The Japan ICU Foundation (JICUF) Staff and Board of Trustees held a very successful meeting with ICU President Junko Hibiya and Dean of International Affairs Shaun Malarney in Seattle this past September. This meeting, one of two Trustees’ meetings held annually, was a great opportunity to discuss the way forward for further collaboration in the ICU-JICUF partnership.

Held at the lovely Mayflower Park Hotel in downtown Seattle, this bi-annual Trustees’ Meeting proved to be a great opportunity for both ICU and JICUF representatives to discuss strategic plans for providing undergirding support to ICU’s current and future global programs.

President Hibiya announced that ICU had been selected for the Japanese Ministry of Education’s Super Global University Project. A highly selective program, ICU was one of just 24 Japanese universities to be chosen for the Type B designation. Please click here to read more about ICU’s plans under the Super Global University Project.

JICUF staff also discussed new initiatives such as the new Student Recruitment project in New York and New Jersey High Schools, the ICU Homecoming Tour and the first-ever Global Link summer program for ICU students. In all, it was a wonderful exchange of ideas and provided a solid way forward, building on ICU’s 60th Anniversary celebrations.

In addition to the Trustees’ meeting, several key outreach events were organized to help promote ICU. A large Welcome Dinner for ICU alumni and friends was held on Sep 20, followed by an Information session about ICU the next day for interested students, families, HS teachers and Counselors and a High School Counselors’ brunch on the morning of Sep 22 for public and private HS Counselors to advise their students on the variety of ways to study at ICU. Throughout these three events, both JICUF President David Vikner and ICU President Junko Hibiya worked together to show the added value of ICU as a beacon of Liberal Arts education in Asia.

The Information session in particular was quite well-attended, with a very high number of interested students, family members and teachers from Seattle-area High Schools in the audience. They asked a wide range of questions about academic majors, tuition, financial aid and student life at ICU. JICUF is always happy to partner with ICU in these types of outreach opportunities to increase public awareness of all the great ways to study at ICU, including the Summer Language Courses in Japanese, the Graduate School and the OYR/September student options.

In all, it was an extremely successful Trustees’ Meeting and outreach event weekend. Some of our JICUF staffers will return soon for the annual NACAC College Fair and Alumni and Friends Dinner, which will be held on Oct 31-Nov 1. The Dinner will take place on Saturday, November 1, 7pm – 10pm at Red Lantern Seattle, 520 South Jackson Street (between South 5th & 6th Avenues). Those interested in attending, RSVP to mflanigan@jicuf.org

We look forward to seeing you there again in Seattle!