Thirty Years in the Classroom: What Professor Valdorian Cline Reveals About LUJ

At the end of the spring 2026 semester, Lakeland University Japan students awarded Professor Cline the 2025/2026 annual David Black Teaching Excellence Award. 

For thirty-three years, Professor Valdorian Cline has taught students who have come from around the world to learn at Lakeland University Japan. As a key faculty member of the English for Academic Purposes program, Professor Cline has sought not simply to improve students’ language skills, but to help them rethink their own potential studying ability. Having joined LUJ in 1993, just two years after it opened, Professor Cline’s English for Academic Purpose (EAP) classroom philosophy has helped develop the university’s modern academic approach that students experience from EAP, to the undergraduate level and through to the postgraduate school: More academic conversation, more international dialogue, and instilling a belief in students that they are capable of far more than they initially imagine. 

Mr. Shun Arai, an LUJ alumnus who was a student of Professor Cline’s EAP classes, remembered how his teacher’s enthusiasm drove the students to improve their language abilities and helped them pursue an international future, saying, “I don’t want to lose that attitude and that motivation.” Mr. Arai has gone on to further English language studies, specializing in psychology at the University of Victoria in Canada.  

Mr. Yingzhu Lai, another student of Professor Cline’s who is currently in LUJ’s postgraduate program, also reflected on his unique experience in the class, noting that each EAP’s teacher has their own profound and inimitable perspective, “Their leadership and teaching style influences their classes, and distinct outcomes. For example, in one of Professor Cline’s memorable lessons, he immersed us in Bach’s fugue, which he brought to class to teach the relationship between music and language.” Like the independent voices in a Bach fugue, students in LUJ classrooms are encouraged to develop individual perspectives while contributing to a larger intellectual conversation.

Professor Cline explained almost his three decades of dedication to LUJ’s EAP program by saying, “I taught undergraduate writing courses before, but I chose to return to the EAP program because of its unique educational freedom…” He described EAP classes to explore topics across science, literature, history, music, and art, all while developing students’ English proficiency. However, the undergraduate program often focuses on fixed content within the details, which could bring precision and complete concepts in certain academic fields.

When asked what the greatest challenge has been during his time teaching at LUJ, Professor Cline noted that the greatest barrier to his teaching English as a second language is students’ fear of grammar. Many students enter the EAP program believing grammar is naturally difficult because of negative educational experiences that insist upon stressful grammar tests and public correction in class. However, having taught thousands of students from countless countries. He observes that once students start to find confidence in their English abilities, the specific skills needed to succeed in LUJ’s undergraduate and postgraduate programs naturally develop. 

After more than 30 years, Professor Cline’s presence at Lakeland University Japan continues to inspire staff, students and faculty. His method of teaching and professional philosophy has become embodied in the fabric of LUJ, ensuring that successful teaching is quantified not only through curriculum goals or by focusing on setting strict grade limits, but by proudly acknowledging that learning is a joy in and of itself. Professor Cline embodies all that is best about working and studying at an American university in Tokyo when he says that  “My greatest joy in a class is seeing students reach an achievement that they thought was beyond their ability.”