TVS Director of Global Education
Meet Dr. Michael Roemer
When I was eight years old, my family moved to a small town in Japan. At first, we were overwhelmed. We didn't speak the language, we knew almost nothing about the culture, and we weren't exactly sure how the year ahead would go. From day one, we put our trust in the hands of complete strangers—taxi drivers, train conductors, random people we met, my father's colleagues at the university where he would teach, my school, and many, many others. We left everything we knew—our home, our friends, US American pizza, root beer, and all the other things we were beginning to take for granted. What we found, however, was a year of new experiences, new friends, new foods, and a new second home.
Since that year, I have been to Japan eleven other times as a junior in college, Coordinator for International Relations in Kumamoto City Hall on the Japan Exchange Teaching Programme, teacher/trip leader for American high school and college students, and researcher. Each time brings new learning opportunities and new friendships—many of which are completely unplanned.
My childhood experiences abroad taught me the immeasurable value of interacting with people from other countries and cultures. I have learned so much from them about myself, my country, and the world beyond.
It is my hope that I can share similar learning opportunities with students at TVS and around the world. In our highly connected world, traveling abroad is not the only way to experience other cultures. The Global Education Program takes advantage of contemporary technologies to connect our students with others via the Internet. Ultimately, it is our vision that every student at TVS will be given annual, repeated opportunities to interact with people around the world in meaningful ways—intellectually and socially.
Trinity Valley School’s Global Education Program aims to connect all our students and educators with people from around the world.
The DGE’s Responsibilities
The Director of Global Education’s main responsibilities include teaching lessons with all grades (PK-12) about different cultures, histories, and ways of life; collaborating with teachers at TVS and abroad to create virtual learning exchanges in grades K-12 and developing and maintaining online platforms used for cross-cultural communication; working with TVS families to organize home stays for foreign visitors (students and adults) and full-time international students; teaching one section of an Upper School elective (e.g., Religion in Culture, Social Justice, Modern Asia, and others) per semester; communicating with parents, students, and colleagues about on- and off-campus global education opportunities through social media and other outlets; leading and coordinating Trojans Abroad Programs; supporting our families by organizing our all-school annual Multicultural Fairs; filming and editing videos of life at TVS to share with our friends around the world; encouraging faculty to attend global education workshops, talks, or trips abroad; sponsoring the Upper School Junior World Affairs Council, Unity Club, Environmental Club, GSA, and the Student Equity, Inclusion, and Community Committee; and arranging for guest speakers/performances to enhance faculty lessons.
Although there are many other roles the DGE fills, Dr. Roemer is most concerned with connecting our faculty and families with people from different cultures.
About the Director
Dr. Roemer received a Ph.D. in Sociology and an M.A. in Asian Cultures and Languages from The University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in Japanese and Asian Studies (China and Japan) from Connecticut College. A six-month field study in Kyoto, Japan during his junior year abroad at Doshisha University eventually led him to graduate and post-graduate research on Japanese religious practices. After earning his Ph.D., Dr. Roemer taught at Ball State University (Muncie, IN) as an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies. He developed courses on Japanese religions and Buddhism and published a number of works based on his research on Japanese religiousness, festivals, and connections between religion and health. Before graduate school, Dr. Roemer taught Japanese and Asian and African Civilizations at St. Mary’s Hall in San Antonio, TX. He has lived in Japan for about three years (as a second-grader, junior in college, and Kumamoto City Hall employee) and has made eight other shorter trips there with students and for research. Since 2011, he has enjoyed returning to the PK-12 setting in Texas to help make global awareness, global competence, and intercultural interactions an integral part of the TVS education.
Our Global Education programs have been recognized and cited in The Global Educator (J Lindsay, 2016).
Dr. Roemer's publications can be found online at NAIS' Independent Ideas (Nov. 2017) and in the Journal of the European Teacher Education Network (2015), Sociologies of Religion (2015), Handbook of Contemporary Japanese Religions (Brill 2012), Journal of Ritual Studies (2012), Religion and the Social Order (Brill 2006, 2011, and 2015), Atheism and Secularity (Praeger 2010), Social Forces (2010), Japan Forum (2010), Review of Religious Research (2009, 2010), and Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (2007).
Dr. Roemer is the TVS Coordinator (ECO) and Board Treasurer for the European Teacher Education Network, a member of the Global Young Leaders Advisory for the DFW World Affairs Council and the TVS Advisor for our Junior World Affairs Council, a current member of the Youth and Education Committee and the Advisory Board and past Executive Board member (Nagaoka Chair) for Fort Worth Sister Cities International, and a member of the the Global Education Benchmark Group, the Association for Asian Studies and the Fort Worth Japanese Society.
In 2018, Dr. Roemer was named the Fort Worth Sister Cities International Bob Bolen Award for Outstanding Board Leadership, and in 2017 he was named the International Educator of the Year by the DFW World Affairs Council (read the interview with Dr. Roemer from the Texas Tribune (March 1, 2017) about this award and his programs.
To learn more about Dr. Roemer or his publications, please see his full curriculum vita or resume.
Global friendships start here.
