Salary and Raises, (1984-1996)

Scope The Theodore F. Welch collection consists of personal files, correspondence, publications, reports and course materials related to his career at NIU and his professional interest in Japan. There are five series within the collection. Researchers should note that Welch also donated his papers to the University of Illinois. These papers include information on his involvement in the American Library Association. A listing of these materials can be found in Box 1, Folder 2. The first series consists of biographical information, including a biography and vita, as well as correspondence during his time at Northwestern. The series also includes information on Welch’s degree from the University of Tokyo. Newspaper articles containing interviews with Welch complete the collection. Series two contains information on Welch’s consulting career, including information from the Japanese Research Office. Welch’s publications and reviews dating from 1971 to 1991 comprise the third series. Researchers should note that several of the publications are in Japanese. Series four contains documents on Welch’s career at NIU as both University Library Director and as a professor in the Foreign Language Department. This series includes information on his appointment as University Library Director and his change to a professor of Japanese. Salary and evaluation material are in this series, as well as detailed faculty service reports. Included in this series are course materials for a Political Science class Welch taught. Series five consists of information on the formation of a Japanese language program, as well as course materials for the four language classes Welch taught. Included are textbooks, syllabi, quizzes and other instructional material. Biographical Sketch Theodore Franklyn Welch was born October 10, 1933 in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from Huntington Park High School, Hunting Park, California, in 1951. He served in the Air Force between 1958 and 1962, stationed in both New York and Japan. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music and Asian Studies from University of Southern California in 1963. In the 1960s, he was primary flutist in the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. In 1965, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with his Masters in Library Science. Welch also received the Kyoikugaku Haushi Degree, the equivalent of a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science, from the University of Tokyo, in 1976. Welch was employed at several libraries prior to NIU, including the Library of Congress, the U.S. Information Service in Tokyo, Japan, and Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, where he served as Executive Director for the study of U.S.-Japan Relations and as a Lecturer in Japanese. Between 1973 and 1975, while on leave from Northwestern University, he was the Chief of Information System for the United Nations Centre for Regional Development, in Nagoya, Japan. In 1983, Welch was hired at the Director of Libraries at NIU. He worked in this position until 1989. During this time, he raised over $847,000 for the library and served on the President’s Administrative Cabinet and Council of Deans. In 1989, Welch changed positions and became a professor of Japanese in the Foreign Language Department. He was instrumental in the creation of the Japanese Language Program and taught four levels of Japanese, as well as a Political Science course. Welch taught similar introductory Japanese classs at Kishwaukee Community College and Illinois Valley Community College between 1987 and 1989. Welch served on a number of committees, including the American Library Association, the Japan-U.S. Conferences on Libraries and Information Science in Higher Education, and the Illinois Library Computer System Policy Council Board of Directors. He also acted as a consultant for multiple companies and firms. Motorola, the United Nations, General Motors, International Harvester, United Airlines, Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry, and Education for Global Involvement all used his skills as interpreter and adviser. He served on the board of directors for the Japan-American Society of Chicago. Welch authored, co-authored, or edited five books on Japan, most concerning libraries and information science. He also wrote forty-seven articles on Japan, four in Japanese, five reports on library-related subjects, and numerous encyclopedia articles. He received the John Cotton Dana International Public Relations Award, Certificates of Appreciation from the U.S. Department of Education and from the Japan Library Association. In 2004, Emperor Akhito of Japan decorate Welch with the Order of the Rising Sun, Golden Rays with Rosette. After retiring from NIU in 1999, Welch taught Japanese and was the Director of Development at the Center for Japanese Studies at Portland State University, and began his own consulting business, Welch International Consulting. Welch married Marilyn Schneider on November 26, 1977. He has three daughters, Lianne, Jeanelle, and Allison.