概要
a-history-of-international-exchanges00
- 9 -Ⅱ. Sister Colleges in English-speaking Countries(1) The Evergreen State College (Olympia, Washington, USA)(ⅰ) Professor Richard Alexander visited MiyazakiIn 1982, when Mr. Butterworth was doing his best tofind an appropriate university for MU students in Cairoin Egypt, Hongkong, or Singapore, Professor RichardAlexander, one of the founding fathers of The EvergreenState College (hereafter TESC), visited one of his formerstudents in Miyazaki on his way to the meeting in Kobe.Mr.Butterworth never missed the chance to talk to himabout the possibility of sending one of our students toTESC. Mr.Butterworth wrote how the exchange program started as follows:“One of the English Department students, Yuichi Watanabe, told me thathe wanted to study in the U.S. At that time, we (MU) had been sendingstudents to Lancaster in U.K. and to San Diego State University in the U.S.The relationship with San Diego State had become tenuous for no particularreason. At the same time, Mr.Ujikawa, an owner of a private English schoolin Miyazaki, was recruiting recent graduate from TESC to teach for him: MikeTaylor and his wife, Amy. While Mike was in Miyazaki, Richard Alexanderand his new wife came over to Japan as part of an Olympia Sister Citydelegation to Hyogo where Hyogo Kyoiku Dai is located. He made a trip toMiyazaki to see Mike and others because their recruitment had gone throughhim. I asked to meet him and we went to a tofu restaurant. He was a verystrong presence, and he questioned me closely about why Watanabe wantedto go to US/TESC. I answered as well as I could without lying outright, and Isuggested my stopping in Olympia later in the summer to discuss it further.I did, and that’s the way we started to send students to TESC. After Watanabe,Naoko Yunoki, Hironobu Tomitaka and Takako Nishimuta went to TESC bytheir own money or with a Mombusho scholarship.”（A History of Exchange~TheEvergreen State College?Miyazaki University~. August 30, 2002）In those days, there were only a few Caucasians living in Miyazaki, butseveral TESC graduates were living in Miyazaki. Hugh Nicoll, one of TESCgraduates, was a teacher at a private English school in Miyazaki (He is now aretired professor at Miyazaki Municipal University). He was a good friend ofMr. Butterworth’s and enjoyed the fullest confidence of him. Mr. Butterworthgot interested in the education system of TESC after Hugh talked to him aboutit. He wanted to have a chance to contact someone in TESC.
