Hiroko Harada awarded 2021 Northwest Postsecondary Educator of the Year

Hiroko Harada, Ph.D., professor and coordinator of UAA’s Japanese program, has just been awarded the 2021 Ray Verzasconi Northwest Postsecondary Educator of the Year award by the Pacific Northwest Council for Languages (PNCFL). 

“I am truly honored to have received this award,” said Harada. “I am also happy that this can bring tremendous recognition to the Japanese program, the Japan Center, UAA and Alaska. Alaska is called the land of the Last Frontier — this land has cultivated in me a frontier and pioneer spirit, which I can describe by Zionist Yosef Trumpeldor’s words: ‘You need a wheel? Here I am. A nail, a screw, a block? Here take me!’ I am enormously grateful that these nail-, screw- and block- efforts have been thus magnified.”

Named in honor of Dr. Ray Verzasconi, professor emeritus of Spanish at Oregon State University and longtime executive director of PNCFL, the award recognizes outstanding teaching, service and/or research at the university level. Nominees must be affiliated with a college or university within the PNCFL region — Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington or Wyoming.

“Dr. Harada is a living legend in Anchorage, especially when it comes to all things Japanese,” said Brandon Locke, director of world languages and immersion programs for the Anchorage School District. “She is the epitome of an educator who focuses on teaching, scholarship and service. Although this award is from a regional association, I am so very pleased that Dr. Harada was not only recognized with this prestigious award, but that she represents what it means at the higher education level for six northwestern states.”

Having joined UAA in 1998, Harada describes the Japanese program then as a white canvas, allowing her the freedom to shape the curriculum. Since then, enrollment in Japanese language classes at UAA increased 103% from 1998 to 2003, five times the national average during that time. Today, the Japanese program is the second largest program after Spanish in the Department of Languages.

Since 2012, Harada has also served as director of UAA’s Montgomery Dickson Center for Japanese Language and Culture, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year on March 11. Named in commemoration of UAA alumnus Montgomery “Monty” Dickson, B.A. Languages ’09, who perished in the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the center’s four main concentrations include the enhancement of Japan-related studies, serving as a bridge between Alaska and Japan, scholarship opportunities and public outreach. 

“I would like to dedicate this award to Monty Dickson,” said Harada. “I was his teacher and academic advisor and it is my sincere hope to reach as many friends of Japan as possible through this center in order to continue Monty’s dream to become a bridge over the Pacific Ocean to connect Alaska and Japan.”

Not only dedicated to UAA and her students, Harada is an active leader in the larger Japanese community in Anchorage, including co-founding the Alaska Japanese Speech Contest (now in its 18th year), the Alaska Association of Teachers of Japanese, the Alaska Japanese Language Pedagogy Workshop and annual outreach events through a collaboration with the Kakehashi Project. 

Most notably, for her Kakehashi Project event titled Hiroshima-Amchitka Legacies: What Future Can We Choose?, Harada welcomed two Nobel Peace Prize Laureates from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Through this event, Anchorage joined hundreds of cities around the world on the ICAN Cities Appeal in speaking out in support of prohibiting and eliminating nuclear weapons.

Beyond Alaska, Harada helped establish two exchange programs with the Hokkaido University of Education and Iwate University after taking some of her UAA students on a life-changing trip to Rikuzentakata City — the area wiped away by the aforementioned tsunami — to participate in the ongoing efforts to build a disaster-resilient community.

Thanks to these wider-reaching contributions, Harada has also been recognized nationally, receiving the 2015 Teacher Award from the American Association of Teachers of Japanese.

 

Written by Matt Jardin, UAA Office of University Advancement