Paul Hastings (JICUF Executive Director)

JICUF Program Manager Fernando Rojas and I visited ICU during the week of February 5-9. As always, it was wonderful to be back on campus and a pleasure spending time with friends and colleagues at ICU. Through the end of January, Tokyo had experienced unusually cold temperatures and a big snowstorm. Fortunately for us, the weather was more typically mild during our visit, and was a pleasant respite from a bitter NYC winter.

In addition to spending time with the ICU administration, we had several objectives during our visit. First, we conducted outreach to ICU students about our Global Link summer program and Student Activities and Student Travel Funds. Second, we met with several faculty members who have received funding through our Faculty Program Grants and Visiting Scholars Program. Third, we met with several staff offices we work closely with on our various programs. In particular, we discussed progress and challenges associated with our newly launched Global Scholarship Program. Finally, we also had a wonderful time hosting a small reception with ICU students and faculty who received funding from JICUF through our grants initiative this past fall. It is always amazing to hear more about the creative and impactful projects being pursued by ICU students and faculty.

In late April, ICU has invited the JICUF Board of Trustees to hold a meeting on campus. We are looking forward to returning to campus and to continuing to build on our 70 year history of collaboration with ICU.