My mother, Reiko Yamada, and I both earned our Ph.D.s under John Hawkins at the Social Sciences and Comparative Education Division of the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Sciences. We are shocked over his loss.
I have many valued memories of John — he was special to both of us. When I was a young child, I remember seeing him and my mother while she was a graduate student. I never imagined that I would follow the same path 20 years later.
John helped us both in our educational careers and supported us tremendously over the years. His wife Judy also supported my mother when she was a graduate student, and then myself when I became John’s student.
In 2018, my mother and I were co-editors for a book that Palgrave MacMillan published as part of its International and Development Education series [a series for which Hawkins and W. James Jacob served as co-editors]: “New Directions of STEM Research and Learning in the World Ranking Movement: A Comparative Perspective (https: //www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319986654).”
John had a great influence on me. I sincerely hope to pass on what I learned from him to future generations of students, especially my daughter, since John said he was looking forward to teaching three generations of our family. He was a very inspirational and incredible scholar, educator and mentor who influenced not only my mother and I, but many other students all over the world.
Thank you for everything John, we will miss you greatly!
Written by Aki Yamada
Aki Yamada, Assistant Professor, Tamagawa Unviersity, Tokyo
Reiko Yamada, Professor, Doshisha University, Kyoto
Published: Wednesday, August 12, 2020
