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Michelle Lancaster started with the Asian Affairs Center in fall 2019. Her studies in Asia began in 1996 when she began formally studying Japanese. She has also trained and performed with Bunraku Bay Puppet Theatre since 2010 and has taught at Wellington College in Shanghai. Her courses include content in language, specifically speaking and writing, as well as western culture. She also develops new curricula. Her latest is an American literature course for an online graduate program for Shanghai Normal University. Michelle loves to travel and read. Her academic focus includes western languages, philosophy, western art and literature history, creative and non-fiction writing, as well as direction and stage production for the theatre. She completed her bachelor's degree at the University of Missouri. She has directed, written and produced several of her plays and is an award-winning poet. She worked for The Missouri Review — a top tier literary magazine — as a poetry editor. She worked for the public schools as a Braille typist for the seeing-impaired.