Bio
Jennifer Butler joined Minerva University in April 2025 and is City Director for Tokyo where she directs the strategic and day to day operations of the city program. Jennifer is an international education professional with more than 20 years of experience in global program management, student support, and partnership development across Japan, the United States, Africa, and the United Kingdom.
Previously she has participated in numerous cultural exchange programs and led programming in the student exchange/study abroad sector, where she oversaw study abroad and experiential learning programs for international students and cultivated relationships with universities and local organizations to expand intercultural, internship and fieldwork opportunities.
Jennifer also held senior leadership roles with the Japanese non-profit, Ashinaga Foundation under the Ashinaga Africa Initiative, supporting scholars from sub-Saharan Africa studying in Japan through academic, cultural, and career development programming. In addition, she has a background in International Education Policy in Japan and has worked at US universities, the Consulate-General of Japan in Nashville, TN and was a JET Program participant (Shizuoka, 2001-2004).
Jennifer’s work focuses on building inclusive, sustainable global partnerships that advance student learning and intercultural engagement.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Studies with a minor in Japanese from the University of Alabama (US), a master’s degree in Japanese Studies from the University of Sheffield (UK) and attended the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies (Japan).