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Bryant and Alberta Drake Guest Professorship
Call for Applications:
Bryant and Alberta Drake Guest Professor 2026-2027
Kobe College is a liberal arts and sciences college and one of the oldest educational institutions for women in Japan. We are currently accepting applications for the Bryant and Alberta Drake Guest Professorship, a one-year teaching appointment for the 2026-2027 (start April 2026) academic year. The one-year appointment is part of a new program in Architecture in the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences within the School of Life and Environmental Sciences.
We seek someone specializing in the history of Japanese Architecture, preferably with a specialty in the architect William Merrell Vories whose buildings on the Kobe College campus are designated as an Important Cultural Property. We especially welcome applicants who are interested doing fieldwork in the history of Architecture in Japan.
This position is financially supported by the US-based Kobe College Corporation-Japan Education Exchange (KCC-JEE), in conjunction with Kobe College.
Please direct all inquiries to: programs@kccjee.org
Please send all materials, electronically, to programs@kccjee.org
Initial review of applications will begin October 15, 2025.
Bryant and Alberta Drake Guest Professorship
History
Rev. Bryant Drake (1895-1979) joined the Kobe College Corporation Board of Directors in 1948, served as President from 1954-70, and continued as an active Board member until his death. He was deeply involved in higher education as a one-time college president and as an administrator with the United Church of Christ. In 1961, he was awarded the Fourth Order of the Sacred Treasure by the Japanese Government for his services on behalf of education in Japan. In 1982, the KCC Board of Directors voted to establish an endowed chair at Kobe College in his honor, the Bryant Drake Guest Professorship. Following the death of Dr. Drake's widow, Alberta, the Drake family requested that the professorship be renamed the Bryant and Alberta Drake Guest Professorship.
Honoring
Drake Professor Dr. Robert Mason
On November 15, 2017,KCC-JEE lost one of its long time board members, Rob Mason, after a brief illness. Rob joined KCC-JEE in the fall of 2005 and over the years served as chair of the Drake Professorship and as co-president with Dave Therkelsen in 2012.Rob was an important presence on the KCC-JEE board for his belief in international educational exchange, his deep commitment to student learning, and for his genial, kind spirited leadership on the Board. He was also a friend whom we will miss. The Rob Mason Memorial Fund has been established to support the programs that were closest to his heart.
Some past recipients of the Bryant and Alberta Drake Guest Professorship
2004-2005
Dr. Robert Mason, Ph.D.
Professor of
Geography and Urban Studies
Temple University
2008-2009
Dr. Edward K. Chan, PhD
Associate Professor of
Transnational American Studies at Aichi University.
2010 -2011
Owen Montague,
Dance Instructor, Choreographer
2013-2014
Dr. Velma Grover, PhD
Human Sciences
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