The Shelby County Post is going international.

Professor Todd Jay Leonard, a professor in Japan who is originally from Shelbyville, Indiana, is now a “Featured Contributor” to the Shelby County Post.

His first column he refers to as “Letters Home,” is online at www.shelbycountypost.com now.

Born and raised in Shelbyville, Leonard has called Japan home for over 34 years. He is a professor at the University of Teacher Education Fukouka in Kyushu, where he lives.

Leonard was recently honored as the recipient of the 2022-2023 Frank P. Forwood Award for Academic Excellence in Presented Research.

The award was announced by the Association for the Scientific Study of Religion (ASSR) at the annual meeting of the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies (SWCRS) on March 4 in Irving, Texas.

The Frank P. Forwood Award for Academic Excellence in Presented Research was created in 2008 to honor the service and dedication of Frank P. Forwood, a founding member and long-time program chair of the ASSR. He was a Professor of Sociology and Religion at Northeast Louisiana University (now the University of Louisiana-Monroe) for more than 30 years.

Dr. Forwood passed away in 2007 and the award commemorates his memory, honoring his career service to the ASSR and SWCRS and his many contributions to the study of religion in society.

By virtue of being the recipient of the 2022-2023 Forwood Award, Professor Leonard will be serving as a member of the ASSR awards committee for the 2023-2024 Forwood Award selection process.

From 2020 Professor Leonard has served as the Department Head for the English Section for the Graduate School of Education. His research and teaching areas encompass several areas, most notably the history of religion (specifically the American-made religion of Spiritualism); cross-cultural understanding and studies; curriculum and materials development in English as a Foreign Language; and English Education.

Prior to his current position at Fukuoka University of Education (since 2010), he taught for 18 years at Hirosaki Gakuin University in Japan. In addition, he served as an Assistant Language Teacher on the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET Program) from 1989-1992, and was a course coordinator in the Spanish Department at Purdue University from 1988-1989 where he oversaw a paced-Spanish program for undergraduate students.

Leonard has lived in Madrid, Spain, San Jose, Costa Rica, and Fukuoka, Japan.

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