Translating JET Skills into International Virtual Learning Programs: Three Model Initiatives
About the Authors
Originally from Hershey, PA, Jonathan Brewster attended the University of Delaware on a cheerleading scholarship. He was an ALT from 2007 to 2010 in Takatsuki, a suburb of Nagahama City, in Shiga Prefecture. After his tenure in the JET Program, he enrolled in the Japan-focused Executive Master of Business Administration (JEMBA) program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Upon graduating, he worked for six years at Fujitsu’s Shiodome headquarters in the high performance computing sector. From 2018 until 2023, he served as director of the North Carolina Japan Center at North Carolina State University. He now is a business recruitment manager at the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.
Anne M. Hooghart was an ALT in Shiga Prefecture from 1989 to 1990. Dr. Hooghart has been learning and teaching about Japanese language and culture for over 30 years as an exchange student, JET Program English teacher, B.A./M.A. student (University of Michigan), doctoral student (Michigan State University), K-12 teacher, college professor, business consultant, translator, community volunteer, and parent of bilingual children. She currently serves as a senior public relations specialist in the Education, Culture, and Public Relations Section of the Consulate General of Japan in Detroit, online instructor of Japanese at Mott Community College, and as an educational research coordinator at the Hinoki Foundation.
About JETs on Japan
JETs on Japan is a partnership between USJETAA and Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA (Sasakawa USA) that features selected articles of JET alumni perspectives on US-Japan relations. The series aims to elevate the awareness and visibility of JET alumni working across diverse sectors and provides a platform for JET alumni to contribute to a deeper understanding of US-Japan relations from their fields. The articles will be posted on USJETAA’s website to serve as a resource to the wider JET alumni and US-Japan communities on how alumni of this exchange program are continuing to serve as informal ambassadors in US-Japan relations.
Submissions are encouraged from mid-to-senior level professionals who are established in the current fields OR current/recent graduate degree students in both master’s and doctoral programs.
