While many Honors students aspire to study abroad, they often choose to forgo travel to fulfill their course requirements here in Philadelphia, which were previously limited outside of Temple’s Main Campus. Now, the program has expanded, and a comprehensive Honors curriculum has launched at the Temple Kyoto location in fall 2025. The program is an extension of Honors as it exists on Main Campus, and the requirements are exactly the same at all locations. Not only will this expand opportunities for Main Campus students, but it will also provide a way for exceptional full-time Temple University Japan (TUJ) students to take advantage of the Honors curriculum. Plus, there is now an option for Honors students to spend their first year abroad.
“The introduction of an Honors Program at TUJ reflects our commitment to providing academically ambitious students with a rigorous and enriching learning experience,” said Yasuko Taoka, associate dean of academic affairs at TUJ.
Amanda Neuber, director of the Honors Program, is excited to bring Honors options to TUJ students. She also explained that the lack of Honors course options available at Temple’s international locations often prevented Honors students from studying abroad. “For many students, it wasn’t worth the additional cost in time and money to go somewhere where they couldn’t continue to progress in their academic program, both their major, but also their Honors requirements,” she said. “So one of my goals was to remove as many barriers as humanly possible.”
Kyoto was the first choice of location for the Honors Program both because of the city’s size and its environment. Being a smaller, more rural city than Tokyo, Kyoto provides a quieter environment for students to focus on their coursework. The number of students enrolled at the Kyoto location is also smaller than any of Temple’s other international locations, so it was chosen for its ability to foster community among this smaller group of students. “Our mission was to build an even smaller-feeling, individualized, cohort-based program within Kyoto,” Neuber said. The goal is for the program to eventually extend to the Tokyo campus as well.
English Professor Amy Friedman has found that the location, as well as the drive of the Honors students studying in Kyoto, has fostered community within the cohort. “Here, the intimacy and the small size of the place seem to promote the group coming together in a good way,” she said. “There seems to be a lot of social connection.”
Friedman, whose research focuses on satire, is teaching the foundational English course for Honors students, Honors Analytical Reading and Writing, in Kyoto. Along with clips from Saturday Night Live and songs by Tom Lehrer, Friedman has added in some Japanese political cartoons and literature. “Yes, we’re in Japan, but everybody’s coming [to Temple] for an American education,” she said.
For some students, having the option to take this mandatory Honors course while studying abroad means the difference between studying abroad and staying home. For senior biology major and chemistry minor Giuliana Bucci, it meant she could expand her role as a peer instructor—a senior who co-teaches the Honors first-year seminar with Taoka.
“At first I was disappointed that I couldn’t be a peer instructor this semester because I’m studying abroad, so for this to be here is such a cool opportunity,” Bucci said. “Being a peer instructor helped me understand my own teaching capabilities, so doing that in a new setting is going to be really interesting to explore.”
Bringing the Honors Program to Kyoto will not only expand learning possibilities for Temple students, but also for students from all over Asia looking for American-style education. Eventually, Neuber also hopes to start a one-to-one exchange program for Japanese and American students. But for now, having the option for Honors-level courses in Kyoto gives an elevated global perspective to the students who take them.
“I think that Honors courses in Kyoto are going to enable students to combine inquiry, curiosity, learning and genuine adventure,” Friedman said.
AloJapan.com