Shige Sakurai Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SOE Faculty
- Degrees
- International MBA, IE Business School (Madrid, Spain); MA in International Training and Education, American University (Washington, DC); AB in Liberal Arts and Sciences with Sociology major and Computer Science minor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Bio
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Shige Sakurai (they/them) is the Special Assistant for Equity, Belonging, and Change in the Office of the President at the Unitarian Universalist Association. In this role, Shige is the senior diversity affairs executive for the progressive religious denomination, where they advance institutional transformation strategies for liberation and multicultural flourishing.
Shige is also adjunct professor for American University’s International Training and Education Program; executive educator for University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center; and Editorial Board member for Including Disability journal. They previously served as a diversity expert at University of Maryland, College Park, and director at a national social justice advocacy nonprofit.
Through their advocacy, Shige received the first officially nonbinary, X-marker driver’s license in the United States. Shige founded International Pronouns Day, which has been conducted in dozens of countries, created a number one globally trending hashtag, and has been acknowledged on social media by the U.S. Department of State and UN Women, and through formal proclamations from the Governor of Virginia and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Shige has spoken at numerous U.S. federal agencies and dozens of universities, including Princeton, Yale, and Cornell. They have been quoted by global media, including Washington Post, CNN, Reuters, and BBC. Shige has an essay published by Oxford University Press. Shige’s website, Pronouns.org, has reached over 15 million people and was archived by the Library of Congress.
Shige is an alum of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, American University, IE University, and Harvard Divinity School. They earned certificates from Parsons, Georgetown, University of Miami, Wesley Theological Seminary, and Smithsonian Associates. Shige’s qualifications encompass sociology, computer science, education, management, ministry, art history, photography, and coaching.
The Reverend Shige Sakurai is ordained Druid clergy. They are also a Unitarian Universalist with atheist, Shinto, Buddhist, and Christian heritages.
- For the Media
- To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.
Teaching
Spring 2025
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EDU-627 Skills Institutes in Education: Div/Inclusion in Training Pgm