Steve Wills, assistant professor of history, will deliver the Faculty Scholarship Presentation, “Tokyo’s Burning: Fires, Firefighters, and Fighting About Fire in the Shogun's Capitol.”
His lecture will be held Wednesday, March 4 at noon in Olin B Lecture Hall.
Wills specializes in the social and cultural history of cities in early modern Japan, with a particular emphasis on the environmental history of Edo-Tokyo in the 19th century.
He is fluent in Japanese and has lived in Japan where he has taught high school English.
Wills has taught at Nebraska Wesleyan in 2010, the same year he completed his doctorate in East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University. In addition to teaching classes on the history of China, Japan, and the 20th century world, he also directs the Global Studies Program.
The annual Faculty Scholarship Presentation is presented by the university’s Forum Committee to highlight the scholarship of NWU faculty. Faculty are nominated and selected by the Forum Committee and provost.