Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong

At Johns Hopkins, Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong serves as a lecturer in the MA in Museum Studies and MA in Cultural Heritage Management programs where she draws on her experience as a public historian and museologist.

She currently serves as the executive director of the Japanese American Museum of Oregon in Portland. Wakatsuki-Chong spent 17 years working for state and federal agencies at the Idaho State Historical Society, the U.S. Navy, the National Park Service, and the White House Office of the Chief of Staff, holding roles as Interpretive Specialist, Education Specialist, Chief of Interpretation and Education, Superintendent, and Policy Advisor throughout her government career.

In 2021, she received the Esto Perpetua Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Idaho State Historical Society for her work in preservation of Japanese American incarceration history in Idaho.

Wakatsuki-Chong hold a BS in political science with a minor in Japanese Studies from Boise State University and a MA in museum studies from Johns Hopkins.