Distinguished educator and Chancellor of Kwansei Gakuin University in Nishinomiya, Japan, Dr. Yasushi Kuyama, was born in 1915. He completed the graduate course in Philosophy in 1944 at Kyoto University, one of the ten most prestigious universities in Japan and in Philosophy probably the most prestigious.

In 1946, he was appointed to the faculty of Kwansei Gakuin University where he has had a distinguished career, climaxed by his election as Chancellor in 1974.

He is the author of eight books and the editor of five others to which he also contributed chapters. He has published forty-six articles and has translated into Japanese three of Kierkegaards's shorter works. The range of his interest is broad, including philosophy, ethics, religion, literature, and the arts.

As Chancellor, he has turned his attention toward a reassessment of the university and to the importance to education of international outreach and exchange. In this connection, he has cooperated closely with representatives of SMU in developing the sister-school relation which was officially adopted about eight years ago. That relationship has included an occasional faculty exchange, and there is now a plan underway to begin a student exchange program.

One of Japan's most effective educators, he has achieved distinction as a scholar, teacher, philosopher, and administrator. For more than a quarter of a century, he has explored numerous and varied themes in literature, ethics, and religion and is now regarded as in insightful interpreter of East to West and West to East. As author, editor, and translator, he is responsible for the publication of a large number of books and articles. Now as Chancellor of Kwansei Gakuin University, sister school of Southern Methodist University, he is leading his institution toward a greater awareness of and participation in international relations.

Upon this distinguished man and colleague, Southern Methodist University is pleased to confer the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.