A phone call redirected my career and changed my life forever. Dr. Theodore Chen, chair of the East Asian Studies Department, was on the other end of the line that day in the spring of 1963. He told me the University of Southern California (USC) had received a grant from the Carnegie Foundation to pilot a Japanese language program for the Los Angeles Unified School District. He knew me from my college days at USC where I was active in campus organizations, as well as having taken courses in the department. He asked if I would be interested in interviewing for one of the three schools: Dorsey,…