HONOLULU (Sept. 8, 2011) -- Philippines President Benigno Aquino III has appointed East-West Center alumnus Juan Romeo Nereus Acosta to the newly created cabinet post of Presidential Adviser for Environmental Protection.

President Aquino told the press that Acosta, who is popularly known by the nickname “Neric,” will be tasked with coordinating environmental concerns for a “coherent implementation of policy.”

President Aquino administers the Oath of Office to Neric Acosta on Aug. 24. Photo: Jay Morales/Malacañang Photo Bureau.“(He) will help me have a better, sharper focus because he will be able to tackle it in a more in-depth manner,” Aquino said after Acosta was sworn in on Aug. 24.

The East-West Center is pleased to announce its 2012 International Media Conference, to be held June 22-24 in Seoul. The conference theme is “Networked News: How New Media is Shaping Stories in Asia and the Pacific.”

Online registration will open later this month. You will receive another announcement once registration is available. In the meantime, we encourage you to bookmark the conference site and subscribe to the conference RSS feed to keep up with event details as they develop.

HONOLULU (Nov. 25, 2011) – The East-West Center is pleased to welcome the Henry Luce Foundation as a Gold Sponsor of the EWC’s 2012 International Media Conference, scheduled for June 22-24 in Seoul, South Korea. The conference theme is “Networked News: How New Media is Shaping Stories in Asia and the Pacific.”

The Foundation has awarded EWC a special grant of $40,000 to help alumni of the Center’s annual Korea-U.S. Journalists Exchange program attend the conference. The Henry Luce Foundation has been a primary sponsor of the exchange program since 2006.

Starting with the first event in Bangkok in 2008, East-West Center’s biennial media conference has grown into one of the premier journalism meetings in the Asia Pacific region, with the 2010 conference in Hong Kong drawing close to 350 participants from 26 nations and attracting worldwide press attention.

HONOLULU (May 30, 2012) – Internet information leader Google, telecom provider KT, auto manufacturer Hyundai, international relations insitution the Korea Foundation and the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre have joined the growing list of corporate and foundation sponsors of the East-West Center’s 2012 International Media Conference, scheduled for June 22-24 in Seoul, South Korea. The conference theme is “Networked News: How New Media is Shaping Stories in Asia and the Pacific.”

SEOUL (June 20, 2012) – Several hundred journalists and media experts from more than 100 news organizations in 25 countries will gather in Seoul, South Korea June 22-24 to discuss the latest information on the impact of new and social media on events and news coverage in Asia and the Pacific.

The conference on the theme of “Networked News: How New Media Is Shaping Stories in Asia and the Pacific” will be covered online at a special website, EastWestCenter.org/IMC 2012. Visit the site to see news reports and video of keynote addresses, real-time social media coverage, session summaries and more.

A number of the conference sessions are expected to be streamed live online. Twitter users can also follow live tweets from the conference through the hashtag: #NetNews.

Featured speakers and panelists include:

HONOLULU (Oct. 4, 2012) – Former East-West Center Diplomat-in-Residence Sharon (“Shari”) Villarosa has been confirmed as the new U.S. Ambassador to the Indian Ocean island nations of Mauritius and the Seychelles. Villarosa was nominated to the post by President Obama last fall and confirmed by the Senate on Sept. 22.

Villarosa said at her confirmation hearing that she would work “to increase U.S. exports to (Mauritius’) healthy, thriving market economy,” and to “encourage Seychelles' continued progress in implementing sound political and economic reforms and protecting human rights.  … I hope that we can continue to support the efforts of Seychelles to counter piracy and promote better security in East Africa and the Indian Ocean.”

HONOLULU (Feb. 21, 2013) – In the coming year, the East-West Center is planning to conduct two of its signature media exchange programs in Burma (also called Myanmar). It is the first time the Center will be bringing its internationally recognized media seminars to the country, which has recently relaxed its former strict government censorship of the press.

In June, the Center will bring its distinguished Jefferson Fellowships program for Asia Pacific and U.S. journalists to Burma’s main city of Yangon as part of their study tour focusing on leadership changes in Asia Pacific. The journalists will have an opportunity to engage with Yangon's emerging media sector and ­– in another first for the fellowship –­ help provide professional training and regional perspectives to local journalists.

HONOLULU (Aug. 18, 2015) – Thanks to more than $84,000 in funding from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the East-West Center’s 2015 Senior Journalists Seminar, which seeks to improve relations between the U.S. and Muslim regions, will include more Middle Eastern journalists and, for the first time, arts and culture reporters.

HONOLULU (October 31, 2018) -- East-West Center Distinguished Alumnus Dr. Hao Ping, who is also leader of the Center’s Beijing alumni chapter, was recently named president of Peking University, China’s premier institution of higher learning. He previously served as party secretary of the university – often referred to as the “Harvard of China” – as well as a national vice minister of education.

HONOLULU (June 13, 2019) -- East-West Center alumnus David R. Stilwell was confirmed by 94-3 vote of the U.S. Senate today as the new U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Stilwell, a retired Air Force Brigadier General, received his master’s degree in Asian studies as an EWC grantee in the 1980s and later was an Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Center.