JAPANESE PROFESSOR A VISITING SCHOLAR

Southeast Missouri State University's Center for Faulkner Studies has named a Japanese professor of American literature its 1999 recipient of the Biokyowa Visiting Scholar award.

Ikuko Fujihira of Tokyo Gakugei University is visiting the Faulkner Center this month as the first participant in the cultural exchange program. The program is designed to bring Japanese scholars to Southeast to use research materials in the Brodsky Collection and the Faulkner Center.

She is scheduled to be on campus through March 11.

During her stay, she will present a public lecture titled, "Three Nobel Laureates: William Faulkner, Toni Morrison and Kenzaburo Oe." The lecture will be held at 7 p.m. Monday in Crisp Hall Auditorium.

She also will visit a number of university classes.

Fujihira has studied and taught Faulkner's novels for more than 30 years and is one of the founding officers of the Faulkner Society of Japan. She is co-editor-in-chief of The William Faulkner Journal of Japan.