Get ready, get set…

As I write this post, I’m just a few days away from embarking on what is sure to be an adventure for me–while I have some idea of what to expect and I’m excited about it, I’m also nervous, overwhelmed, and more than a little bit anxious. Why? Because on January 5, I’ll leave for Tokyo, which will become my home-away-from-home for the first half of 2024, thanks to a new initiative from the Office of the Provost, which seeks to improve the collegiality and connections between main campus in Philadelphia and TU Japan by sending American faculty to teach in Tokyo for a semester or two.

I was lucky enough to be one of the first faculty members to be selected for this new initiative, along with my colleague Sheri Lambert from the Fox School of Business. The two of us will be spending the Spring 2024 semester teaching our normal course loads at TU Japan–in English, thankfully!

It’s an incredible privilege and honor to represent main campus here, especially considering that TUJ is the oldest and largest American university in Japan, but I’m also anxious to help out future faculty members who are selected to participate in future semesters. That was the impetus behind this blog–I wanted to do what I could to document not only my successes and frustrations, along with my travels and experiences, but also to provide what I hope will be valuable tips, advice, and insights into this process for other TU folks in the future.

So, with that… let’s see what happens!