Biography
Hiroko Harada, Recipient of the 2015 American Association of Teachers of Japanese
Teacher Award, is Professor and Coordinator of the Japanese Program and Director of
Montgomery Dickson Center for Japanese Language and Culture. She is the author of
Aspects of Post-War German and Japanese Drama: Reflections of War, Guilt, and Responsibility
(2000). She also a co-author of Monty’s Kakehashi (bridge) to Tomorrow (2014), an online textbook for
advanced Japanese learners. She has translated two books and numerous materials related
to the Battle of Attu (the battle between Japanese and American Armies during World
War II) for the National Park Service and U.S. Army Center of Military History (2009-2018).
She is currently working on Disaster Preparedness Drill Book, collaborating with our
partner university, Iwate University. Harada has contributed to the establishment of two exchange programs with Hokkaido University
of Education and Iwate University, co-established the UAA-HUE Internship Program, and
co-founded Alaska Japanese Speech Contest and Alaska Association of Teachers of Japanese,
which will mark the 16 the contest this past spring (2019), and together launched
the Alaska Japanese Language Pedagogy Workshop. Harada also organized numeral cultural
and educational events, established a friendship relationship with Rikuzentakata-city.
She has created a Japanese Tea Room, “Monty’s Room,” on campus, with a Rasmuson Foundation
Grant, for students to experience Japanese culture first hand. For the most recent
event she organized (September 2019), she received an Alaska Humanities Forum Grant
to invited two 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.
