Elizabeth Lillehoj (Konan '77-78) (UI Art History) is an associate professor of Asian Art History at DePaul University in Chicago.

Edith Sarra (Konan '77-78) (UI Asian Studies) is a professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

1979

Robert (Rob) Nassau (Konan '79-80) (Yale, Japanese Studies. '81) is an attorney with Boylan, Brown, Code, Vigdor & Wilson, L.L.P. and a professor and co-director of the Low Income Tax Clinic, College of Law, Syracuse University in Rochester, New York. Nassau writes, "Despite the fact that my career is now focused on tax (no, it's not as exciting as it sounds), Japan and Konan are often in my thoughts, and, I believe, have influenced greatly the way I view the world."

1987

David Mungenast. MA, lives in Brookfield, Wisconsin where he is CEO of Creative Communication Concepts, Inc. (See Alumni Profiles)

Shari Thurow, BA, 1990 MA, is webmaster and marketing director for Grantastic Designs in Chicago. Thurow, author of "Search Engine Visibility" (www.searchenginesbook.com), writes: I might not be doing what I expected to do as a career (who knew the Internet would be around?), but I have been able to apply everything I learned through EALC.

1989

Jeremy Blaustein, BA, is president of WordBox and ZPang and Japanese-English translator with specialization in video games in Northampton, MA. Blaustein writes: "I've had a good fourteen year run in the translation game. Translation has taken a hit with internet auction sites though. Now we bid against people in Indonesia. 9-11 was a real demarcation point."

Rebecca (Becky) John, BA, lives in Chicago, IL where she works in Marketing and Promotions at Draft Advertising Agency. She writes, "I am working for a direct marketing and promotions advertising agency as a corporate employee. I work with the 30+ offices we have worldwide, including those in Asia. I have found that while my language skills are not put to use the way I would wish, my thinking about situations is. And honestly, thinking is the more important of the two skills, and I know that I would not be able to address the cultural situations I do without having studied Mandarin."

1991

Lawrence (Lary) W. Brown, MA, is Corporate Compliance Manager for New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.. He is responsible for assuring acceptable working conditions in New Balance supplier factories in China.

Andrew Klaus, BA (EALC/Engineering), is the director of sales at Conexant Systems, a semiconductor-related company, Tokyo, Japan. Klaus writes, "The Japanese language classes turned out to be the most useful to prepare me for my professional work in Japan. Also, the U of I gave me a recommendation to the Japanese government (Monbusho) to allow me to get a 1 year internship at a Japanese university. This also was extremely beneficial to me, and it was a very fun year in Japan! Overseas experience in an East Asian country should be mandatory for all students, whether it be for just a summer, or a whole year of overseas study."

Mark Kopinski, MA, is Senior Vice President of American Century Investments Management, specializing in U.S.-Japan business. New York, NY.

1993

Erich Livengood, BA, has lived in Taiwan, Brazil, Chile, and Bosnia. He recently completed an MBA at Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University, and will take a position in international consulting for Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the largest global strategy and technology consulting firms. He will work at their Cleveland office.

1997

Ed Bachta (Konan '97-98) (UI Computer Science) is currently one of the Technical Leads for the Visualization and Interactive Spaces Lab in the Pervasive Technology Labs at Indiana University. Bloomington, Indiana. Bachta writes: "Without a doubt, some of the most interesting times I had during my entire undergraduate study were during the Year in Japan program. I had a lot of fun with my friends, coming up with zany scenarios during class to practice new grammar."

1998

Nell Axelrod (BA EALC/Economics) is Executive Director and COO of European Electronic Trading Services in London. She told us, "After graduation I moved to Taiwan to start my career. Later I worked on projects related to private equity in China. I have gone back and forth in my focus on China and my focus on finance. I have found that the double BA in Economics and EALC has been tremendously useful. I would recommend that to students, and also a joint degree in EALC and Information Technologies, which is taking off in China."

2001

Beatrice Kokitko, BA (Konan '98-99), lives in San Carlos, California, where she is Marketing/Sales Coordinator in Japanese Account Management for Luidia, Inc.. She writes, "I also have a minor in Business. After graduation, I did the JET program in Japan for 1 year and then returned to the states. Shortly thereafter, I moved out to California, where because of my JET experience, I was hired to work for a subsidiary of the Japanese Government, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. That was the stepping stone I needed to get to where I am now in my position, where I do inside sales/marketing and serve as the main contact for Japanese accounts such as NEC and Uchida. Japan and my study abroad experience shaped my career path. I knew that I wanted to be involved with Asian clients (preferably Japanese), and have strived to pick positions that would help me move forward on my career path."