Shigeo & Isako Imamura
Graduate Fellowship Awardees
Laura Eickoff was awarded the Shigeo and Isako Graduate Fellowship for Academic Year 2015 to 2016, and Erin
Degerman for 2016 to 2017. The fellowship is in honor of
the late Shigeo Imamura, who was an American kamikaze pilot during World War II, but never took off on a
mission. His experience led him to devote his life to promote peace through cross-cultural understanding and
language learning. He became the first director of the
ELC in 1961. Before his death in 1998, Professor Imamura
had held distinguished academic positions in the United
States and Japan, published scholarly works in English
and Japanese, and promoted international education.
Laura Eickoff
Erin Degerman
The fellowship is awarded to either a masters or Ph.D.
candidate who is teaching in the ELC and who can
demonstrate a commitment to academic and classroom excellence in English Language pedagogy. Laura
is graduating from the MA TESOL program this semester and has taught courses in ESL 092 and 093. This is
Erin’s second semester in the MA TESOL program and
she has taught in ESL 093 and 094.
Culture Exchange at Wilcox Elementary School’s International Night
On February 23, ELC students shared their cultures with 3rd graders and their families at the annual International Night hosted by our sister-school, Wilcox Elementary in Holt Public Schools!
Wilcox students enjoyed Chinese paper fortune telling
ELC students from Turkey, Libya, and Saudi Arabia share
information about geography, history, and traditions
Panama teachers educated students on the geography and
history of Panama
Medical English Special Program participants enjoy a tour of the
McLaren Lansing Hospital and pose for for a picture with the
hospital
staff share one type of beverage Starbucks
ELC students
doesn’t have - Turkish coffee