![Shina Kan portrait](https://oiss.yale.edu/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/shina_inoue_kan.png?itok=qKfpxq3f&c=751fc2c6834fabb5dc4a64a807226faf)
Shina Kan was born on the island of Honshu in 1899. She completed her undergraduate studies at Japan Women’s University and spent a year at the Punahou School in Hawaii. She attended Yale Divinity School courses and received her Ph.D in Philosophy from Yale Graduate School in 1927. Later in life, she took additional courses in social welfare at Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary in New York.
As a professor at Japan Women’s University, she represented the Japan Association of University Women at the Pan-Pacific Women’s Conferences in Hawaii and Manila. Dr. Kan spent 40 years as an academic while simultaneously pursuing her work in furthering women's rights. She was a member of the executive board of the Japan Women’s Peace Association and reported on their progress to the Institute of Pacific Relations, an international NGO established in 1925.
Considering the time period, Dr. Kan’s many leadership roles are impressive. They include dean of the Department of Social Welfare at Japan Women's University, member of the executive board for the International Association of Schools of Social Work, and president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1963.