FUTI Annual Board and Advisory Committee Joint Meeting, September 29 (Saturday), New York

  • Board members present: Masaaki Yamada (chair), Teruo Fujii, Yuichiro Kuwama, Shigenori Matsushita, Nobuko Sakurai
  • Advisory Committee (AC) members present: Tai Hasegawa, Kenzi Karasaki (via telecommunication), Takatoshi Ito, Hisashi Kobayashi, Takashi Komoto,  Geeta Mehta, Iwao Ojima, Yasuo Okamoto, Yuriko Suzuki, Junji Takegami, K.Y. Tung
  • Other present: Masako Osako (acting secretary)

FUTI’s Annual Board and Advisory Committee joint meeting was held at the UTokyo New York office in New York, commencing at 12pm on September 29, 2018.

After welcome greetings, Mr. M. Yamada (chair) introduced Mr. T. Fujii, Executive Director and Vice President of the University of Tokyo and three new members of the Advisory Committee, T. Ito, J. Takegami, and T. Hasegawa (President of Stanford-Silicon Valley Akamon-kai).

Ms. Osako, acting Secretary, presented the minutes of the Annual Board meetings held on October 1, 2017 and April 16, 2018. The minutes were unanimously approved by the Board.

  • UTokyo Today

Mr. Fujii provided updates on various topics relating to UTokyo, including the following: (1) projects commemorating the university’s 140th anniversary (e.g., major renovation/expansion of the Hongo campus library), (2) initiatives resulting from the designation of “National Universities of Excellence (国立指定大学),  3) the creation of the Division of External Relations (社会連携本部) headed by Mr. Fujii, and (4) the just announced UTokyo’s 42th position (up from the 46th last year) in the Times University Ranking. 

In respect to (2), Mr. Fujii stressed the university management’s philosophy/stance, “From Un-ei （運営, Administration） to Keiei （経営, Management）” which is designed to leverage on the advantages generated by the National University of Excellence designation.

  • Financial Statements for FY2017-18 and related matters

Mr. Kuwama, Treasurer, reported the highlights of financial results for FY2017-18.

Revenues

  • Total Revenues amounted to $313K in FY2017/18 [in comparison with $199K [in FY 2016/2017] and $292K [in FY 2015/2016].
  • Total Revenues for FY 2017-18 include:
    • Contribution from Ito Foundation USA in the amount of $216K [up from $110k in FY2016-17]
    • Shintech trust distribution of $36K [which is nearly equal to $35K in 2016-17]
    • $61K from general public [up from $54k in FY2016-17]

Scholarships and grants

Scholarships/grants were given in the following categories: Total $270K

  • FUTI summer global leadership scholarship in the amount of $60K
  • FUTI grants to two universities in the total amount of $19.5K
  • Scholarship under the Ito USA -FUTI program in the amount of $190K

Other Matters:

  • Operating reserve amount at $248K is satisfactory. Current “Operating reserve” ($248K) to “annual budget “($296K ) ratio of 84% is within the recommended ratio range of 50% to 100%.
  • Mr. Kuwama reported that for FY 2017/2018 donations from general public totaled $61k which was in line with the result of previous five FYs (2013-2017) that ranged from $54k to $93.8k with the average of $64.6K. The $93.8K (FY2014-2015) was attained due to a few large donations. He noted that UTokyo alumni donation to FUTI has been essentially flat over the past several years.
  • Mr. Kuwama commented that in respect to the IRS’ 33.3% rule, FUTI’s percentage of 34.9% in FY2017-18 was above the 33.3% level。
  • Scholarship Programs

Mr. S. Matsushita, chair of the Scholarship Committee, provided updates on scholarship related matters.

  • FUTI provided 18 Global Leadership Awards and 12 Ito USA-FUTI scholarship awards in 2018 (which included one Ikuei scholarship). 
  • With the help of Amy Vaida, FUTI is undertaking a major revision of the online scholarship application and selection programs.
  • Scholarship Committee will meet on Saturday, March 16, 2019 for application reviews.

Additionally, Mr. Matsushita proposed (1) possible simplification of the award students’ reporting system (currently, FUTI requires from students a mandatory report and provides an option for voluntary Facebook posting) and (2) a “mentor program” (provisional name) involving FUTI Board/AC/Scholarship members (as mentors) and FUTI award students as mentees.

  • Research/Training Grants

Mr. M. Yamada provided updates on FUTI’s grant programs including an overview of the 2017-2018 recipients, the Columbia-UTokyo program and the Yale-UTokyo exchange of scholars under Yamakawa Kenjiro Memorial Lecture series.

  • Report by the AC Committee

Mr. H. Kobayashi, chair of the AC Committee, introduced two new members and one new ex-officio member who joined the FUTI Board/AC meeting for the first time. As mentioned previously, they are: T. Ito, J. Takegami and T.Hasegawa, respectively.

Mr. Kobayashi discussed various contributions AC members have made during the 2017-18, including supporting UTokyo’s Taiken programs (in DC and New York) and advising UTokyo students who visited New York, Berkeley, etc.

  • The Board unanimously approved the following appointments:

President/Director of University Relations
Masaaki Yamada

Vice-President/Treasurer
Yuichiro Kuwama

Secretary (Acting)
Masako Osako

Directors
Koichi Hamada, Sumiko Ito, Shigenori Matsushita, Nobuko Sakurai,

President Emeriti
Hisashi Kobayashi, Junji Masuda

Advisory Committee Chair
Hisashi Kobayashi

Advisory Committee Members
Tai Hasegawa, Shunichiro Kishioka, Takeshi Komoto, Takatoshi Ito, Geeta Mehta, Iwao Ojima, Yasuo Okamoto, Ko-Yung Tung, Kenzi Karasaki, Yuriko Suzuki, Junji Takegami

Scholarship Committee Chair
Shigenori Matsushita

Scholarship Committee Members
Hisashi Kobayashi, Iwao Ojima, Masako Osako, Nobuko Sakurai, Masaaki Yamada

Jimukyoku cho (Managing Director of Operations)
Masako Osako

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