35th Anniversary Symposium

Developing a Successful Overseas Branch Campus: TUJ Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

A symposium on the history, mission and academic vision behind the creation of a successful and thriving American institution of higher education in Japan, including institutional strengths and strategies that led to TUJ's success, and its plan for the future. The event features two former deans of TUJ, Richard Joslyn and Kirk Patterson, and the current dean, Bruce Stronach.

Schedule of Events

Biography of Panelists

Dr. Richard A. Joslyn

Richard Joslyn received a Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1977 and is Professor of Political Science at Temple University, specializing in Campaigns and Elections, Public Opinion, Research Methodology, Media and Politics, and the Politics of Economic Inequality.

Joslyn taught at the Japan campus on six different occasions and served as the Dean of Temple University, Japan Campus from 1996 until 2001. He was also the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and International Programs at Temple's Main Campus in Philadelphia, was involved in the administration of the Japan campus from 1984 until 1995, and served as the Associate Dean for Planning in the College of Liberal Arts from 2006 until 2014. Currently Joslyn is leading an effort to create a historical archive of information about the Japan campus from its beginning in 1982.

Dr. Kirk R. Patterson

Kirk Patterson has lived and worked in Japan for almost 30 years, with his last position being Dean of Temple University, Japan Campus, where he served from 2001 until 2007.

After retiring from TUJ, he took up sailing. He did a solo trans-Pacific crossing and then became the first foreigner to do a full circumnavigation of Japan. He currently lives in Fukuoka and is engaged in various projects related to the Japanese marine-leisure industry, including writing a cruising guide to Japan. He is also conducting research on Japan's cultural and historical relationship with the sea.

Patterson, a dual Canadian-American citizen, holds a Ph.D. in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA.

Dr. Bruce Stronach

Bruce Stronach is the current Dean of TUJ, having been appointed in 2008.

He has worked in higher education in the U.S. and Japan for more than 40 years, in both academic and administrative positions. Before joining TUJ, he was the president of Yokohama City University (YCU) for three years, the first foreign president of a Japanese public university.

Stronach received a Ph.D. in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and Harvard University in 1980.

About the Temple University, Japan Campus History Project

In December 2016 Temple University President Richard Englert and Provost Joanne Epps authorized the creation of an archive that will preserve the history of the Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ), on the occasion of the 35 year anniversary of the founding of the campus. Dr. Richard Joslyn, former TUJ Faculty Member and Dean, was placed in charge of the project, in collaboration with Dean Bruce Stronach from the Japan campus.

To date the focus of the project has been to find, review, organize, and preserve existing documents related to the Japan campus, both textual and audio-visual; to conduct oral interviews with those who have had extensive involvement with TUJ since its creation in 1982; and to invite selected TUJ alumni, faculty, and staff, both past and present, to write personal essays on some aspect of their experience with TUJ.

So far the effort has focused primarily on locating and preserving materials from the early years of TUJ, when the University was in partnership with a Japanese business partner (1982-1995), as those materials and memories are most in danger of being lost or forgotten. In time the effort will extend beyond 1995 to achieve a complete record of TUJ's 35 year history.

A special TUJ History Archive is in the process of being created in the Main Campus Special Collections Office, where materials will be stored, curated, and made available to those interested in the history of the campus. The initial phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in March, 2018.

Contact Us

Please contact Institutional Advancement for more information or if you have further questions.

Institutional Advancement

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Tel:03-5441-9800 x913