Educational Background

BA, Baylor University (1963), majors: history & British literature; minor: philosophy.

MA, Baylor University (1965), major: history; minor: British literature.

Japanese language training (1970), Columbia University.

Ph.D., Duke University (1975); major: East Asian history; minor: history of religions.

Ph.D. examination areas: histories of China, Japan, India, medieval Europe and history of religion with emphasis on Buddhism.

Ph.D. dissertation topic: The Development of the Modern Japanese Police System: Transition from Tokugawa to Meiji.

Teaching Experience:

1963-64 Hong Kong Baptist College.

1965-66 La Vega High School, Waco, Texas.

1966-67 Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Texas.

1967-69 Seinan Gakuin University, Fukuoka, Japan.

1968 University of Maryland, Far Eastern Division [part time].

1971-72 Okayama Prefectural Board of Education, Okayama, Japan.

1972-73 Kanagawa Prefectural Board of Education, Fujisawa, Japan.

1973-74 Seinan Gakuin University, Coordinator of Academic & and Field Studies, International Division.

1974-present Furman University.

Fall, 1987 visiting professor (Japanese religion), Kansai Gaikokugo Daigaku (Kansai Gaidai), Osaka, Japan.

Current teaching interests: application of technology to the classroom

Development of video program for premodern Japanese history & art.

Recent workshops and presentations:

"Popular Religion East and West: Coping with Grief, Loss, and Fear." A workshop for K-12 teachers held in connection with the Southeast Regional Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies (Hilton Head, January 18-20, 2008). Workshop designed to consider pilgrimages and other practices in Japan, China and India while comparing these with European.

Current research interest: religious pilgrimage

Fall, 2006--Camino de Santiago (northern Spain)

Summer, 2007--Lalibela, Ethiopia

Fall, 2007--Emeishan, China & Lhasa, Tibet

Summer, 2008--Buddhist sites in India

Recent administrative experience:

Director, South Carolina Center for Teaching about Asia, 2003-present.