2026 East Asian Languages and Literatures Newsletter
Message from the Chair
Department Spotlights
Department Kudos
Alumni Class Notes
Message from the Chair
Greetings to all of our alumni from the George Washington University Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures!
In this newsletter, you’ll read about a few of the exciting things happening in the department, including the achievements of our community of alumni, faculty and students.
Please note there are some fabulous events this year such as the 34th Hahn Moo-Sook Colloquium on K-Beauty and J.LIVE, our national speech contest. I hope you have the opportunity to attend one of them and engage with fellow students and faculty. Thank you so much for your support and involvement. Please stay in touch.
Sincerely,
Immanuel Kim
Department Chair
Department Spotlights
Senior Wins Gold in Japanese Speech Contest
Dusty Rogers, BS ’26, came to GW not knowing a word of Japanese. But as a senior, she became a Gold Award winner at the annual J.LIVE Talk competition. Her future plans include studying abroad at Nanzan University in Japan. She was profiled in the CCAS Spotlight news magazine.
Alumna Analyst Highlights EALL Talk
Alumna Natalie Horton, BA ’23, a senior analyst at Booz Allen, spoke to our majors and minors about the importance of foreign language and research at our annual EALL Alumni Talk. Natalie majored in Korean language & literature and Asian studies, and minored in Chinese.
Department Kudos
- Jonathan Chaves (Chinese) was awarded honorable mention by the Modern Language Association of America’s Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Literary Work for co-authoring the book The Same Moon Shines on All: The Lives and Selected Poems of Yanagawa Seigan and Kōran (Columbia University Press).
- Liana Chen was interviewed and quoted in the Smithsonian Magazine article “Mei Lanfang Was Famous for His Masterful Performances as Female Leads. In the 1930s, He Introduced American Audiences to the World of Chinese Opera.”
- Immanuel Kim was quoted by The Straits Times in the article “From propaganda to passion: N. Korean TV show mimics K-drama to fend off banned media from the South.”
- Young-Key Kim-Renaud was quoted by Fortune in the article “Starbucks asks customers in South Korea to stop bringing printers and desktop computers into stores as workers transform cafés into remote offices.”
- Takae Tsujioka received a $20,000 grant from the Japan-US Friendship Commission to support J.LIVE Talk 2026.
Alumni Class Notes
- Michael Nemerof, BA ’08, is a litigation attorney at Property Litigation Group, PLLC in South Florida assisting property homeowners with their insurance claims.