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Nathan Riley Carpenter, PhD
Former project Director | ncarpenter@northampton.edu
Dr. Carpenter is Director of Global Education and International Services at Northampton Community College where he oversees global education initiatives for the college including international exchange programs, international enrollment and marketing, study abroad, global studies, and student and faculty development. Dr. Carpenter has helped advance Japanese arts and culture at Northampton through partnership building with institutions and individuals in Japan and the US. He has managed several Japanese outreach and exchange initiatives including two NCC study abroad programs in Japan, in-person and virtual arts workshops and presentations by dancers and choreographers Hana Takehiro and Tomoka Asada, and calligraphy and interpretive arts workshops by Shuno Kondo. In 2021, in collaboration with the US-Japan council and the Lehigh Valley JaJaJa organization. Dr. Carpenter facilitated the visit of Deputy Consul General Kenju Murakami to Northampton's campus.
https://news.northampton.edu/featured/2021/12/deputy-consul-general-of-u-s-japan-council- visits-ncc/
Thomas Shillea
Arts Program Director | TShillea@northampton.edu
Thomas Shillea is Director of Arts Programs at Northampton Community College where he oversees arts programming and arts curricula at the college. Shillea is a recognized master of photography. His photographs are in collections in national museums, including the Smithsonian Museum National Portrait Gallery, the George Eastman Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Johnson-Matthey Collection in London, ant the James A. Michener Museum of Art at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Shillea has integrated Japanese arts into his own work-- Aizuri-e woodblock prints inspire his Aizuri-e series of cyanotype photographs, and his photography has long been inspired by ukiyo-e prints.
Megumi Taguchi came to the US in 2017 and interned at ACT Advancing The Community Of Tomorrow in NYC teaching Japanese arts to preschool students. Over the course of four months, Taguchi taught 16 classes, displayed students’ work on bulletin boards, and engaged in conversations with their parents. Additionally, Taguchi also interned at the Japan Society of Northern California as an advertiser over the past year. Taguchi developed design ideas for website and event flyers, and advertised events on YouTube and Instagram utilizing Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere. Taguchi graduated from NCC and recently earned my BFA at Temple University.
https://mtaguchi5.wixsite.com/megumiartist
Megumi Taguchi
Coordinator of Japanese Cultural Program | mtaguchi@northampton.edu
“Imagine the Possible: Disaster Reduction & Digital Health, Global Education, & Technology".
At the end of 2019, after over 45 years in USA, she along with her husband relocated to her native Japan to focus on Knowledge sharing youth program development around Disaster Preparedness. Over 35 years of international leadership experience in manufacturing, ERP, and IT businesses, she became an advocate for social innovation with focus on “Re-purposing” and technology integration post 3/11 Japan Fukushima disaster. She has been keenly interested in disaster preparedness, and opportunities of knowledge sharing about the Disaster preparedness as a tool to connect Japanese youths with other youths around the world providing opportunities to communicate in English to discuss common issues we face today.
Fumiko Green
Site Manager for Monessen Center for Active Adult | mikogreen@yahoo.com
Supporters for Japanese Arts with the Northampton Community
Lehigh Valley JaJaJa | https://sites.google.com/view/lehigvalleyjajaja/home
JaJaJa is a community organization that connects Japanese in America, Japanese Americans, and
Japanese Aficionados in and around the Lehigh Valley. The organization has supported Japanese
cultural exchange activities in the area since 2019. Founder Miki Sankary coordinated with
NC's Center for Global Education and International Services and the NCC Arts Programs on
the visit of Deputy Consul General of Japan, Mr. Kenju Murakami, in fall 2021. Japanese Arts
for the Northampton Community will coordinated with JaJaJa on promotion and communication
of Japanese programs over the duration of the grant and beyond.
Bethlehem - Tondabayashi Sister City Commission | https://www.bethlehemsistercity.org
The Bethlehem-Tondabayashi Sister City Commission supports Japanese cultural programming
in Bethlehem throughout the year through Japanese lessons, maintaining the Garden of Serenity
housed at the Bethlehem Public Library, and through the annual Cherry Blossom festival.
Japanese Arts with the Northampton Community will coordinate arts and culture programming
with the Sister City Commission and cross promote cultural events, including the spring Sakura festival.
