Addy Pittenger, Arts & Life Editor Emeritus–
The fourth floor of Fellows Hall is home to The Knowlton Center’s April Faculty Champion, Professor Taku Suzuki.
Professor Suzuki was looking for a school with an environment to engage with the campus community as well as the students through teaching and mentoring; thus, a liberal arts education is where Suzuki wanted to be.
“What attracted me most to professorship… you have so much autonomy over what you can do. You can choose what you want to pursue, what you are researching, what courses you design… that sense of freedom was what drew me to become a professor,” Suzuki said.
Suzuki joined Denison in 2007 as a professor in International Studies, teaching the department’s core courses: Introduction to International Studies, Themes and Approaches, and the Senior Capstone Seminar. Outside of the International Studies Department, Professor Suzuki is also affiliated with the Global Health and East Asian Studies departments, teaching classes in migration, citizenship and Japanese globalization.
International studies, an interdisciplinary major, is a department that allows its students to discuss events happening worldwide every day. Suzuki mentions how several students come to Denison believing international studies is an international relations degree, which is not the case. The international studies major instead intentionally looks at the interconnection between social, cultural, political, and economic aspects, how they play off of each other, and how they shape world affairs.
“Some students come into international studies thinking they will learn about ‘what America should or should not do’ type of mentality,” Suzuki said. “I really want to go beyond that. ‘America and the world,’ that’s not how the world exists. It’s all interconnected.”
Teaching mostly core classes can sound a bit repetitive, but for Suzuki, the world is constantly changing. Thanks to the structure of the department, there is never a lack of things to explore in the major about the world. Suzuki wants his students to leave with not only curiosity, but also the skill of asking good questions about the world.
“First, being curious is a skill. You actively have to try and be curious. That’s something I want students to take away. And second, students know how to answer questions really well, but what they don’t know well, in my view when they first come to Denison, is how to raise a meaningful, critical question.” Suzuki said.
International studies is a relatively small major on campus.
“In a small group setting, there is a much stronger sense of community,” Suzuki said. “That’s definitely a difference, and I like that aspect.”
Suzuki mentions how the major allows him to see the intellectual growth in students from their freshman year to their senior year, growing curiosity and skills throughout their time at Denison. He describes it as “a rewarding experience.”
Even if students at Denison do not decide to major in international studies, Suzuki advocates for students to take some courses related to international studies to gain new perspectives about the world. The classes within the department help students think about what they want to study, how they want to study and what they want to accomplish.
“The Denison students are good students,” Suzuki said. “They might not feel like they are getting enough credit from professors because all they see are grades, but we appreciate you, we really do. We love working with students, and we all want to see them succeed in any career they go into.”