WMU delegation reconnects with
Asian alumni, celebrates Soga Center

The delegation was composed of WMU faculty and administrators who have acquired years-long relationships with Japanese students and higher-education institutions (see photo below).  

WMU delegation (l-r):
Dr. Alonzo Hannaford, emeritus dean,College of Education,
Jolene Jackson, retired director, International Programs and Services,
Bill Woods, interim dean, Haenicke Institute for Global Education,
Dr. Stephen Covell, director, Soga Center and associate professor
of Comparative Religion, and Dr. Michitoshi Soga,
emeritus professor of Physics.

Dean Woods, who has 20 years of experience at WMU conducting international academic negotiations in Asia and elsewhere, said the Hong Kong reception on March 6 was attended by 20 alumni and more than 120 turned out for the Tokyo reception.
     
"Maintaining relationships with our international alumni is essential for our recruitment efforts," Woods said. "This was our first alumni event in Hong Kong.  We've been enrolling students from that region since the early 1960's.  This follows on our efforts at the Haenicke Institute to organize alumni groups in Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore."

    
Hong Kong Alumni Reception

The Tokyo reception included a celebration of the July 2006 opening of the Michitoshi Soga Japan Center at WMU, named after Dr. Soga.  He and his wife, Mrs. Ryoko Soga, received special honors at the Tokyo reception with the presentation of a plaque announcing that four undergraduate scholarships valued at $32,000 each will be awarded for the 2007-2008 academic year as the "Soga Presidential Scholarships."

"Dr. Soga has worked tirelessly for decades to build the University's Japanese Studies offerings," Woods said. "He set up programs with Japanese universities, hosted Japanese students attending WMU, and helped build a Japanese alumni network. The scholarships commemorate the dedicated service, love, and hospitality that Dr. and Mrs. Soga have shared for years with students, friends, and alumni of Western Michigan University."
   
WMU's links with Japan date back more than fifty years to the first Japanese alumnus who earned a graduate degree in psychology in 1955. WMU's first academic linkage with a Japanese university began with Keio University, which sent a Summer Institute group of 66 students and three professors to Kalamazoo in 1961.  Jin Abe, HIGE Japan liaison officer, works to maintain and advance WMU's alumni relations in Japan and he planned the Tokyo reception.

     
"My fondest wish is that the founding of the Japan Center will lead, some day, to the establishment of a Japanese Studies major at Western," Dr. Soga said. "The Japan Center provides an umbrella for activities relating to Japan, including the interaction of Japanese and American students in the Japan Club."
     
The trip also included a visit for Woods and Covell to Japan's Josai University, a longtime sister-school of WMU's, for a Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony.  The document is the first contractual step in developing an official relationship that will include WMU hosting interns and providing short-term English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs for students from Josai University's School of Management.
     
The delegation also plans to meet with representatives from the WMU Friends in Japan group to discuss fund-raising strategies to benefit the Soga Center.  Announcement of the Tokyo reception alone has generated several donations in recent weeks.
     
Visit the Michitoshi Soga Japan Center on the Web at:
http://www.wmich.edu/sogajapancenter/