Thatcher A. Spero, Ph.D.

           I’m originally from around Boston, Massachusetts (USA), but I also lived in Washington, DC (USA), Madrid (Spain), Tokyo (Japan), and Madison, Wisconsin (USA). I have been living, studying, and working internationally for the past 22 years, most of which have been in Japan. I love supporting internationally mobile students and other students with diverse lingua-cultural and educational backgrounds.

​

           Professionally, I started out working in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Specifically, since around 2003 I worked as an English language and an EAP (English for Academic Purposes) instructor and teacher trainer for Waseda University's Tutorial English program and the School of International Liberal Studies. After doing this for several years I became interested in expanding my scope of expertise within the field of education so I got an M.Ed in Education Policy, Leadership, and Organization which was focused on Global Studies in Education. Eventually, I decided to take this further and got a Ph.D in Education Policy with a minor in Curriculum and Instruction. My teaching and scholarship combines my personal experiences and professional training while taking a critical theoretical approach to focus on the intersections of identity, culture, language, education, and globalization. This work tends to examine the sociology and anthropology of education, and my research interests center on higher education internationalization, specifically critical internationalization and the role of EMI (English-Medium Instruction) in these processes.

​

           My profile and trajectory as a professional is simply an extension of my personal background and life path, which are the products of intercultural and international exchange. From direct experience with such exchanges, I have seen how they occur within asymmetrical social structures of power and privilege, and this knowledge has sharpened my own priorities in life down to two core preoccupations: compassion and love. I infuse these in my work as I seek to contribute to an ongoing project of advancing social justice, equality, peace, and sustainability on a global scale by both supporting and placing a critical eye on the role of education in such exchanges. It is through my support of these exchanges over the past 20 years that I see myself engaged in an ongoing effort to support social diversity and internationalism/transnationalism on a worldwide scale.

​