Victor Kobayashi was born on the island of Maui. He received his bachelor's and masters degrees from the University of Hawaii, and received his Ph.D. in Philosophy of Education and Comparative Education, from the University of Michigan. His dissertation received the Francis W. Parker Award for Outstanding Dissertation for 1964 and was published by Michigan School of Education. Victor was an assistant professor at University of Michigan, School of Education and Center for Japanese Studies, before moving to the University of Hawai'i, where he taught comparative education and directed the innovative East West Center's Teacher Interchange Program that involved teachers from the U.S. and Asian countries.

Kobayashi served as the Chair, Department of Educational Foundations and for three years as head of International Education in which he implemented study abroad programs for the National Education Association and East-West Center in-service teachers. Kobayashi has been a member of CIES since the 1960s, and has served on various CIES committees, including terms on the Board of Directors and the CER Editorial Board. He has published in CER and presented numerous panels and papers at CIES national and regional conferences. Furthermore, he helped organize two CIES-Western Regional conferences in Honolulu, and an international conference on The International Conference on Thinking. Kobayashi is also active in AERA and the American Educational Studies Association, and served on the Board of Editors for Educational Foundations journal.

His research publications include cross-cultural film, educational technology, online distance learning and Japanese Ceramics. Kobayashi was guest lecturer at McGill University, University of Virginia, University of Alabama, numerous universities in Japan, and an educational programs consultant at SUNY Stony Brook, Stanford, Western Washington University, and University of Illinois-Chicago. Based on a US Agency for International Development grant, he led the Burmese Assistance Program, and more recently serves as a consultant for the Open Society's Supplementary Grants program for refugee Burmese students throughout the world.

Victor is a Principal Investigator for a major Asynchronous Learning Network distance learning grant from the Alfred Sloan Foundation for the University of Hawai'i. He served on the Board of Directors for the Alliance Francaise, Hawaii, and the program committee of the Japan-America Society of Hawaii, the University's Executive Board for the Center for Japanese Studies, and the Board of Directors of the Hawaii International Film Festival. Kobayashi is also a practicing artist, who has exhibited in juried shows, and several of his ceramic pieces have been acquired by Honolulu Academy of Art, Contemporary Museum of Honolulu, Hawaii State Museum, Hawaii State Correctional Facility in Halawa, Oahu, and the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

He founded the University of Hawai`i's first museum, the John Young Museum of Art, which features major artwork from Korea, China, and the Pacific Islands. Victor also founded the Hawai`i International Film Festival, and served as its Principal Humanities Scholar, as a result of his life-long interest in films as a medium for cross-cultural understanding. For the past 15 years, Kobayashi was Dean of Summer Session and Outreach College, University of Hawaii, and established numerous innovative award-winning programs including annual summer institutes and celebrations that focused on other cultures, from Canada to Poland to Korea and Indonesia.

He served as President of the North American Association of Summer Sessions and The Association of University Summer Session. If elected, Kobayashi will work to increase CIES membership as well as its diversity. He will particularly work to draw increased participation from the Pacific-Asian community, including its indigenous peoples. Finally, he would like to invite CIES members for Hawai'i for its next conference.