Kaori Furuya is the visiting instructor of Japanese at Knox College, and works for the Asian Studies program. She got her BA at the Shizouka University at Japan in 1994 and her MA at Shizouka University in 1996. She is a Ph. D. candidate at the City University of New York. Before she came to Knox, she was in New York City for ten years.

Furuya was first drawn to Knox when she was offered a full-time job. Galesburg as a “countryside” setting was an ideal place for her to raise her twin babies as opposed to raising them in New York. Furuya likes the student intimacy here and the opportunity for students to build relationships with the professors. She hopes to complete her thesis by the end of October, pursue her Ph. D., and continue to research Japanese. Furuya loves linguistics, which is her specialty, particularly theoretical linguistics and Japanese linguistics.

“I would like to share theoretical linguistic knowledge of Japanese and also applied linguistics with students in Knox College. [Human] language is characteristic to human beings. Each one of the human languages has universal aspects and language specific aspects,” said Furuya.

Furuya would also like to get involved in the International Festival and some kind of a sport club during her time at Knox.

Zoe Hatton