David C. Atherton appointed Thorley D. Briggs 1953 Associate Professor of the Humanities
David C. Atherton has been appointed Thorley D. Briggs 1953 Associate Professor of the Humanities. Professor Atherton is a scholar of literature, focusing primarily on Japan’s early modern period (also known as the Edo or Tokugawa period, ca. 1600-1867). He is concerned with understanding how the intrinsic, literary dynamics of early modern texts interacted with and shaped the social, cultural, and political worlds beyond the page.
Read MoreIan J. Miller appointed Reischauer Institute Professor of Environmental History
Ian J. Miller, is the Reischauer Institute Professor of Environmental History as well as an Affiliate Professor in the Department of the History of Science and the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. Since July 2020, he has also served as Faculty Dean of Cabot House.
Read MoreKaren Thornber named Cabot Fellow
Karen Thornber, Harry Tuchman Levin Professor in Literature and Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, was named a Walter Channing Cabot Fellow by Harvard FAS which annually honors faculty members for their publications and scholarly work in the arts and humanities. Professor Thornber was awarded the fellowship for her recent publication, Gender Justice and Contemporary Asian Literatures: A Casebook (Modern Languages Association, 2024).
Read MoreDina Hassan (Ph.D. Candidate, History) receives 2025 Akiyama Award
Dina Hasan (Ph.D. Candidate, History) was recently named a recipient of the 2025 Akiyama Award by the Weatherhead Center Program on U.S.-Japan Relations. This award, also supported by the Akiyama Aiseikan, Akiyama Life Science Foundation, and the Reischauer Institute, is a summer research grant annually presented to a doctoral student who conducts social science research on contemporary Japan.
Read MoreAva Bush (RSEA '25) receives 2025 Fletcher Award
At the commencement reception of the Regional Studies East Asia Program, Ava Bush (RSEA '25) received a 2025 Joseph Fletcher Memorial Thesis Award for her thesis "Disentangling the Taizōkai Mandala: A Gendered Matrix of Enlightenment and Ritual Union," advised by Prof. Yukio Lippit, Department of History of Art and Architecture.
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