JICUF staff visit ICU at least once a year, if not more often, to check in with their counterparts and maintain a current impression of campus life. My JICUF colleague Tara DeWorsop and I spent two weeks at ICU this past January. The main objective of our visit was to highlight our new JICUF grants initiative and continuing Global Link program.

To accomplish this, we organized a series of outreach events. This included daily tabling in Gakki and Shin-D, class visits, formal information sessions in the Honkan as well as a series of meetings with ICU faculty and staff offices. It was really nice to speak with people in both formal and informal settings.

We reached out to a variety of professors in advance of our trip, in order to make as many class visits as possible. In total, we were able to present to hundreds of students in seven

different classes, including International Relations, Peace Studies, Media and Communications, and Anthropology. I also gave the closing remarks at a special event for current OYRs and future exchange program students held in the Dialogue House. It was great to be able to present directly to students about both our JICUF grants and Global Link program, and we appreciated having the opportunity to interact with April and September students alike.

As an alumnus of ICU and a former Rotary Peace Fellow there, I also had a chance to meet with the staff of the Rotary Peace Center and discussed the latest group of Rotary Peace Fellows. Later on, I gave a special presentation to them on the new program grants available to graduate students. Also, as a former resident of Global House, I had the pleasure of returning to the dormitory to give a presentation on grants and Global Link to a group of students with my colleague Tara. It certainly felt “natsukashii” not only to be back on campus, but also to be back in the dorm where I had spent two years living at ICU!

In all, it was a wonderful opportunity to be back on campus and to be able to help spread the word about our JICUF grants initiative and Global Link program. We are looking forward to new inquiries about our grants from students and faculty, as well as students who are interested in coming to New York this summer for Global Link. The deadline for Global Link is February 26th, so be sure and apply soon!