Keiko Kimura, the new dean of Language Arts, started in June 2011.
Kimura was the director of ESL at Triton College in River Grove, Ill, from 2002 to 2005, and the dean of academic enrichment/language studies at Harper College in Palatine, Ill, from 2005 to 2011, before becoming the dean of Language Arts at San Jose City College.
Kimura got her Bachelor of Science in biology at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.
After completing her undergraduate work in biology, she moved to Japan and taught English to get by.
Kimura said that while teaching in Japan, she realized that teaching was her calling in life.
“I have an affinity toward second language acquisition, the language arts learning of a new language.,” Kimura said.
Kimura said she enjoyed her time in Japan.
“I was able to travel a lot, Taiwan, South Korea and Indonesia,” Kimura said. “This was a very stress-free period in my life, it was interesting.”
Kimura began to get her master’s degree at New York Teacher’s College Columbia University in Tokyo. She finished her post-graduate work in New York.
Kimura said she dreams that one day she may be able to finish her Doctorate.
Kimura noted that she was not too good with asking questions when she was in school.
“I’d like to see us all to have a natural curiosity,” Kimura said. “To know more, be inquisitive and want to learn.”