The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership are pleased to announce that Sheila Smith has joined the advisory committee for the U.S.-Japan Network for the Future program. Dr. Smith is an expert on Japanese politics and foreign policy and a senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Her participation in the committee will enhance its mission to provide guidance to a new generation of Japan specialists in the U.S.-Japan Network for the Future.
Three cohorts of scholars have been selected for the Network for the Future program since its
establishment. The first two cohorts have completed the program; the third cohort recently concluded a week-long Japan study trip. Dr. Smith and the other advisory committee members will guide the third cohort through the remainder of their two-year program, which will conclude with a public symposium in Summer 2016. She also will lend her expertise to the process of recruiting and selecting a fourth cohort of Network for the Future scholars in late 2015.
“We are honored that Dr. Smith has agreed to join the advisory committee for the Network for the Future,” said Mansfield Foundation President and CEO Frank Jannuzi. “Dr. Smith’s policy expertise and her extensive experience researching and writing about Japan’s domestic politics, regional relations, and alliance with the United States make her exceptionally well-qualified to guide emerging Japan specialists as they build their own knowledge of Japan as well as their policy skills and networks.”
“We are extremely pleased that she is joining the other esteemed advisors in guiding this program,” said Junichi Chano, Executive Director of the Center for Global Partnership (CGP). “CGP has collaborated with Dr. Smith on numerous occasions, including her current work with the U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Exchange (CULCON). I am confident that her experience in policy and academia, as well as her in-depth understanding of U.S.-Japan relations, will be a great asset to the Network. We look forward to continuing to strengthen the U.S.-Japan partnership through this meaningful program.”
Prior to joining the Council on Foreign Relations in 2007, Dr. Smith directed a multinational research team at the East-West Center. From 2007-2008, she was a visiting scholar at Keio University. She also has been a visiting researcher at the Japan Institute of International Affairs, the Research Institute for Peace and Security, the University of Tokyo, and the University of the Ryukyus. Dr. Smith is vice chair of the U.S. advisors to the CULCON and an adjunct professor at the Asian Studies Department of Georgetown University. She earned her MA and PhD degrees from Columbia University.