn Park High School in the Washington D.C. metro area. He is also collecting data and compiling a study on simulation gaming in the composition classroom, to be published in the near future. On the personal side, he married and moved to Virginia in September 2002; he and his wife are expecting a baby girl in late April 2003.

Barret Seifer, '94, has been living in Seattle since 1995. He is presently working at the Washington State Office of Trade and Economic Development as an IT Research Analyst documenting telecom, software and wireless companies in Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan. He has been active in studying Japanese and plans to study Korean as well. As a member of the Japan-American Society of Washington State, he has found it to be a great opportunity to expand contacts throughout Seattle and Japan.

Jeremy Hunter, '94, received a Masters of Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1996. Hunter is currently pursuing a Ph.D. program in Human Development/Psychology at the University of Chicago.

Madoka Yamakawa-Ermath, '94, is now a news photographer at Fuji Television in Tokyo. She was sent to cover the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Allison Smith Fowler, '93, was a dual major in Business and EAS. Since graduation she has been working as a Marketing Specialist for a company in Columbus, Ohio.

Stan Bowers, '91, is the Marketing Manager-Pacific Rim for the Tape Division of Shuford Mills. He makes frequent trips to all of East Asia to develop a market for their measuring devices. Stan reports that his Chinese and Japanese language studies are constantly used and come in handy.

David Hull, '91, taught English at Minerva Academy in Nagoya, Japan during 1992-1995. Then, in 1995-2000, he oversaw development of Mead Johnson Nutritionals' Easy One infant formula stick-packs at T.H.E.M., a company in Mt. Laurel, NJ that specializes in introducing Japanese packaging technologies to major food and pharmaceutical companies in the United States. Currently, he is the North American manager for Tokyo-based Hosokawa Yoko Co., Ltd., which is also a packaging company involved in patented flexible technologies.

Audrey Henninger Grossman, '90, worked at a small immigration law firm two years after graduation; her knowledge of Chinese language and culture proved essential. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1995, she worked for two years as a clerk for a federal judge in Indianapolis. Since 1997 she has been working as a litigation assistant at Greenburg, Glusker, Fields, Claman, & Machtinger in Los Angeles with a focus on entertainment and real estate litigation.

Jay Riley, '85, is employed by Industrial Design Corporation in Oregon. He travels to Tokyo several times a year to work with their Japanese affiliate.

Scott Vorhees, '78, worked for the Environmental Protection Agency for many years. He was invited to pursue a Ph.D. in environmental studies at Tokyo University.

Kathryn Bernhardt, '75, earned a Ph.D. in Chinese history from Stanford University and is now an Associate Professor at UCLA. In 1993 Kathy received the John King Fairbank Award for the best scholarly book on China.

Alumni: Please email the East Asian Studies department with an update on what you are doing!