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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (5/04)
Contact: Lynn Stewart, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120, lstewart@centenary.edu
or Dr. Earle Labor, George A. Wilson Professor of American Literature, 318-869-5254

Japanese Delegation Travels to Shreveport for Centenary College’s Honorary Doctorate Presentation to Asian Scholar Eiji Tsujii

Professors Eiju Tsujii and Earle Labor (kneeling) pose with members of the delegation from Japan whose members traveled to Centenary to see Professor Tsujii receive an honorary doctorate recognizing his scholarly activities. The group is pictured in the Gold Dome on the day prior to Centenary's annual commencement ceremony.

SHREVEPORT, LA — A delegation of 12 Japanese scholars and visitors will arrive at Centenary College Wednesday, May 5 for a three-day visit to the college, its Jack London Research Center and the Centenary ceremony honoring one of their own.

Centenary will award a prestigious Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree to Professor Eiji Tsujii, in recognition of the extraordinary contributions of the professor who is the leading Jack London scholar in Asia. Tsujii last visited Centenary in 1993, when he spent six weeks on campus as the first overseas researcher to use the extensive secondary materials about London that are housed at Centenary. Following that visit, he returned to his homeland and organized the Jack London Society in Kyoto, Japan. Since then, he has also worked to establish chapters in the Kagoshima and Shikoku-Chugoku districts.

Professor Tsujii teaches English literature at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. He has been studying, researching, teaching, and promoting London and his works ever since reading The Call of the Wild as a college junior 40 years ago. He began translating London’s work from English into Japanese about 20 years ago and has now translated 14 books by and about London.

The visiting delegation will spend Thursday on the Centenary campus and then will participate in a tour of the area on Friday with Centenary host Dr. Earle Labor, who is an internationally known London scholar. Their visit will include the London exhibit and memorabilia on display in the Samuel P. Peters Building and a review of the materials on file in the Centenary Archives. Through Dr. Labor’s endeavors, Centenary’s Jack London Research Center aspires to becoming the world’s largest repository of secondary materials about London. The Huntington Library in California and Utah State University are the major resource centers for primary materials on London.

On Saturday, Professor and Mrs. Tsujii will have breakfast with Centenary President Kenneth L. Schwab before attending Centenary’s baccalaureate and commencement exercises at 10:30 a.m. in the Centenary Gold Dome. Centenary will bestow honorary doctorates during the ceremonies to Professor Tsujii as well as to U.S. Congressman Jim McCrery and Shreveport geologist and civic leader Charles Ellis Brown.

About 225 graduates will receive bachelor’s and master’s degrees during commencement.

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