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 (August 10, 2016) – Nearly 70 student fellows from 38 countries and territories have arrived in Hawai‘i to begin participating in East-West Center programs this fall. Later in the month, 37 additional participants will begin the Center’s Asia Pacific and Pacific Islands certificate leadership programs.

(View a photo gallery of the Aloha Ceremony welcoming the new participants.)

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.

HONOLULU (September 14, 2016) -- The Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment (PIRCA) has launched its new website at PIRCA.org.  The website provides a wealth of information and resources about climate change in Hawai‘i and the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI).

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.

HONOLULU - (Aug 16, 2017) -- The East-West Center has welcomed 27 emerging leaders from 10 Pacific island nations to this year’s Pacific Islands Leadership Program with Taiwan, or PILP. The participants will spend close to two months in Honolulu, engaging in experiential learning exercises on such topics as applied leadership skills, future scenario planning, social entrepreneurship and risk analysis, climate change and environmental stewardship, international relations, and public health. Then they will travel to Taipei for a month of field study in at the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs.

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 (Nov. 9, 2017) -- To mark this month’s International Education Week, more than a hundred 3^rd - 5^th graders from three O‘ahu public elementary schools visited the East-West Center today to learn about global citizenship and participate in international cultural activities.

View a photo gallery of images from the event.

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