Lakeland Mirror

Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Alan Brender Alan Brender shakes the hand of Shinjuku's mayor, Ms. Hiroko Nakayama. He met her after contacting several city hall officials in his quest to promote Lakeland College Japan.

Lakeland College offers a variety of study abroad programs for students to choose from. One of those programs is Lakeland College Japan (LCJ), a campus located in Tokyo. I was able to talk to LCJ's senior administrator Alan Brender via email to ask about himself, LCJ, and life in Japan.

For those who don't know who Alan Brender is, he is the assistant dean at Lakeland College. He has been working at Lakeland's Tokyo campus since January of 2006.

Brender received his B.A. from Wayne State University, his M.A. from Columbia University, and his Ed.D from Temple University. Before coming to Lakeland College, Brender taught journalism and communications at various Universities including the University of Maryland and Temple University Japan.


Brender also worked for The Chronicle of Higher Education, a newspaper based out of Washington, D.C. He was a correspondent, reporting on news from Japan and South Korea.

Brender has written for various publications such as TV Guide, The South China Morning Post, and TV Stars and Starlog. He even got a chance to meet Star Trek's creator Gene Rodenbury and tour the Starship Enterprise.


Currently, Brender is senior administrator of LCJ. He also serves as advisor for LCJ's school newspaper The Lakeshore which published its first issue last December.

They hope to publish at least two issues each semester once they get more members.
LCJ has about 250 students attending this semester. Of that number, two students, one from Michigan and another from Illinois, are the only Study Abroad Program participants at LCJ this semester.

Brender realizes that it is not easy for students to choose non-English countries to study abroad in.

"If students decide to study at Japanese universities," Brender explained. "In nearly all cases, they have to study in Japanese. There are only a few schools where they can study in English at the undergraduate level; LCJ is one of these."

Brender would also like to see more students from Lakeland College join the Study Abroad Program.

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