Chira's involvement with the New York Times had its roots in her undergraduate years, when she was a History and East Asian Studies concentrator at the College.

"One of my areas of knowledge is Japan," Chira said. "I was hired partly owing to the training that I received in this area at Harvard. I got the East Asia bug and foreign news has always been part of my life."

Before being appointed to her new editorial position, Chira, who has been a member of the New York Times staff for 19 years, was the deputy foreign editor of the Times, a position that she has held since 1997.

Chira said she owes her start with the New York Times in part to one of her East Asian studies professors, Ezra F. Vogel, the Ford Professor of the Social Sciences.

"When I graduated, I planned to go to Japan," Chira said. Vogel "wrote to the Times and told them about the fact that I knew Japanese but was also a reporter from The Crimson," Chira said.

During her time in East Asia, Chira began to write for The Times, and continued her work when she returned.

"I was filing on occasion for the Times almost like an intern in the Tokyo bureau," she said. "Then they took me on in a reporter in trainee position, and then I got hired on a trial basis."

Also, former New York Times Assistant Managing Editor Jacob Rosenthal '56, also a Crimson Editor, will become president of the New York Times Company Foundation.