William Tsutsui, associate dean for international studies in Kansas University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is leaving KU for a position at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

He will assume the position of dean of SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. Tsutsui, a history scholar, has written on Japanese banking policy and economics, in addition to books about Godzilla and the role of monsters in popular culture.

He has also served as acting director of KU’s Center for East Asian Studies and as executive director of the school’s Confucius Institute.

Tsutsui’s wife, Marjorie Swann, a KU English professor and director of KU’s museum studies program, also will take a job at SMU.