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Etsuyo Yuasa appointed as new EASC Director

October 9, 2013

Etsuyo Yuasa appointed as new EASC Director

In May 2013, Associate Provost for International Affairs and Global Strategies Kelechi Kalu announced the appointment of Dr. Etsuyo Yuasa as director of the East Asian Studies Center, effective September 1. He stated that, in collaboration with key stakeholders, Yuasa will work to enhance area studies programs, especially East Asian Studies as an academically crucial component of internationalization at Ohio State. In addition, she will provide vision and leadership for the center’s activities and programs on campus, the larger community and state of Ohio, nationally and internationally.

Dr. Yuasa  is currently an associate professor in Japanese linguistics and pedagogy in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures. She has written a book about how form and meaning are associated and dissociated in language (Modularity in Language: Constructional and Categorial Mismatch in Syntax and Semantics, Mouton de Gruyter, 2005) and edited a linguistics volume (Pragmatics and Autolexical Grammar: In Honor of Jerry Sadock, John Benjamins, 2011). Lately, she has been working on seemingly idiosyncratic Japanese expressions, such as grammaticalized modality markers and innovative adjectives. She says such expressions shed light on the architecture of grammar. At OSU, she created the Japanese Individualized Instruction Program and expanded 5th-Year Japanese courses by introducing individual sessions. Language teaching is rewarding, she says, because it allows her to use her expertise to help her students to become global citizens.

Dr. Yuasa says she is honored and excited to be the next EASC director and is looking forward to developing a variety of innovative activities and programs together with the EASC team and the faculty and students at OSU. Dr. Yuasa brings extensive administrative experience to her new position. She was the key organizer of numerous events (e.g., two academic conferences; numerous workshops/lecture series; several DEALL annual Language Festivals); she has served in leadership positions in DEALL and in regional organizations (e.g., Ohio Association of Teachers of Japanese Treasurer; Japanese Individualized Instruction Program Director; DEALL Language Program Director; DEALL Undergraduate Studies Director; DEALL Graduate Studies Director), and she has orchestrated an international research project (e.g., editing a volume that involved more than 20 contributors world-wide). It is an exciting time for the field of East Asian Studies, she says. As the new EASC director, she looks forward to communicating the importance of internationalization and promoting East Asian Studies at OSU, in Ohio, and beyond.