We are happy to announce that Mr. Fernando Rojas has joined the staff at the Japan ICU Foundation as our new Program Manager. He will be in charge of administering grants, scholarships and programs. This month, he dived right into Global Link, our month-long summer program for ICU students, and spent some time with Mark Flanigan, our former Director of Programs and Grants, to ensure a smooth transition. Fernando will start working full-time at the JICUF on August 1st.

We asked Fernando to introduce himself.

“Born in New York City and raised in an immigrant family, I had a very unique American upbringing. I grew up bilingual, speaking English at school and Spanish at home. Summers were spent playing with cousins in the rural Mexican towns where my parents grew up, visiting aunts and uncles who decided to stay put rather than risk crossing the border in search of opportunity. Back in the states, American holidays such as Halloween and Thanksgiving were always celebrated with a Latin American twist. On top of all of this, I was exposed to different cultures simply by living in New York City, a city where you can hop on a train and be transported to a microcosm of any part of the world.

My interest in Japan, however, happened almost by chance while I was an undergrad at Columbia University studying architecture. I only really knew Japan through some of its popular exports such as anime, Pokemon, and Nintendo. During my second semester of my sophomore year, I arbitrarily decided to enroll in a Japanese language class, not knowing the impact that class would have on me. It provoked an interest in not only the language, but also in Japan’s history, cultures, and traditions. I decided to take any courses related to Japan that Columbia had to offer. Japanese History. Japanese Art History. Japanese Landscape Architecture. Japanese Painting. If a Japan-related class fit in my schedule, I probably took it. The only thing left to do was actually travel to Japan.

In the Fall of my senior year, I was accepted to participate in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. I was placed in Fukui prefecture working as an Assistant Language Teacher in a junior high school with close to 500 students! Although I loved traveling throughout the country on the weekends and holidays, what I enjoyed most was teaching the students about my life and background through English. As I taught them about general American traditions and customs, I also taught them about my own personal ones. In opening up to them about my life, I also learned about theirs. I biked to school alongside some of them through the rice fields surrounding the school, chatting about the latest trends. I cleaned alongside them during soji, practicing my Japanese and helping them with their English. Through our conversations and interactions, I learned about their dreams and aspirations. I had some of the best cultural exchange experiences in that Japanese school thanks to those students and the wonderful teachers.

In 2010, I left Japan and joined the fellowships team at the Social Science Research Council. As fellowship coordinator, I helped administer and oversee several East Asia-related programs. Through workshops, fellowships and professional development opportunities, we helped promising social scientists get to the next level of their careers. We also emphasized the importance of creating a diverse, professional network and facilitated cross-disciplinary interactions.

Now six years later, I am very excited to join the Japan ICU Foundation. As the Program Manager at JICUF, I look forward to contributing my skills, knowledge and experience to the great work already underway at the Foundation, work that aims to serve and provide opportunities to all members of the ICU community. I am always open to new ideas and encourage the ICU students, alumni/ae, faculty and staff to reach out to us at JICUF.”

Welcome, Fernando!