JICUF Executive Director Paul Hastings moved to Japan this July, and is currently living on the ICU campus. This is his report on the first four months at ICU.

Since August, I have had the opportunity to work at ICU in my role as Executive Director of the Japan ICU Foundation and to live on campus with my wife and two sons. This is the first time in JICUF’s 70 year partnership with ICU that a member of our staff has lived and worked at ICU for an extended period of time. The experience has been extremely engaging and productive. In this article, I lay out the key objectives of my time here, and share some of the highlights so far.

The key objectives for my time at ICU are to develop deeper relationships with ICU faculty, students, staff and alumni, to develop a deeper knowledge of ICU, and to raise JICUF’s profile on campus. In addition, throughout this time at ICU I will be reflecting on how JICUF can be more supportive of ICU.

Each day at ICU thus far has been different. I have had one-on-one meetings with approximately 30 faculty members thus far, have given guest lectures in classes, organized events on campus, and advised students on future career and academic plans. Here are some of the highlights of my time thus far.

✿ Rethinking Peace Book Launch
On Friday, October 25, JICUF and the Rotary Peace Center hosted a Rethinking Peace book launch at ICU. 

✿ ICU Class of 1957 Reunion
On Saturday, October 5, I was invited to speak at the Class of 1957 reunion held in the Alumni House at ICU. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet with over 30 members of ICU’s first graduating class. These pioneering alumni were described to me by an ICU faculty member as the guardian angels of ICU, and I couldn’t agree more. Amongst other prominent alumni, former JICUF Board Chair Yasuyuki Owada was in attendance, along with longtime NY resident and longtime JICUF supporter Lawrence Tsuyuki.

✿ Global Link Pizza Party
On Wednesday, September 25, Debbie and I hosted a Global Link pizza party at our house on campus. Global Link is a summer program that JICUF hosts in New York for undergraduate students at ICU. 20 Global Link alumni showed up for the social gathering. This included alumni from the 2017, 2018 and 2019 Global Link programs. It was great to catch up with everyone and to have them over for a meal.

✿ Hosting Alumni
Since arriving at ICU this summer I have hosted six ICU graduates on campus. In each case, I was happy to give them a tour of campus, arrange meetings with administrators, faculty and students and reminisce with them about their student days at ICU. For three of the visits, I arranged for the graduates to give a talk to ICU students and faculty.

I look forward to providing further updates throughout my time here. Please let me know if you are visiting Japan and would like to stop by ICU. I would be happy to host you on campus!