Yoshiharu Higa Professor of Photography Southampton College 293 Montauk Highway Southampton, NY 11968-4196 TEL: (516) 287-8431/8439 FAX: (516) 287-8435 Yoshi Higa came to the United States from Japan in 1964, just before the Tokyo Olympics. He was then a young artist with a dream of the great challenge presented by the TJ.S., and New York the acclaimed center of the art world. It was a heady time for Yoshi; his Paintings and prints caught on -- he received many commissions, had his first one-man exhibition of paintings in 1967, and was featured in a Life Magazine article. Yoshi started his teaching career as an Adjunct Professor at Upsala College (New Jersey). He then joined the faculty at Mt. St. Vincent College (Riverdale, New York) and was a visiting professor at the San Francisco Art Institute and at Pratt Institute. During this period he attended Columbia University and graduated with his M.F.A. Degree in 1977. In September of that year Yoshi joined the faculty at Southampton Campus. Through his efforts over the years, the college boasts a vibrant photography department which hosts the Southampton Master Photography Workshop each summer. This program invites internationally recognized professional photographers to lead workshops for semi-professional photographers and students from the U.S., Japan, Korea and Europe. Yoshi is a strong believer in the enrichment gained by multicultural experience and while developing programs at Southampton he has also spearheaded projects in Japan. He is the Founder and Executive Director of the Okinawa Photography Symposium, a biennial event which invites professional photographers from around the world to meet and exchange ideas. With the same philosophy for his students, Yoshi, in conjunction with an artist friend from Kagawa Prefecture, started the Young Artists Festival in Shionoc, Japan. This program takes students from the U.S., Europe and Korea to this small mountain town in Japan where they join Japanese students in home-stays hosted by the villagers, and experience firsthand the community's work and culture. Yoshi's C.V.