President Dobelle in Asia for UH, East-West Center meetings

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Jim Manke, (808) 956-6099
External Affairs & University Relations
Kristen Cabral, (808) 956-5039
Public Information Officer
Posted: Jun 25, 2002

University of Hawaiʻi president Evan S. Dobelle departed over the weekend on a trip to six Asian countries that includes meetings of the East-West Center Board of Governors. Dobelle sits on the Center‘s governing board that meets July 1-4 in Malaysia and Singapore.

In addition to East-West Center meetings, Dobelle‘s itinerary includes stops in Hong Kong and Guangzhou in China, Tokyo and Kyoto, Hanoi, and Bangkok. In each nation, the president will meet with UH alumni and supporters as well as top-level Asia university leaders.

"Our relationships with the countries of Asia are a high priority for the University of Hawaiʻi," Dobelle said. "Maintaining and strengthening our global reach in the pacific rim is articulated in our strategic plan, but perhaps even more eloquently in the reality that everywhere in Asia our alumni are among the leaders in commerce and industry, education and communications."

Highlights include:

-A visit with Guangdong provincial government officials in Guangzhou, China. The University of Hawaiʻi has formal agreements with Guangdong for the training of business leaders and teachers of English.

-A UH alumni reception in Tokyo and a meeting with the president of Tokyo University;

-A meeting in Kyoto with Dr. Soshitsu Sen of the Urasenke Foundation, which recently presented an endowment gift to the UH Center for Japanese Studies;

-East-West Center and UH alumni events in Malaysia, and presentation of a paper at a panel on Innovations in Higher Education;

-Participation in ceremonies in Vietnam marking the successful completion of the first class enrolled in a cooperative program with the Hanoi School of Business under the auspices of the UH Manoa College of Business Administration;

-Meetings with the US Ambassador in Bangkok and with the president and other officials of Thailand‘s Chulalangkorn University, another long-standing education partner with UH.

The president returns to Honolulu July 10.