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Patricia Gercik is an author, and the former managing director of the MIT Japan Program, the largest center of applied Japanese studies in the United States. She was also the Associate Director of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives Program that develops partnerships between MIT and companies and key institutes in Europe and Asia. She oversaw the international education at MIT and initiated the MIT China Program.

Early life and Education
Patricia Gercik spent the first twenty years of her life in Japan, where her family had been doing business since the 1920s. She worked as a travel guide and television commentator, and began what would become a lifelong career of bridging the cultural gap between Japan and the West. After moving to the United States, she earned a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA from Tufts University.

Career
Gercik has been a national leader in coordinating efforts on campuses form Massachusetts to California to stimulate more and better understanding about Japan and international studies. She has been the interface between MISTI and the U.S. government, from the National Science Foundation to the Pentagon. Her book, On Track with the Japanese, has become required reading for the executives of many firms. Her other book, The Outsider describes the political turmoil between the Japanese right and left and the impact of the American occupation. She has authored two CD-ROMS, and a workbook on negotiation with the Japanese. Using her bicultural perspective, she has led workshops on Japanese culture and negotiation practice at leading US companies, the US Army Research Laboratory, the US Air Force, and the Pentagon. She has also consulted on the issue of managing subsidiaries, suppliers and joint ventures for Japan, India, and China. While at MIT, she taught a course on Japanese culture and history and wrote case studies which are still used at the Institute.

Awards and Recognition
In 1994 Gercik was awarded the Jack Thayer Award by the Japan Society of Boston, and in 2011 she was honored with the MIT Excellence Award for Leadership.