Alumni and Careers

What have you been up to since graduating from Bowdoin?

Since graduating, I’ve focused on serving both my local and global communities. I spent several years in Taiwan with the Fulbright Program, working with educators to promote cross-cultural understanding in primary schools. After returning to Miami, I served as a research analyst for the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners, helping craft policy solutions to urgent local issues. In 2024, I was awarded the State Department’s Charles B. Rangel Fellowship, which supports graduate study and a career in the US Foreign Service. I am now completing a master of science in foreign service at Georgetown University as I prepare to serve my country in the US Diplomatic Corps.

Why Asian studies?

My decision to major in Asian studies felt serendipitous but reflected a deeper commitment to global knowledge and cross-cultural understanding. In classic liberal arts fashion, I spent my first year at Bowdoin exploring a wide range of potential majors, from economics to philosophy to religion. However, the classes that inspired me most—and the professors who supported and challenged me—were in the Asian studies department. Professors like Songren Cui, Belinda Kong, and Leah Zuo were brilliant scholars with a passion for mentoring students and helping them find their paths in the department. Along with other professors at Bowdoin, they opened up opportunities, sparked my curiosity, and expanded my sense of responsibility to understand perspectives beyond my own.

Are there any classes, professors, or experiences that had a lasting impact on you?

Two courses stand out: Chinese 101 with Professor Cui at 8:30 a.m. every Monday to Thursday during my first semester and Professor Kong’s Imagined Asias course in my junior year. Both professors couldn’t be more different, but they had an equally life-changing impact on my academic, professional, and personal trajectory.

What advice would you give to current students or recent graduates interested in your field?

Don’t be afraid to connect with professors outside the classroom. Even if you don’t know what you need or how to engage with them, just take the leap of faith and reach out, because they’re incredible people. The moments when I connected with them felt deeply enriching. Many professors are eager to share life lessons, wisdom, and professional guidance, making them an invaluable resource.

What have you been up to since graduating from Bowdoin?

After graduating from Bowdoin, I entered a joint PhD program in East Asian languages and civilizations and cinema and media studies at the University of Chicago. I completed my degree in June 2025 and have since started my own academic editing business, Swallowtail Editorial, which specializes in serving scholars in Asian Studies and the broader humanities.

Why Asian studies?

I have family from Japan, so I was initially drawn to Asian studies because I wanted to learn more about its history, language, and culture. I stayed in the program (and eventually majored in it!) because of its interdisciplinary nature. I found the opportunity to explore literature, history, film, and other fields side-by-side both stimulating and exciting. I wrote my honors thesis on postwar Japanese film and later applied to graduate school to continue along that path. My dissertation focused on Japanese media, material culture, and translated children’s literature—not too far from what I studied at Bowdoin!

Are there any classes, professors, or experiences that had a lasting impact on you?

Vyjayanthi Selinger’s classes on Japanese ghost stories and mythology are the ones I always mention when asked this question. I wrote a PhD dissertation that leaned heavily on Japanese fairy tales and variations on the gothic, and I think the first inklings that such a project was possible came from Professor Selinger’s courses. Shu-chin Tsui’s first-year seminar on East Asian Cinema was also the first class I took in East Asian and film studies, and it prompted me to continue taking courses in both fields.

What advice would you give to current students or recent graduates interested in your field?

Asian studies is great because there are so many ways to use the skills you develop. Think expansively, and you’ll be surprised by how many opportunities are out there. For those of you who want to go to graduate school specifically, do your research. Be sure to prioritize programs that can and will support you as an academic and as an individual; your scholarship will be stronger for it.

What have you been up to since graduating from Bowdoin?

After graduating, I took some time working a typical 9-5 to figure out if law school still made sense or if I wanted to further my studies in political science. Before long, however, I enrolled in Columbia's political science PhD program to study international relations, comparative politics, and Japanese and East Asian politics. I graduated in May 2025 and am currently a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University's Center on East Asian Studies, researching international status broadly and how status concerns shape the foreign policies of Japan, China, and South Korea. I hope to become a professor myself with the lofty goal of inspiring others the way the faculty at Bowdoin inspired me. I can't say enough just how thankful I am for my time with Bowdoin's Asian studies department.

Why Asian studies?

Truthfully, I never my intended to become an Asian studies major. I had decided since I was a kid that I wanted to study law and had been studying Spanish since the fifth grade. Add my Haitian background to the mix and it made sense for me to study politics and Latin/Caribbean studies. I had meant my foray into studying Japanese to be just a break before I committed to the path I had planned. I simply didn't anticipate just how much fun I'd have learning Japanese from Vyjayanthi Selinger, the Stanley F. Druckenmiller Associate Professor of Asian Studies, or how much my curiosity would be piqued by Professor of Government and Asian Studies Henry Laurence's first year seminar, East Asian Politics. It made me realize just how little a typical American education teaches about East Asian culture, society, relations, or politics, and I found myself continuously amazed and annoyed by my lack of knowledge.

Are there any classes, professors, or experiences that had a lasting impact on you?

The passion those courses sparked in me for learning more about Japan and East Asia more broadly took me through Advanced Japanese with Professor Hiroo Aridome, multiple Chinese literature courses from Professors Belinda Kong, professor of Asian Studies and English, and Shu-chin Tsui, professor of Asian Studies and cinema studies, a sociology course taught by Professor Nancy Riley, A. Myrick Freeman Professor of Social Sciences Emeriti, and, of course, the excellent Japanese politics courses by Professor Henry Laurence. It took me to Hikone, Japan, in the fall of my junior year to further my language skills. It allowed me to intern at Keio Academy, a private school in New York affiliated with the famed Keio University in Japan, and to conduct independent research the summer before my senior year in Tokyo. It also guided me through a senior thesis on the possible impacts current changes to Japan's criminal justice system might have on Japanese society.