The Japan-American Society of Central Ohio (JASCO) recognized The Ohio State University with its Corporate Partnership Award for advancing educational opportunities about Japan and its engagement with Ohio’s Japanese communities. Executive Vice President and Provost Melissa Gilliam accepted the award on behalf of Ohio State at JASCO’s 26th Anniversary Gala on April 20.
Ohio State is only the second organization to receive this newly created award; American Honda Motor Company was the first recipient in 2022.
JASCO was founded on Ohio State’s campus in 1997 through a successful grant from the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission, which was submitted by the late Bradley Richardson, a leading scholar in Japanese politics and director of the Institute for Japanese Studies at the time. The successful grant was the impetus to Ohio State’s strong commitment to education and community engagement related to Japan. It established a long-time partnership with the not-for-profit membership association, which is dedicated to bringing Japanese American communities together, sharing knowledge of Japan and providing a forum for informed discussions regarding the relationship between Japan and the United States.
Over the years, Ohio State and JASCO partnered to coordinate and support over 700 programs, impacting close to 140,000 community members, businesses, teachers and students. Today the partnership continues with Ohio State’s support of the Japanese Language Speech Contest and JASCO Business Seminars, among many other activities.
“Ohio State has a rich history advancing and disseminating knowledge about Japan, including its people, language, art, culture, environment, politics, economy and business, and other aspects of its society,” said Gil Latz, vice provost of global strategies and international affairs. “We are deeply proud of our Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, East Asian Studies Center, Institute for Japanese Studies, our National East Asian Languages Resource Center and our faculty and staff who teach and work in the disciplines to educate and engage our students and local and global communities.”
Highlights of Ohio State’s Connections with Japan
- Six of Ohio State’s 15 colleges have established a total of 20 international agreements with universities in Japan.
- Over the last seven years, Ohio State has built a strong and vibrant relationship with the University of Tsukuba. The university has hosted numerous delegation visits and partnered with Tsukuba faculty to develop and teach an online course on the infrastructure of natural disasters and hosted a virtual conference focused on interdisciplinary and international perspectives on diversity and inclusion. Most recently, Ohio State’s Translational Data Analytics Institute and the University of Tsukuba Center for AI Research collaborated on a one-day workshop focusing on Responsible AI. The workshop was intended to kickstart collaborations between Ohio State faculty to support AI research, scholarship and education.
- On April 29 Ohio State also will participate in the 7th U.S. -Japan Digital Innovation Hub Workshop, an initiative of U.S. and Japanese institutions of higher education, that aims to establish a consortium for collaboration on joint research and education in the fields of data science, AI and cybersecurity.
- University Libraries has what is believed to be the largest manga (comics or graphic novels) collection in the world outside of Japan.
- Two Title VI National Resource Centers, funded through the U.S. Department of Education – the East Asian Studies Center and the National East Asian Languages Resource Center
- An historic 22-year partnership with Honda. Over the life of the partnership, Honda has provided more than $28 million in research funding to Ohio State, some of which has helped to establish the Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence, the Simulation and Modeling Center and the Driving Simulator Lab. Honda has also funded 235 research projects at the university between 2015 and 2020.
- Sixteen education abroad programs in Japan, the largest number in any East Asian country.