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Frederick Kavanagh

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Frederick Kavanagh Assistant Professor of World Languages and Cultures fred.kavanagh@valpo.edu 219.464.5311 ASB 254

Education

Ph.D. in Japanese – University of Hawaii
M.A. in Russian – University of Virginia
B.A. in French – Middlebury College

Biography

Professor Kavanagh developed an early interest in foreign languages and cultures that led him to the formal study of French (B.A., Middlebury College), Russian (M.A., University of Virginia) and Japanese (Ph.D., University of Hawaii). Having worked as a printer, book editor, and Russian-English intelligence translator, he now devotes his full-time effort to teaching and scholarship at Valparaiso University. Professor Kavanagh has produced many fine translations from classical Japanese and Russian, and a recent translation appeared in Monumenta Nipponica. He also is completing his translation of the Shinkokinshu, an anthology of 2,000 Japanese poems (tanka) compiled at imperial command in 1205. On the Valpo faculty since 1987, Professor Kavanagh teaches three years of Japanese language as well as courses in Japanese literature, pre-modern Japanese poetry, and Kana calligraphy. He is the head of Japanese language studies in the East Asian section of the foreign languages and literatures department.