KONAN UNIVERSITY

Center for Education in General Studies

Culturally enriching people with a wide range of knowledge

The Center for Education in General Studies (CEGS) functions under the Institute for Education in Liberal Arts and Sciences to advance the quality of education at Konan University. CEGS adopts an integrated approach to general education that nurtures “virtue, physical health, intellect” and provides courses that include basic general studies, health and physical education, and career creation for a university-wide comprehensive liberal arts education.

CEGS supports the seamless transition from high school to university and offers first-year courses in general studies and health and physical education to ensure students build a solid foundation necessary to pursue their specialized fields of study in subsequent years. General studies offer students pathways to a wide range of interdisciplinary liberal arts subjects, including humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Students develop the foundation of learning with a liberal arts background acquired during their four years of university education and engage in robust health and physical education to build resilience to sustain a healthy mind and body throughout their lifetime.

Career creation courses are designed to cultivate the diverse sets of practical skills essential to succeed in society. Undergraduate students in their second year of study and beyond are also eligible to take these courses. All undergraduate students, regardless of faculties and departments, can gain broad perspectives and develop practical skills by engaging in meaningful fieldwork experiences incorporated into university and society collaborative courses, linking classroom learning to practical application in the community.

Konan University provides a holistic approach to education based on the founding philosophy of character building, physical fitness and respect for the individual rather than strictly knowledge-oriented education. It aims to provide education that fosters character through a well-balanced nurturing of “virtue, physical health, intellect.” Specialized fields of study offered through undergraduate faculties and general education offered through CEGS comprise the two wheels of education that serve as the propelling force for students' growth and development.

Name Title Field of Research Subject of Research
IKARUGI, Chikako Professor Sport History Study of Badminton History in Late 19th to mid-20th century, Study of the internationalization of sport
ISHII, Koichi Associate
Professor		 Teaching Methodology (Chinese) Chinese modern literature, Chinese education, comparative culture(China/Japan)
ISHII, Noboru Professor Humanities & Social Sciences / Public law ・Administrative Law and Private law
・Administrative Litigation
ISHIKAWA, Ryuji Professor English Literature,Contemporary British Literature,Irish Literature The Poetics of the Wind: Lyre and Gyre
ITAKURA, Shuichi Professor Intellectual Property Law / New fields of law, Humanities & Social / Civil Law Research on civil liability in Intetellectual Property Law
ITO, Koji Professor Coaching（Athletics） Instruction and Motion Analysis in Track and Field.
IBA, Midori Professor English Phonetics, Applied Phonetics Speech perception and production, pronunciation of English, Verbo-tonal Method
WANG, Marian Associate
Professor		 Higher Education Policy and Practice, Second Language Acquisition Raising Global Human Resources through Debating, Critical Thinking, Higher Education Policy Reform, World Englishes
UMEMOTO, Yoshimasa Professor Commercial law, Corporation Law, Securities Regulation regulatory architecture of the modern market and insider trading law
OKAMURA, Kozue Specially Appointed Associate Professor Non-Profit Activities, Citizen Participation, Regional Cooperation 1) Study of Non-Profit Organizations for Citizen Participation in Public Services
2) Study of Social Participation Programs through Industry-University and Public-Private Coordination
KIRK, Stanley Associate
Professor		 Applied Linguistics and TESOL Motivation in second language acquisition, motivation in student volunteerism, reading and writing pedagogy, history of Japanese immigration to Canada
KATSURA, Yutaka Professor Majoring Coaching(Soccer) , Motion analysis Coaching techniques of soccer(especially for youth） movement; analysis soccer
KIM, Tae Ho Professor Japanese Medieval History, Comparative Culture between Japan and Korea Comparative studies of folk culture in Japan and Korea
KUBO, Haruka Professor Public Administration, Environmental Policy 1) Research on environmental policy process and governance; interlinkage between international and domestic politics, role of knowledge in policy process, and comparative analysis of environmental protection agencies.
2) Research on community engagement and local authority.
KO, Kintei Professor Chinese Language, Comparative Literature: Japanese and Chinese Literature, Comparison of Japanese and Chinese Culture, Cross Cultural Management Research on differences of communication between Japanese and Chinese; research on cross-cultural communication of Japanese corporations in China
KO, Yong-Soo Professor Asian economy Comparative Studies of Big Business Groups of South Korea
KONISHI, Yukio Associate
Professor		 Higher Education Policy,EU Legal Studies, International Relations 1) Comparative Studies of Higher Education Policies in Member States of EU.
2) Brexit and future of Single Market.
SADAKANE, Koichi Professor Pedagogy, Psychology Educational consultation, Student guidance, Career guidance，Special support education
SHINODA, Yuji Associate
Professor		 e-learning system 1) Modeling of the students' scenario on e-Learning courses.
2) Development of a mathematical formula scoring system.
SOGABE, Akitoshi Professor Sports Medicine, Training Science, Human Growth and Development, Sports Policy, Budo Theory. Development of the training method according to the characteristic. A study of muscle activity and skeletal motion by the different of knee alignment from electromyographic, kinetic and kinematic analysis. Influence of Budo on human development.
TAKASAGO, Takao Lecturer Organizational economics, Contract theory Authority in organization, Firm boundaries.
TAKEDA, Yoshihisa Specially Appointed Professor Career design 1) Active learning
2) Workshop
TANIMORI, Masahiro Professor Japanese Grammar, Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language Japanese essential sentence structure, topic of sentences, teaching materials development
CHIBA, Mihoko Associate Professor Higher Education, History Measuring Student Learning Outcomes in Higher Education Muscovite Russia (16th and Early 17th Century)
History Education
TSUJIMOTO, Sakurako Specially Appointed Lecturer Humanities & Social Sciences Japanese language education
NAKANISHI, Momoko Specially Appointed Lecturer Clinical Psychology, Social Care for Children (1)Clinical and evidential study of MBT-C(Mentalization based therapu for children) for traumatized children.
(2)A practical study of AMBIT(Adaptive Mentalization based Integral Therapy) for inter-professional work and multi-agency collaboration in child welfare.
NAKAMURA, Noriko Professor French Literature, Teaching French as a Foreign Language, Multiculturalism Research on the plays of Jean Giraudoux, French multimedia teaching materials development, multiculturalism
NISHIURA, Taro Specially Appointed Associate Professor Student counseling, Clinical Psychology, International students in Japan Counseling and Consultation in Japanese universities, Organizational assistance for international students, Mentality of Japanese returnees
NISHIKAWA, Kohei Professor Organization Development,
Organizational Behavior,Human Resource Development,Turnaround Management		 1) Building the conceptual theries of OD
2) Building the practical theories of OD
3) Understanding the human dynamics of action research processes
NOMURA, Kazuhiro Specially Appointed Professor for STAGE Speech Communication, Educational Technology and English Teaching Developing public speaking and leadership skills, Teacher development, Integrating media and technology in higher education
NOMURA, Yukihiro Associate
Professor		 German as foreign language didactic methods, communicative approach to the teaching German, intercultural competence
HASEGAWA, Takehiko Specially Appointed Professor Library and information science Study of the organization and administration of a library and of its technical, informational, and reference services
HATOGAI, Koichi Professor Educational Technology, Information Science Study of educational methods by means of multi-media technology.
Methodological study of computer literacy and information science education.
Study of management for distributed information systems.
HIRAI, Kazuki Specially Appointed Lecturer Humanities & Social Sciences Education of Japanese as a Second Language
MACH, Thomas Professor Language Teaching Methodology, Learner Autonomy, Sustainable Living Practices Digital literacy, L2 vocabulary acquisition, self-access language learning; cross-cultural perspectives on agrarianism and sustainable living movements
MIZUSAWA, Katsuko Professor Sports medicine, Volleyball, Yoga, Pilates Research of athletic training on college athletes: the prevention and the athletic rehabilitation of sport injuries.
MIYAGAWA, Kimiko Specially Appointed Professor Clinical Psychology, Sandplay Therapy 1) Evidential study on sandplay therapy
2) Fundamental study on some sandplay expressions of elderly people
3) Study on psychological process and developmental theme for elderly people
4) Research on clinical psychological support for non-attendance student
MIYAGAWA, Satoshi Professor Civil Procedure Law Third Party Procedure and the Effect of Judgment betwenn Parties
YAMAMOTO, Shari Specially Appointed Associate Professor Global Education Research on self-access learning centers and active learning in higher education
YAMAMOTO, Takaaki Associate
Professor		 Civil law Law of Set-off
YOSHIKAWA, Ayumi Professor Fuzzy theory, Subjective information processing Analysis of subjectivity, vagueness, fuzziness, ambiguity, non-linearity and intuition in human information processing and its application for solving real-world problems
YOSHIDA, Keiko Professor Applied Linguistics, Teaching English as a Foreign Language Perception and pronunciation of English speech sounds (development and training); English education in Asia, Strategies in classroom and autonomous study, students' perceptions about their goals, responsibilities and abilities in learning English
YOSHIMOTO, Tadahiro Professor Theory of sport movement and behaviour, Lifetime sports, Coaching (Artistic Gymnastics) Theory of sport movement and behavior, Lifetime sports, Methodology of artistic gymnastics
Name Title Field of Research Subject of Research
UNDEM, Kyle Instructor Applied Linguistics Second language (L2) identity, L2 motivational systems, Systemic Functional Linguistics
MARKEL, Stewart Instructor Applied Linguistics Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Language Proficiency Assessment
DOWLING, Tim Instructor Applied Linguistics Vygotsky’s notion of the ZPD
Critical Thinking
EBERLY, Lydia Instructor Applied Linguistics Vocabulary Learning & Assessment, Pronunciation
WILSON, Joshua Instructor Applied Linguistics Intercultural Communication, Game-based Language Learning (GBLL)
RAICHURA, Trevor Instructor Intercultural communication, interpreting, translating, international sports culture Interpreters for professional athletes in Japan and abroad
SCORUS, Loredana Instructor Japanese Culture, Japanese Garden Theory, Japanese Aesthetics The way nature is represented in the garden texts from the Meiji period (1868-1912)