Sylff News

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Sona Andrews, Vice Provost for International Affairs and Dean of Graduate Studies Margaret Everett, and other faculty members of Portland State University paid a courtesy call on the Tokyo Foundation on March 8, 2016.

The delegation from Portland State University—from far right, Margaret Everett, Sona Andrews, Stephen Percy, and Masami Nishishiba—meet with members of the Tokyo Foundation.

Professor Everett is the chairperson of the Sylff steering committee at PSU, which shares its endowment with the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. For more than a decade, the PSU has also been hosting an annual weeklong training program in citizen-based urban development as part of the Tokyo Foundation’s “Weekend School” for Municipal Officers—a leadership development program for mid-career municipal officers in Japan.

Other visitors from PSU included Professor Stephen Percy, dean of the College of Urban and Public Affairs, and Professor Masami Nishishiba, associate professor of public administration and associate director of the Center for Public Service in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government. Professor Nishishiba is the coordinator of the municipal officers program in Portland and has made an invaluable contribution to enriching the experience of the Japanese participants.

Members of the PSU met with Tokyo Foundation President Masahiro Akiyama, Executive Directors Sanae Oda and Akiko Imai, Director for Public Communications Kaoru Matsushita, and three program officers for leadership development: Tomoko Yamada, Akiko Inagaki, and Aya Oyamada.

The visitors brought news of the recently established School of Public Health at PSU, highlighting the growing importance of public health issues both globally and in the local community. Sharing updates on a variety of recent initiatives, members of PSU and the Foundation pledged to deepen their collaboration in the future.