HONOLULU (July 24, 2014) – The East-West Center has announced the names of EWC alumni, volunteers and a local alumni chapter that will be honored at the Center’s upcoming international alumni conference in Okinawa. The honorees are being recognized for their outstanding personal accomplishments and service toward the Center’s mission of helping to promote better relations and understanding among the peoples of Asia, the Pacific and the United States.

Distinguished Alumni Award

Fundraising Board Also Welcomes Three New Members 

HONOLULU (Aug.19, 2014) – The Board of Directors of the East-West Center Foundation ­­- the Center’s community fundraising arm ­– has selected members Keethe Koyanagi and Shelley Wilson as the board’s new co-chairs. Koyanagi is senior vice president of the Credit Administration Division at First Hawaiian Bank, and Wilson is president of president of Wilson Homecare. Their one-year term as co-chairs began on Aug. 1.

NAHA, OKINAWA  (Sept. 20, 2014) – At the East-West Center’s 2014 international alumni conference that concluded yesterday  in Naha, Okinawa, Center officials announced a new partnership with the Okinawa Prefecture Government that will continue an established scholarship program that allows several Okinawan students each year to pursue graduate degree or leadership program study at EWC and the University of Hawai‘i.

From left: Hidemasu Goya, Robert Nakasone, EWC Adjunct Project Specialist, and Sayaka Sakuma

HONOLULU (Sept. 26, 2014) – The East-West Center is pleased to announce that former Harvard Senior Associate Dean Paul Keenan has joined Center as Interim Director of Development. His part-time appointment is for an initial period of six months, beginning Sept. 23.

“Paul has proven relationship development skills, built over his 25 years of high-level experience in strategy development, marketing and organizational behavior and design,” said East-West Center President Charles E. Morrison. “We are greatly looking forward to his contributions to our strategic planning process and working with him to increase fundraising at the Center.”   

HONOLULU (Sept. 25, 2014) – – Nicholas Manring, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, has joined the East-West Center as Diplomat-in-Residence. He will be posted at the Center until June 2015.

Honolulu (Feb. 12, 2015) -- The East-West Center has been awarded a grant of  $267,186 from the Japan Foundation’s Center for Global Partnership for a three-year dialogue and travel-exchange program focusing on community participation in long-term recovery after a major disaster. 

Participants from the cities of Kobe and Kesennuma in Japan, and New Orleans and Galveston in the United States, will share experiences, perspectives, and best practices for increasing citizen input on post-disaster policy and decision-making. 

International group of 15 accomplished journalists will travel together to China,
the Philippines, Singapore and Hawai‘i to study South China Sea conflicts

HONOLULU - (March 19, 2015) -- The East-West Center has announced the selection of 15 accomplished international journalists for its 2015 Jefferson Fellowships travel-study seminar. The journalists from 12 countries and territories will travel together in May to China, the Philippines, Singapore and Hawai‘i to study territorial conflicts, resource issues, environmental concerns and more in the South China Sea. Participants represent a range of top news organizations including the Associated Press, Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, Times of India, Straits Times, Kyodo News and others.

HONOLULU (May 5, 2015) -- The East-West Center has been awarded funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to continue to serve as the lead institution in the Pacific Regional Integrated Science and Assessment (RISA) program, which is designed to help island and coastal communities cope with the effects of climate change. This is the second full program award the Center has received from NOAA, and marks the program’s transition into a new phase.

The $4,099,785 NOAA grant will be shared over a five-year period by a variety of partners in the Pacific RISA program (see list below). The program was established in 2003 and is one of 11 regional RISA programs supported by NOAA across the U.S. The region covered by the Pacific program includes Hawai‘i, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Palau and American Samoa.

HONOLULU (August 13, 2015) – Nearly 100 student fellows from 40 countries and territories have arrived in Hawaii to participate in East-West Center programs this fall. The new graduate students and leadership program participants join a community of more than 110 continuing EWC participants in a diverse residential community on the East-West Center campus.

The new student fellows are participating in the EWC’s Community Building Institute, a two-week intensive activity that introduces the international students to Hawaii’s culture and major issues affecting the Asia Pacific region.

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 (Sept. 3, 2015) – The East-West Center has received a $45,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to launch a series of agenda-setting workshops focusing on the impact of Asia Pacific trade agreements on trade and innovation in the region.

The East-West Center New Challenges for Trade and Innovation Workshop series, headed by EWC Senior Fellows Dieter Ernst and Michael Plummer, will bring together trade economists and experts on innovation, intellectual property rights, competition law, technical standards, and industrial development from the U.S., Asia and Europe.

Honolulu Attorney Turbin chosen to head EWC’s Board of Governors;
Peter Ho and Ronald Moon appointed to board by Gov. Ige

HONOLULU (Feb 2, 2016) – Members of the East-West Center’s Board of Governors have elected Honolulu attorney Richard Turbin to serve as the board’s new chairman. At a meeting today, the board named Turbin, a member of the board since 2011, to succeed R. Brian Tsujimura, who had served his maximum term as chairman. Tsujimura will remain on the board as co-vice chair, along with re-appointed Vice Chair Margaret Carpenter, and as chair of the Development Committee.

Longtime Taiwan IBM executive Gary S.H. Lin donates $300,000
to support EWC student scholarships and arts programs.

HONOLULU (March 14, 2016) – The East-West Center Foundation has received its largest single donation ever from a degree fellow alumnus. Longtime Taiwan IBM executive Gary S.H. Lin, who was a student at the Center in the 1960s, has donated $300,000 to support EWC student scholarships and arts programs. $250,000 of Lin’s gift will establish a scholarship fund to provide awards for one or more students from Taiwan who have an outstanding academic record and financial need, while the remaining $50,000 will provide support for Taiwan-related exhibitions or performances by the East-West Center Arts Program.

EWC Okinawan projects specialist Bob Nakasone
establishes $50,000 endowment in parents’ honor

International group of 14 accomplished journalists will travel to China, Japan and Hawai‘i to explore the economic future of the Asia-Pacific region.

HONOLULU - (March 23, 2016) -- The East-West Center has announced the selection of 14 accomplished international journalists for its 2016 Jefferson Fellowships travel-study seminar. The print and broadcast journalists from 10 countries and territories will travel together in May to China, Japan and Hawai‘i to gain on-the-ground perspectives, deepen knowledge of regional issues and build a professional network of contacts. Participants represent a range of top news organizations including CNN International, National Public Radio, Times of India, Straits Times and others.

The selected Jefferson Fellows are:

WASHINGTON, D.C.(May 11, 2016) - The Asia Matters for America initiative of the East-West Center today launched a new online resource, Asia Reacts, which tracks Asia’s reactions to important developments in U.S.–Asia relations during and after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The effort will monitor responses of Asian governments, media, and experts.

HONOLULU (June 16, 2016) – The Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center has launched a new and improved version of its Pacific Islands Report news website, which provides readers with a free, curated roundup of current news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific islands.

HONOLULU (Aug. 8, 2016) – The East-West Center has been awarded a three-year grant totaling $300,000 from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in support of the Center’s Senior Journalists Seminar media exchange program, which seeks to enhance media coverage and elevate the public debate regarding U.S. relations with Muslim majority regions.

HONOLULU (Aug. 26, 2016) -- The East-West Center Board of Governors announced that Dr. Richard R. Vuylsteke, an East-West Center alumnus with extensive experience throughout the Asia-Pacific region, has been selected as the next president of the East-West Center. The appointment of Dr. Vuylsteke concludes a year-long search involving several hundred potential candidates.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 6, 2016) -- The East-West Center in Washington will hold the first session of the EWC-Sasakawa USA  Congressional Staff Program on Asia (CSPA), this week on Capitol Hill. This bipartisan educational certificate program for Congressional staff members will cover a range of contemporary, policy-relevant topics in U.S.-Asia relations over a series of weekly sessions, featuring speakers and discussions with U.S. officials and leading experts.

Dr. Richard R. Vuylsteke is an EWC alumnus who has run American Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong and Taipei

HONOLULU (Jan. 5, 2017) – The East-West Center has welcomed its new President, Dr. Richard R. Vuylsteke, a former EWC grantee and staff member who rejoins the Center after several decades living in Asia and serving most recently as President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

Former Punahou President is chosen by fellow board members to head EWC’s governing body; Bank of Hawai‘i’s Peter Ho named Vice Chair 

HONOLULU (Oct. 1, 2019) – Members of the East-West Center’s Board of Governors have elected board member and former Punahou School President Dr. James K. Scott to serve as the board’s new chairman. At a meeting Sept. 30, the board named Scott to succeed attorney Richard Turbin, who had served his maximum term as chairman but remains on the board as a member.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August  9, 2017) –Congressional staff from Senate and House member offices and key committees wrapped up the 2017 EWC-Sasakawa USA  Congressional Staff Program on Asia (CSPA) last week on Capitol Hill. This bipartisan educational certificate program for Congressional staff members covered a range of contemporary, policy-relevant U.S.-Asia topics during weekly sessions between June and August.

HONOLULU (Sept. 7, 2017) –  Peggy Petrovich, a 17-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, has joined the East-West Center as Diplomat-in-Residence. She will be posted at the Center until June 2018.

Former US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and
Punahou School President James Scott Chosen as Vice Chairs

HONOLULU (Oct. 17, 2017) –Members of the East-West Center’s Board of Governors have re-appointed Honolulu attorney Richard Turbin as the board’s Chairman for another one-year term. Turbin, a member of the board since 2011, has served as its Chairman since February 2016. At a meeting on Oct. 6, the board also selected former US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Kurt Campbell and Punahou School President James Scott as Vice-Chairs.

HONOLULU (Oct. 27, 2017) – The East-West Center has received one of the largest single donations in its history from longtime institutional supporter the Hawaii Pacific Rim Society. The $2.3 million gift will establish the Hideo Murakami Fund for Scholarships and the Arts to support EWC arts programming and scholarships for participants in the Center’s Asia Pacific Leadership Program.

HONOLULU (January 19, 2018) – The East-West Center in Honolulu Hawai‘i has just published a report on the findings of the inaugural Women20 for the G20 Asia Pacific Dialogue, which was held at the Center in June. The 20-page report expands on initial policy recommendations that the participants released soon after the meeting to help the G20 address several of the most pressing areas of ongoing disparity in women’s economic status throughout the Asia Pacific region and the world.

Findings from the report will be highlighted at several upcoming international meetings on women’s empowerment:

HONOLULU (July 24, 2018) – Hundreds of scholars, officials, educators and business leaders from dozens of countries will be attending the East-West Center/EWC Association’s major international alumni conference, to be held August 23-25, 2018, at the Lotte Hotel Seoul.

WASHINGTON, DC (Aug. 27, 2018) -– The East-West Center and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the United States have now released the newest, updated versions of the Korea Matters for America/America Matters for Korea publication and website. The booklet and corresponding state and congressional district one-page connections summaries can be accessed and downloaded online at: https://AsiaMattersforAmerica.org/Korea.

Launch Event on Sidelines of Last Week's East Asia Summit in Singapore Marks 'Asia Matters' Data Initiative's 10th Anniversary

SINGAPORE (November 20, 2018) – At a conference on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Singapore last week, the East-West Center and the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, with the support of the US Department of State, launched the East-West Center’s newly updated Asia Matters for America/America Matters for Asia publication, website, and one-page state summaries highlighting the mutual business, diplomatic, security, and cultural engagement between the US and the Indo-Pacific region.

HONOLULU (May 30, 2019) -- The East-West Center is pleased to welcome Ambassador Karena Lyons, the former New Zealand Ambassador to the nations of Micronesia and Consul General for Hawai‘i, as the Center’s new Vice President, Executive Director of Research, and Director (designate) of the Pacific Islands Development Program.

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.

HONOLULU (Aug. 6, 2019) – Juan “Jay” Avecilla, a 16-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, has joined the East-West Center as Diplomat-in-Residence. He will be posted at the Center until June 2020.

Prior to his arrival in Honolulu, Mr. Avecilla served as Management Officer in the U.S. Consulate General in Milan, Italy. Previously, he has served in various management positions at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan and in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs in Washington, D.C.  His other overseas assignments included tours as Consular/Management Officer in Fukuoka, Japan, Consular Officer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Economic Officer in Hanoi, Vietnam.    

Delegations from the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, and Palau
help chart course for a new era of the Pacific Islands Development Program