Carol Ann Newman Gluck '62

Alumnae Achievement Awards 1993

Professor of Japanese History

Carol Ann Newman Gluck, a professor in modern Japanese history, graduated from Wellesley in 1962 with a degree in philosophy. Her interest in Japan began when she was in high school, and after graduating, she traveled to Asia to explore the Far East and the Middle East.

Gluck’s interest in Japan persisted, and she received her master’s and Ph.D. in Japanese history from Columbia University. She joined the faculty of Columbia’s Oriental Studies department in 1974 as a preceptor in Japanese history. Gluck has had several opportunities to study and teach at Japan’s Tokyo University. From 1972-1974, she served as a foreign research fellow for the law faculty at Tokyo University while working on her Ph.D. dissertation, and she has served as a visiting professor at the university several times.

Currently, Gluck is the George Sansom Professor of History at Columbia University. In 2006, she received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, from the Japanese government, and in 2002, she was awarded the Japan-United States Fulbright Program Distinguished Scholar Award. Gluck also holds positions with associations such as the Asia Society, the Japan Society, and the Council of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has published several books and articles about Japan, and her recent focus of study has been on Japan from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.