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Through 25 years at ���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������, TEA’s successes have reflected the expertise, creativity, energy, and dedication of our staff, each of whom has invigorated our program with innovative teaching pedagogies and course content, new directions and perspectives, and scholarship. Over the years, our staff has brought new ideas for funding, program design, and services. In this anniversary year, TEA highlights our past staff members and their impact on our program.

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Yoshie Arima,�� TEA Graduate Assistant/Japan Projects Staff Associate, 2008-2010; Consultant, 2013.��Yoshie joined TEA as a graduate assistant while pursuing her MA in Japanese at ���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������, becoming an asset to our program with her knowledge of Japan and technology. Yoshie was one of a team of co-leaders on our 2008 study tour to Japan. She changed the face of TEA with a website redesign before leaving TEA to teach with the Japan Foundation in Syria in 2010.��

Yoshie returned to Colorado and joined the teaching faculty at ���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������ Department of Asian Languages and Literatures in 2012. As a TEA consultant in 2013, she co-led the TEA study tour to Japan. Since 2016, Yoshie has been a staff member at the American Association of Teachers of Japanese, with an office just down the hall from TEA.

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Dr. Lauren Collins, ��TEA/NCTA Staff Associate, 2008-2011; TEA/NCTA Consultant, 2019-present.��Lauren joined TEA following her completion of her MA in China Studies at the University of Washington. Lauren launched TEA’s first Startalk Chinese Language program with a grant from the U.S. National Security Agency in 2010. She co-directed the first two programs. With her experience studying in Taiwan, Lauren was also the principal driver in TEA’s expansion to include Taiwan in its programming. Lauren planned TEA’s first study tour in Taiwan in 2010 and co-directed the program on the ground, an experience she credits with helping formulate her ideas about experiential learning and her professional research interests in the politics of memory, both of which she applied to her own study tours to Taiwan later as ���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������ faculty.��

Lauren left TEA to spend a year as a Fulbright Teaching Fellow in Macau in 2011. She returned to Colorado to pursue a PhD and continued to build her expertise in experiential education by leading study programs in Asia for high school students and adults. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Montana, Lauren again returned to Colorado, this time as Program Director of Asian Studies and Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, which she describes as her dream job.��Lauren oversees the curricular aspects of the Asian Studies program, and teaches courses that explore topics such as urbanization, U.S.-China relations, and the politics of memory. Lauren continues to contribute courses that are innovative in content and pedagogical design for NCTA at TEA and at the University of Washington.

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Janet Hoaglund, ��TEA/NCTA Staff Associate and Japan Projects Coordinator, 1998-2005.��Janet joined the Rocky Mountain Japan Project as it expanded with Freeman Foundation funding to become the Program for Teaching East Asia. ��She moved with the program to the University of Colorado in 2001. With her background growing up in Japan and her previous experience as an elementary teacher, Janet built a significant workshop program for Colorado elementary teachers through TEA’s Colorado Consortium for Teaching about Asia. As coordinator of TEA’s “It’s Elementary Service Learning Project: Japan,” Janet expanded the program over five years. In her final year at TEA, CU undergraduate interns made 55 visits to Boulder, providing introductions to Japanese culture for 375 first-grade students, and presented activities for children who attended the University of Colorado Asia Day. Janet directed or co-directed four summer study tours in Japan between 2000-2004, including TEA’s two programs for Colorado high school students in 2003 and 2005.

Janet left TEA to return to classroom teaching, retiring in 2016. In her retirement, Janet volunteers with Classrooms for Climate Action, raising funds to ease local and world hunger through the annual Boulder County CROP Hunger Walk, caring for grandchildren, traveling, gardening, and working for social change.

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Dr. Hong Yue, ��China Project Graduate Assistant, 2000-2002; TEA Consultant, 2007-2010.��Hong Yue came to CU from Beijing for the Master’s program in��Chinese literature. She moved on to Harvard for her PhD and then became a professor at Kalamazoo College, teaching courses in Chinese language, literature, and film. In 2018, she returned to Beijing, where her research and teaching at the Renmin University of China focus on medieval Chinese literature, gender studies, and translation studies.��

During her years at Kalamazoo, Yue rejoined TEA as a study tour faculty and translator for NCTA China study tours in 2007 and 2010. Yue wrote, “When I think back on those trips, what I remember most vividly is accompanying (a sick teacher) to a hospital in Taipei. The entire experience was remarkable. It was my first time visiting a hospital in Taiwan, and I remember that the other TEA participants and I were all amazed by the efficiency and affordability of Taiwan’s healthcare system. I think this is an example of how important firsthand human experience is. While AI may provide endless knowledge, it cannot provide lived experience. For me, working for TEA is one of my most cherished experiences.”��

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Leena Sickler Howard, ��Undergraduate Assistant; “It’s Elementary” Project Co-coordinator; Study Tour Staff, 2005-2007��

“Looking back now, my time working with TEA at ���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������ is one of the most meaningful and defining��parts of my college experience. In many ways, it is THE THING that I remember��most clearly from my years at CU when everything else kind of blurs together…. The Center for Asian Studies and the TEA program … gave me the opportunity to contribute something meaningful by sharing my knowledge of Japanese language, culture, and traditions, and to be part of something greater than myself.��

Whether it was visiting kindergarten and first-grade classrooms in the Boulder Valley School District to share cultural lessons, working with teachers eager to learn about Japan, participating in workshops and cultural events, translating, supporting symposiums, or traveling to Japan through the lens of children's literature, those experiences shaped who I was becoming. Working alongside… so many wonderful educators and colleagues left a lasting impression on me. I perhaps didn't realize it then, but I fully realize it now.��

Although my career ultimately led me into finance--and I don't directly use my Japanese language degree today--those years at TEA continue to define me.��

As for what I ended up doing for my work outside the home: Senior financial services executive specializing in compliance leadership, advisor programs, and operational strategy with 15+ years of experience driving growth while maintaining regulatory excellence.”

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Melanie King, ��TEA/NCTA Staff Associate, Japan Projects Coordinator, 2001-2005; TEA Consultant, 2006-present. Melanie began her continuing association with TEA as an undergraduate volunteer for the It’s Elementary Service Project, later joining the TEA staff in 2001. During her four years at TEA, Melanie contributed to all TEA programs, coordinating NCTA seminars and conducting workshops and summer institutes. Melanie brought her art history background to many of TEA’s workshops and summer institutes. A highlight of Melanie’s mark on TEA was our 2004 project that brought the MIT Visualizing Cultures traveling exhibit to Boulder. Melanie developed an art history elective for CU students, whom she then mentored as exhibit docents, guiding K-12 classes and the public through the exhibit. Melanie led or co-led six study tours in China and Japan for TEA between 2002 and 2017.

After moving to Seattle in 2006 to pursue her MA in Art History at the University of Washington, Melanie began teaching courses for the NCTA national site at the University of Washingon’s East Asia Resource Center. In Seattle, she spent over 10 years in faculty and administrative positions in the University of Washington community college system and most recently, earned a Master’s degree in Social Justice and Education. Melanie now works as an independent scholar. Her current areas of research are focused on decolonizing Asian art history and museum collections and addressing representation in the arts and education. Melanie has remained one of TEA’s and NCTA’s most valued contributors. She continues to teach courses that share her research with K-12 teachers through NCTA at the University of Colorado and the University of Washington.

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Karla Loveall, ��China Projects Coordinator, 1998-2005; TEA/NCTA Assistant Director, 2002-2006; NCTA Consultant, 2007-2011.��Karla had just returned from 2 years teaching in Wuhan, China when she joined the renamed and expanded Program for Teaching East Asia in 1998. Karla was instrumental in building TEA’s new China initiative and designing our first China study tour in 1999. Karla was a key contributor in the growth years of TEA in the early 2000s, as the program added the Colorado Consortium for Teaching about Asia (2002-2008) and expanded the “It’s Elementary Service Project” to include China, placing CU student interns in local elementary classrooms to introduce elements of Chinese culture. Karla led or co-led four study tours to China and five summer institutes, as well as four NCTA 30-hour seminars during her eight years at TEA.��

Karla left Boulder and TEA in 2006 as her husband pursued his graduate studies. Throughout her career, she has focused on Asia and educational outreach, working on curriculum development with PBS, serving as the outreach coordinator for the Asian Studies center at Duke University, coordinating K-12 student programs at Colgate University and MIT, and teaching occasional courses and summer programs as an NCTA consultant for TEA at the University of Colorado and the Five College Center for East Asian Studies. In 2023, Karla rejoined NCTA as its National Administrator, in which capacity she coordinates communication and publicity for the seven national NCTA director sites.

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Dr. Mindy Landeck, ��TEA/NCTA Staff Associate, 2002-2006. Mindy joined TEA for 4 years between receiving her MA in East Asian Studies at Yale and pursuing her PhD. At TEA, Mindy was lead instructor on NCTA 30-hour seminars in Wyoming and Northern Colorado, as well as summer institute staff and staff on TEA’s 10-day Socratic Seminar in Japan in 2005.��

In 2006, Mindy left TEA to teach Japanese language and literature at Colorado State University, then went on to her PhD in Japanese history at the University of Kansas. Currently, Mindy is Department Chair in East Asian Studies at Austin College in Texas. At Austin, she has continued her commitment to experiential learning and community outreach. She has developed Austin’s signature bi-annual “Jan Term” electives in Asian studies and led two “JanTerm” courses in East Asia for Austin students. She regularly��shares her passion and research on the Japanese tea ceremony, “yokai/monsters,” and other topics with her community.

Mindy continues to present occasional lectures and webinars for TEA and other NCTA sites nationally.

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Dr. Chris McMorran, ��NCTA Staff Associate, 2008-2010. After several years as Graduate Assistant for the CU’s Center for Asian Studies, Chris McMorran joined TEA as a full-time staff member after receiving his PhD in Geography. Chris coordinated NCTA seminars in Colorado partner states and co-led NCTA study tours in China and Japan. Since 2010, he has worked in the Department of Japanese Studies at the National University of Singapore, where he teaches courses on contemporary Japan and regularly takes students to Kyushu.��

Chris writes, "As the lone Geographer in the Department of Japanese Studies at NUS, I have the opportunity to teach about deeply Geographical concepts, like in my course called "Home", and field-based research methods, like in my course about the politics of heritage tourism, which��includes 10 days in Japan.��I also continue to write about Japan and field-based research, including a book about the landscapes and labor of Japanese hospitality called "Ryokan: mobilizing hospitality in rural Japan" (2022).��

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Cam Oetting, ��TEA Librarian, 2008-2020.��TEA has had many energetic and dedicated volunteers over its 25-year history at ���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������. We want to pay special recognition and thanks to Cam Oetting. Cam became involved with TEA in 1987 as a member of the Adams 12 (CO) School District team in the first Rocky Mountain Japan Project study tour. She spent the next 10 years as an active teacher participant and as a retiree, attending TEA workshops and summer programs. After her retirement, she volunteered her skills to become TEA’s resource center librarian. She kept our resource center running for 16 years, until COVID-19 temporarily closed walk-in visitors in 2020.

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Lynn Parisi, ��TEA Director, 1998-2023.��With a teacher colleague, Lynn launched the precursor to TEA—the Rocky Mountain Region Japan Project (RMRJP)—at a Colorado non-profit in 1985. ��Beginning with a grant from the U.S.-Japan Foundation, RMRJP offered professional development programs, study tours, and resources for K-12 teachers in four states. Three years of USJF funding became seven as Lynn broadened RMRJP to include programs and study tours for university pre-service teacher-education faculty.�� In 1997, with funding from the Freeman Foundation to expand programming to include China, RMRJP became Teaching East Asia. With its new name and expanded mission, Lynn moved the project to a new home at the University of Colorado in 2021.��

Lynn credits the funding environment as an important factor in TEA’s success. During her tenure as director, she was able to secure generous, continuous support from the Freeman Foundation, as well as grants from the U.S.-Japan Foundation, the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and other sources, enabling TEA to undertake multi-year professional development programs and curriculum development projects on China and Japan. In 1997, Lynn initiated the annual TEA summer institutes. The institutes have been offered annually since 1998 (with the exception of 2020) and are a hallmark of TEA programming. Among her favorite projects were those that developed resources for and by teachers —the NEH Visualizing Cultures project; “short takes” video series for NCTA; Imaging Japanese History; and the “25th-Anniversary Curriculum Recognition Project.”�� ��

Lynn retired in 2023 after 38 years directing TEA, 23 of those at the University of Colorado. She continues to offer courses through several NCTA national sites and serves as a consultant for the South, Southeast, and West Asia (SSEWA) outreach program at CU’s Center for Asian Studies.��

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Eric Raschke,�� TEA “It’s Elementary” Undergraduate Staff Coordinator, 2006-2008.��Eric’s association with TEA goes back to high school, when he was selected to participate in TEA’s first student study tour in Japan in 2003. Two years later, as a student at ���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������, he volunteered for TEA’s “It’s Elementary Service Project” (IESP). He spent two years visiting first-grade classrooms to teach about Japan, then joined the TEA staff to be the student coordinator of the project during his final two years at CU. Eric wrote about his “It’s Elementary” experience, “I remember my excitement��really growing about teaching, traveling, and especially programs like JET…. That really shaped my dreams for what I wanted to do after graduating, when I got my chance to travel all over Asia and learn while teaching. A more specific highlight from the classroom would be teaching elementary students in the Front Range how to use chopsticks, and sharing "Kamishibai" with them.”

After graduating from ���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������ in 2008, Eric spent three years as a JET English teacher in Saga, Japan, where he met his wife. Back in Colorado after JET, Eric worked for an experiential education program. In 2016, he and his wife decided to return to Saga Prefecture, where they are now raising their two children. Eric currently teaches English at Nishikyushu��University.

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Jessica Rodd Rothman, ��TEA “It’s Elementary” Undergraduate Coordinator, 2004-2006; Staff Associate, 2007-2008.��As a freshman at CU, Jessica began volunteering for TEA’s undergraduate service-learning project. She spent two years visiting Boulder first-grade classrooms before becoming “It’s Elementary” student coordinator in her junior and senior years. Jessica honed her teaching skills, developed curriculum, and mentored other undergrads as the program grew in its early years. She staffed her first teacher study tour with TEA in her final year at CU. Jessica returned to TEA after graduation as Japan project staff, assisting on summer institutes and co-coordinating another Japan study tour for elementary teachers.

After leaving TEA, Jessica spent 10 years on staff at the Concordia Japanese Language Village, nine of those years as Dean of the camp, from 2005-2014. Jessica’s career took her to the Boulder (CO) Valley Schools, where she has spent the almost 20 years, first as a K/1 and ELD teacher, and district wide instructional coach, and now as an assistant principal.

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Laurel Singleton, ��TEA Editor, 2004-2021.��For 17 years, Laurel perfected every lesson, curriculum project, and proposal that came out of TEA. When Jen Spolnik left to teach in China in 2010, Laurel took on the TEA E-news and served as its editor until COVID-19 gave her the opportunity to retire from her part-time job at TEA and devote her time to her favorite projects—civic education, grandkids, and numerous volunteer jobs.

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Jen Spolnik, ��TEA/NCTA Staff Associate, 2008-2010.��Jen joined TEA in 2008, relocating from Columbus, Ohio and the East Asia Center at the Ohio State University. Jen brought TEA’s publicity and dissemination into the social-media age, launching the TEA E-News in 2008. During her two years at TEA, Jen staffed two summer institutes and a study tour to Japan.��

Jen left TEA to pursue a dream of teaching in China, spending a year teaching English to English majors at Anhui University in Hefei. Returning to Boulder, Jen launched her own web design consulting company, through which she continued to consult for TEA. Jen put her talents to work rejuvenating TEA’s website in 2016 and designing the online platforms for TEA curriculum projects,��/ptea-curriculum/. Currently, Jen is an Instructional Designer in Training and Development, designing online and instructor-led training for various industries.

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Dr. Ping Wang, ��China Project Graduate Assistant and Consultant, 1997-2009. TEA’s first graduate assistant, Ping joined TEA in 1997, when TEA was housed at the Social Science Education Consortium in Boulder. Ping worked with TEA throughout her MA program at ���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������ and beyond. Ping was one of the architects of TEA’s new China program in 1997.�� Ping co-directed TEA’s first China summer institute in 1997. In 1999, she designed TEA’s first summer study tour to China with staff member Karla Loveall. Ping left Colorado to pursue her PhD program in Chinese literature at the University of Washington in 2000, but remained an invaluable consultant to TEA, co-leading seven of our China study tours through 2009.

Ping has been a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin and Princeton. She returned to the University of Washington, where she is Professor of Chinese Literature and Director of the Chinese Language and Literature Graduate Program. Her third book, published in October 2025, is The Poetic Way of Xie Lingyun: Literary Expression and the Natural World,��the first full-length study in English in more than 50 years dedicated to Xie Lingyun, a fifth-century writer often called the father of Chinese landscape poetry.

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Jon Zeljo, ��China Projects Coordinator/NCTA Assistant Director, 2007-2019.��Jon was a high school history teacher in New England when he first took an NCTA seminar in 1999. Eight years later, Jon brought his expertise as the China Program Director at Sidwell Friends School to TEA. Here, he spent 12 years guiding the China Project and contributing to innovations in TEA’s NCTA program. In 2008, Jon led the way in transitioning our NCTA national site to virtual NCTA seminars and courses, a new direction that enabled TEA to significantly expand its services and teacher audience. Jon directed or co-directed TEA/NCTA summer institutes on China throughout his tenure at TEA, while developing and teaching the majority of our NCTA online China offerings. From 2010-2018, Jon spearheaded TEA’s Chinese language project through the federally funded StarTalk initiative.��

Jon left TEA to return to his roots in independent school education, teaching at schools in Colorado and California, before becoming Head of the Upper School at Cincinnati Day School in 2025.

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Dr. Huicong Zhang, ��China Project Graduate Assistant, 2002-2004.��Huicong began her U.S. academic journey at the University of Colorado Boulder, joining TEA as a graduate assistant for her last semesters at CU. She credits TEA with sparking “a lifelong commitment to East Asian studies and international education.” Huicong went on to earn a PhD in East Asian Studies from Harvard University, teach at several universities, and direct a Chinese immersion program in Beijing for Middlebury College.

Huicong later transitioned into public diplomacy and international development, working with the U.S. Department of State to manage international education and cultural exchange programs and to strengthen U.S. partnerships worldwide. Most recently, she served as a development program manager with the USAID Mission in Peru. Over the past decade, Huicong and her family have lived, worked, and adventured across China, Japan, Burma, Egypt, and Peru, with New Delhi, India, next on the horizon. When she’s not working or traveling, Huicong enjoys spending time with her family, swimming, baking, and experimenting with recipes inspired by the many places she has called home.