Dean Centa

Dean K. Centa graduated from Yale College in 2025 with dual B.A. degrees in Global Affairs and East Asian Studies. His research focuses on Japan’s immigration system, with particular attention to the legal and policy frameworks shaping the experiences of asylum seekers and labor migrants. He was a 2022–2023 Richard U. Light Fellow, during which he studied in Nagoya, Japan, and has conducted fieldwork in Japan, Turkey, Vietnam, and Taiwan, supported by multiple Yale fellowships. He also served as a student ambassador for Yale’s Office of Fellowships and Funding and interned at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Chief Economist, contributing to research on migration and international trade. As a Fox Fellow at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Law and Politics, he will examine how immigration policy, global media narratives, and labor market dynamics intersect in contemporary Japan. He plans to pursue a career in immigration policy, diplomacy, and law.