2002 Press Release

Ms. Patience Berkman of Newton, Massachusetts and Mr. Norman Masuda, of Palo Alto, California, were selected as the recipients of the Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award for 2002, sponsored by the United States-Japan Foundation.

The Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award recognizes exceptional teachers who further mutual understanding between Americans and Japanese. The award is presented annually to two pre-college teachers of any relevant subject and consists of a certificate of recognition, a $2,500 monetary award, and $5,000 in project funds. This is the inaugural year of the award.

The Award is named in honor of Mr. Elgin Heinz, a pioneer in educating American pre-collegiate students about Asia. Born in China in 1913, he spent forty years teaching in San Francisco's public schools. Mr. Heinz served as Education Director for the Japan Society in 1960, and is nationally known for his many curriculum guides on Asia. He continues to this day to serve as a consultant on the development of materials and methods for teaching about Asia.

An independent national selection committee, consisting of leaders in the fields of Japanese language and cultural education in the United States, selected the two recipients listed above based on their outstanding long-term commitment to teaching about Japan as well as their leadership nationally in this area.

Ms. Patience Berkman has been teaching for 24 years and currently serves as Chair of the History Department at Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in Newton, Massachusetts. She also teaches World History in Grade 9 and 20th Century History in Grade 12. Her professional focus on Asia began in 1990 when she participated in a National Endowment for the Humanities Seminar on East Asian Confucianism conducted by the Five College Center for East Asian Studies at Smith College. Since that time she has been engaged in a number of additional institutes on various aspects of Japanese history and culture sponsored by the Five College Center at Smith, the East Asia Resource Center at the University of Washington, and the Program for Teaching East Asia at the University of Colorado. She has participated in major institutes covering other regions of Asia at Yale University, and has worked on Japan outreach in conjunction with the East Asian Institute at Columbia University as well. Ms. Berkman has developed many extensive curriculum units on Japan and Japanese History that are used by middle and high school teachers across the country. Additionally, she has given presentations and workshops for teachers at the national and regional level focusing on how to teach about Japan. Ms. Berkman is a seminar leader for the National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, a member of the Boston Children's Museum Advisory Committees on China and Japan, a Board Member of the Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies, and a consultant for the Massachusetts Geographic Alliance, as well for the Five College Center for East Asian Studies.

Norman Masuda has been teaching for 32 years and is the Instructional Supervisor of World Languages and a Japanese instructor at Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, CA. A Ford Foundation fellow, he studied Chinese language and literature in Taiwan and did research in Kyoto, Japan on a Fulbright-Hays fellowship. A graduate of UCLA in Oriental Languages, he received an MA in Chinese literature with a Japanese minor at Stanford University. He is credentialed to teach Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, and English. A founder and past president of the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers and the California Association of Japanese Language Teachers, Norman has served on the California Foreign Language Project's Advisory Board, the Test Committee of the Japanese SAT II, the ACTFL Japanese Standards Committee, Foreign Language Advisory Committee to the College Board, and consultant to the California Department of Education for Less Commonly Taught Languages. He has presented at local, state and national conferences and given workshops on methodology, assessment, and technology in world language teaching. In addition, he has been involved with Okinawan performing arts and culture for over 25 years. He has studied Uta-Sanshin under Harry Seisho Nakasone (Head of the Nakasone Seifukai, Honolulu, HI), a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, and classical Okinawan dance under Mitsuko Toguchi (Ryusei Honryu Yanagi no Kai, Hawaii Chapter, Toguchi Mitsuko Ryubu Kenkyusho). He is certified to teach Okinawan Sanshin and has studied Okinawan dance since 1978. As Executive Director of the Kariyushi Kai, an association dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Okinawan classical dance and music, he has led workshops, classes, lecture/demonstrations and organized concerts since 1984.

Five other teachers were selected to receive Certificates of Distinguished Service for their outstanding work in the field of pre-collegiate education about Japan. These individuals are: Ms. Patricia Burleson of Island View Elementary School in Anacortes, Washington; Ms. Jill A. Fortney of North Bennington Graded School in Bennington, Vermont; Ms. Barbara Ledig-Sheehan of Marymount Upper School of New York in New York, New York; Mr. Fred Lorish of Yujin Gakuen in Eugene, Oregon; and Dr. Ann Tomlins of Oliver Middle School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

The United States-Japan Foundation (USJF) is an independent private foundation dedicated to strengthening cooperation and understanding between the U.S. and Japan. It is governed by a board of prominent Japanese and American private citizens and is the only private American grant-making foundation dedicated to the mutual interests of the American and Japanese people. More information can be found on the Foundation's web site at www.us-jf.org.

Click here to learn how to apply for the Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award.