ブックタイトルa-history-of-international-exchanges00

概要

a-history-of-international-exchanges00

- 23 -＜Reminiscence (5)~Celebration of 20th Anniversary of the Exchange Program~＞In September 2007, 20 years after the first exchangestudent from Evergreen came to Miyazaki under thestudent exchange agreement concluded in 1986, Mr.Hirase, representing Dean Sakuda, visited Evergreenfor the fourth renewal of the agreement. Many Miyazakirelatedfaculty came together at Susan Fiksdal’s houseto celebrate the 20th anniversary of the exchangeprogram. The participants were Susan & Allen Fiksdal,Russ & Caroline Fox, Nancy & Fritz Taylor, AcademicDean Ken Tubbott, Rob Knapp, Provost Don Bantz, Setsuko Tsutsumi, and Mike Clifthorn.On the table there was a big cake with a candle with a figure 20 and a small red Shintoshrine gate. They consider it important to celebrate the turning points of the things. Idon’t think MU did this kind of celebration. The year 2017 was the 30th anniversary ofthe program.＜Reminiscence (6) ～“A Letter of Recognition” from President Bridges～＞On March 1, 2016, two guestsfrom Evergreen visited MU:Academic Dean David McAvity,and the official in charge of theexchange program, MikeClifthorn. Mike and I workedtogether for almost ten years, soMike wrote to the GSO that hewanted to meet me. We haven’tmet each other since I visitedEvergreen in 2009, but withsome e-mail exchanges, we havekept in touch. Thanks to theGSO, I could join a part of theirscheduled events. After theofficial event at MU, we hadlunch together and went to walkaround Aoshima. I could alsojoin the evening welcome partyorganized by the GSO, where Mr.Murakami, an assistant head ofGSO, and Mr. Soeda, Dean of theFaculty of Education andCulture were present. At thatparty, Mike suddenly said that there was one thing he wanted to give me and startedreading aloud the letter of recognition from TESC President George Bridges. Together withan Evergreen jacket and a table clock, the letter was presented to me. The letter was fullof words to express Evergreen’s gratitude to my 30-year contribution to the studentexchange, starting with Yuichi Watanabe who studied at Evergreen in 1982, 30 yearsbefore my retirement. It was a surprise to me! Four years after my retirement from MU, Inever thought that I would be given this kind of letter from one of the sister colleges. Ithought that what I did was the duties of the members of the SEC. Moreover, I had chancesto visit the sister colleges in America, New Zealand, South Korea, China, and Taiwan andcould make many friends and acquaintances. It must be me to express my gratitude forthese chances MU and the sister colleges gave me. Next day I went to see David and Mikeoff at the airport in the Evergreen jacket. (Hirase)