1997, Eiko Maruko Siniawer – History Professor, Williams College

I began to consider a history-related career in my junior year at Williams while taking the required History 301 seminar, and realized the depth of my interest in history that summer while interning at a public policy think tank in Washington, D.C. Although I did apply to a variety of jobs in my senior year, I decided to enroll in a master’s program in East Asian Studies at Harvard University, having greatly enjoyed researching and writing nt senior thesis on the university entrance exam system in Japan. At Harvard, I focused on Japanese history and authored a thesis on Japanese war memory. In 1999, I continued at Harvard in the Ph.D. program in history.

I graduated with a Ph.D. in history from Harvard in the spring of 2003, and joined the Williams College faculty that fall. I am currently Associate Professor of History, offering a variety of classes on Japanese history. My book Ruffians, Yakuza, Nationalists: The Violent Politics of Modern Japan, 1860-1960 with Cornell University Press came out in December 2008.