MU| F e a t u r e s
F
or Toru Kataoka, the journey
to Manchester started in
Hiroshima nearly 25 years ago.
The then-sophomore at
Hokusei Gakuen University (HGU) in
Sapporo, Japan, visited the memorial where
an atomic bomb in the last days of World
War II killed nearly 150,000 people. At the
historic site, Kataoka purchased a book
about peace studies and, in it, discovered
that the world’s first undergraduate Peace
Studies Program started at a place called
Manchester.
For the young Kataoka, Manchester seemed
the perfect place for exploring how to cool
conflicts before they escalated into white-
hot horrors like Hiroshima. Inspired to
learn more, he sent a letter to Professor
Ken Brown, then director of Manchester’s
program. “I’d like to study with you,”
Kataoka wrote.
The letter launched an enduring friendship
that brought Kataoka to Manchester in
1995 as an exchange student through BCA
Study Abroad. In fact, it was Professor
Allen Deeter ’53 who expanded BCA to
include Kataoka’s school. Now an associate
professor at HGU, Kataoka returned to
Manchester this past year as a visiting
scholar. His research is shining new light
on the 15-year presidency of Vernon F.
Schwalm ’13 and what Kataoka calls “the
deep history” of how MU’s Peace Studies
Program began. He plans to write a book
about it.
As an exchange student, Kataoka absorbed
the thought-provoking courses of
professors that included Brown, Benson
Onyeji and Marcia Benjamin ’78, among
others. He connected with Ed Miller ’56,
who had directed BCA in Sapporo, and
Martha Showalter ’56 Miller. He made
new friends, American and international.
He enjoyed the camaraderie of Garver
Hall and late-night conversations in the
“fishbowl.” For spending money, he washed
dishes in the Union cafeteria.
Sapporo, a city of 2 million, and North
Manchester, a town of 6,000, seemed worlds
apart. But the friendly community that
welcomed and supported him made the
adjustment easier.
This past year, Kataoka brought his wife,
Emi, daughter Nanami, 10, and son Haruki,
8, to experience Manchester for themselves.
The Kataokas sent Nanami and Haruki to
Manchester Intermediate and Elementary
School and lived across the street from Katy
Gray Brown ’91, an associate professor and
director of the Peace Studies Institute and
Program in Conflict Resolution her father
once led.
In his research, Kataoka painstakingly
examined Schwalm’s documents housed in
the MU Archives. Though Gladdys Muir
gets praise for founding the Peace Studies
Program, Schwalm doesn’t get nearly enough
credit, says Kataoka. Schwalm envisioned an
undergraduate program that would reflect
Church of the Brethren values and train
leaders for peace work. He embraced an
interdisciplinary approach to the program
that endures to this day. Schwalm also
convinced Muir to leave the University of
LaVerne in Southern California for Indiana.
“Manchester was lucky to have him,” adds
Kataoka. “He had a mission.”
As revenue dropped and the faculty was cut,
Schwalm steadied the ship as best he could.
After the war, when the GI Bill flooded U.S.
campuses with students, Schwalm rebuilt
the faculty, personally hiring many of the
gifted teachers who would enrich Manchester
academics for decades.
In many ways, Kataoka benefitted from
Schwalm’s contributions. As a prestigious
Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, he attended
the University of Bradford in England,
where he earned his master’s degree in peace
studies. Today, in addition to teaching, he
coordinates peace studies at HGU, where
he has arranged for visits from Ken Brown,
Katy Gray Brown and Thelma Rohrer
’84, now dean of the College of Arts and
Humanities.
Now he wants other university students to
have the same opportunities he had. He’s
guided several HGU students to MU for
peace studies, including Satomi Imai ’12,
who now attends Bradford. For Kataoka
it’s personal. Hiroshima and Nagasaki must
never happen again. He knows that peace
begins with friendship, especially the kind
that stretches from Sapporo to Manchester
and back again.
By Melinda Lantz ’81
A Century of Faith, Learning and Service by Timothy
K. Jones was a source for this story.
Indeed, Schwalm led Manchester through
extraordinary times. The United States
entered World War II a few months after
he became president. Over the next several
years enrollment plummeted as male students
were drafted or enlisted in the military or the
Civilian Public Service. In the fall of 1941,
Manchester’s enrollment was 645 but by fall
1944 it had plummeted to 410 – 315 women
and only 95 men.
Manchester | 29