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Obies Abroad

Fellow graduates residing outside the US will appear on two programs presented by the Road to the Future Planning Committee of the Alumni Classes ’67–’72.

The first is “Obies Abroad: Views from Asia,” at 8 PM EDT on Friday, October 24, moderated by Tom Gold ‘70.

Four Oberlin graduates will share their experiences at Oberlin that supported their choice to live abroad in Japan and Taiwan, what adjustments to new cultures they needed to make, what perspectives they gained, how they and others in their country view changes occurring now in the US, and of course questions posed (preferably in advance) by the audience.

 REGISTER 

The second program: “Obies Abroad: Views from Africa, Europe, Canada” will be on Saturday afternoon, November 8, at 2 PM EST (save the date). There will be a separate registration and link.

Here are the bios for the October 24 speakers.

Ann Cary, (’72, Religion), Hiroshima, Japan
I was born and raised in Kyoto, Japan. After Oberlin, I returned to Japan where I decided I must learn and practice speaking Japanese like an adult/professional; free-lance work interpreting and translating (Japanese-English). I returned to Boston area for a master's at BU's School of Education. I married and returned with my husband to Japan where life took us to Osaka, Hokkaido, Ehime, Tokyo, and now Hiroshima. From 1989 to 2025, I taught at the college level: English language, basic interpreting skills and also planned and implemented overseas study programs. We have two daughters, one in Toronto, the other in Shizuoka, Japan; four grandchildren.

Randall L. Nadeau 那原道, Ph.D., (’74, BA Religion and Philosophy) Taipei, Taiwan
Randall is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (Fulbright Taiwan), effective August 1, 2019. Professor Nadeau enjoyed an academic career as a Distinguished Professor of Religion at Trinity University spanning twenty-five years. He is the author of several books and articles on Asian religions, including research on religion in late imperial China, religious life in modern Taiwan, definitions of “religion” and religious concepts in East Asian traditions, and religion and identity. He has taught courses on Cultural Perspectives on Asian Religions, Buddhist Ethics, Japanese Literature of the Spirit World, Approaches to the Study of Religion, Personal Identity in Historical Perspective (a course on the history and society of Taiwan), Being Young in Asia, and Happiness. Dr. Nadeau was a Fulbright scholar hosted by the International College at Tunghai University (Taiwan, 2014-2015) and a faculty development consultant at Rikkyo University (Japan, 2018-2019). He has participated in faculty-led study abroad programs in Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and China. He is devoted to international education, inter-cultural exchange, and multi-disciplinary research. A passionate believer in Fulbright’s values of internationalization, diversity, free inquiry, generosity and service, Dr. Nadeau has overseen a period of unprecedented growth in the Fulbright Program in Taiwan, with over 400 American and Taiwanese grantees per year.

David Wank, (’80, double major in History and East Asian Studies/Chinese Language and Literature), Tokyo, Japan
David served as a Shanxi representative in China from 1980 to 1982. He then earned his PhD in sociology from Harvard University in 1993 and taught at Sophia University in Tokyo until retiring in 2023. He now holds a research position at the Oriental Library in Tokyo, where he pursues research on society, politics, and Buddhism in China, Japan, and globally.

Recent Books: Metamorphosis of Buddhism in China's New Era: Between State, Culture, and Religion, coedited, Bloomsbury 2025; The Space of Religion: Temple, State, and Buddhist Communities in Modern China, coauthored, Columbia UP 2023 (Finalist, Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in Analytical-Descriptive Studies, American Academy of Religion; Honorable Mention, Francis L.K. Hsu Book Prize, Society for East Asian Anthropology), The Global Japanese Restaurant: Mobilities, Imaginaries, and Politics, coedited, Hawaii UP 2023 (Best Book Prize, Association for Study of Food & Society)

Marcus Woo, (’79, Religion) Taipei, Taiwan
Marcus earned his J.D. from Indiana University Bloomington’s Maurer School of Law.  Marcus also attended the Chinese Language School at Middlebury College and is bilingual in English and Chinese. Marcus started his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in Queens, New York.  He became an associate and later partner at Perkins Coie from 1993-2001 and then was a partner at Jones Day in its Beijing and Taipei offices from 2001-2010. Subsequently Marcus was Vice President & General Counsel of HTC Corporation, a global consumer electronics company, and oversaw HTC litigation and transactions and managed a legal team of more than 90 staff across the company responsible for corporate, M&A, litigation and licensing, and patent prosecution and management. He also oversaw global legal affairs for HTC Europe, HTC America and subsidiaries in China. During his career, Marcus has represented telecommunications, information technology and electronics, entertainment software, airlines and aerospace, and industrial and consumer product clients in intellectual property protection and management and technology licensing matters. In 2021 he returned as a partner at the international law firm Perkins Coie LLP in the firm’s Taipei office. In returning to Perkins Coie, Marcus has focused his practice on representing clients in Taiwan and beyond on intellectual property and corporate matters, including U.S. IP litigation work for Taiwanese companies.