Chubu-OHIO Reflections
Reflections and Memories
In 2023, Chubu University and Ohio University are celebrating 50 years of collaboration and friendship. Students, faculty and staff have had opportunities to visit each other’s campuses and interact with individuals from both institutions.
To capture the flavor and importance of these intercultural experiences, we invite our community to share reflection essays through the lens of these dynamic engagements.
Explore these accounts, memories, photos, and reflections below.
Learn how to submit an essay and photo memories for inclusion!
Guidelines and Format
- Submit responses in Essay format (500-1000 words).
- Answer in paragraphs (not bullet points).
- Prompts are meant to provide a guide for you, not required to answer the specific questions only.
- Not intended to be travelogues or testimonials- we seek thoughtful, personal answers based on the four themes provided.
- Choose to focus on as many of the questions as you like!
- Focus on your experiences affiliated with Chubu (either in Japan or interacting with Chubu faculty, staff, or students in Athens).
- Pictures welcome!
- Submit up to 4 for consideration
- Recommended file size up to 2 MB
- JPEG JPG GIF PNG all accepted
- If you would like to see what some students from Chubu University have written as examples, you can visit this website: https://ohio-chubu.jp/news/messages.html and translate the page in English.
How will OHIO use these Essays?
Your responses may be featured on www.ohio.edu/oga/chubu/50th or in other commemorative initiatives that OHIO will produce to honor the Chubu-Ohio relationship. By choosing to answer these questions, you grant us permission to do so.
Deadline and Submission Link- DEALINE EXTENDED!
Please submit your responses by December 15, 2023. If you require more time, please let us know.
Submit your Essay and Photos at this link: Chubu-OHIO 50th Reflection Essay Submissions
Questions?
If you have questions, contact Gerry Krzic (krzic@ohio.edu) or John Miller (millerj4@ohio.edu) at Ohio University or Tadashi Shiozawa (shioz@isc.chubu.ac.jp) at Chubu.
Prompts/ Questions to guide your Reflection Essay
Use One or More of these prompts to guide your Essay!
- PERSPECTIVES
- How have your experiences at Chubu or OHIO shaped your thinking and perspective?
- Can you provide specific examples of cross-cultural insights or changes in values that occurred during your time abroad? Were there any particular episodes or interactions that significantly influenced your thinking?
- BEHAVIOR
- How have your experiences at Chubu or OHIO influenced your actions and behavior?
- Can you elaborate on specific instances that affected your behavior, such as exhibiting more patience, demonstrating interest in other cultures, seeking opportunities for intercultural interaction, or improving your problem-solving skills, etc.?
- CAREER AND PERSONAL LIFE
- How have your experiences at Chubu or OHIO shaped your career and personal life?
- Please provide specific examples highlighting the impact on your personal and professional development, the expansion of your personal networks, and the growth of your global perspective.
- COMMUNICATION SKILLS
- How have your experiences at Chubu or OHIO impacted your communication skills, including language learning and cultural awareness?
- Can you share specific episodes or experiences that were educational and transformative in terms of improving your foreign language proficiency and overall communication abilities? How have these impacts influenced your interactions with others, both personally and professionally?
Reflection Essays
Read Essays and check out personal photos from individuals who have engaged with Chubu over the years!
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February 9, 2024
It has been a great honor to share in the joyful celebrations of the 50th anniversary of partnership between Ohio University and Chubu University. I have been at Ohio University for close to 24 years and, over that time, my understanding and appreciation of this special partnership has grown each year as I learn more about the deep connection between Ohio and Chubu.
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January 17, 2024
A chance meeting about anthropology and ethnography with Dr. Thompson ignited my journey into the exploration of Japanese Language and culture at Ohio University. A pivotal chapter in my academic growth and personal growth unfolded during a transformative six-month study-abroad stint at Chubu University in 2007. This period helped shape my perspectives, helped with my resilience, and fostered cultural empathy.
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January 17, 2024
It's been 40 years since I graduated from Ohio University's mechanical engineering master's program in 1984, and I retired from working for a company, and now I'm starting my own small company, earning a pension, and playing my favorite sports.
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November 30, 2023
Throughout the decade of my presidency at OHIO we enjoyed many close friendships with leaders at Chubu. Suffice it to say that I was well informed about the warm and friendly relationship between Ohio University and the Chubu Institute of Technology from the earliest days of my tenure as president of Ohio University, and that was probably at least partly because of the close friendship between my predecessor at OHIO, President Charles Ping, and the then-president of the Chubu Institute, Kazuo Yamada.
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December 7, 2023
I remember very fondly my trip to Chubu University in November 2014 during my tenure as President of Ohio University. It was truly one of the most memorable trips that I had the pleasure of taking.
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November 30, 2023
I had known about the relationship between Ohio and Chubu Universities since I arrived in Athens in 1986. I cherished the cherry trees and heard great things about Chubu.
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November 29, 2023
There are special relationships between universities and then there are very special relationships. The partnership and legacy of 50 years of community, scholarly possibilities, cultural exchange, and enduring friendships that Chubu and OHIO have created together is unique, deep, and far reaching. It reminds one of just how important investing in such relationships is as we strive to be global in forging diversity, inclusion, understanding and cooperation as individuals and as institutions.
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November 29, 2023
One of the highlights during my time at Ohio University (OHIO) is the partnership with Chubu University (CHUBU). When I think of Chubu University, I think of “transformational partnerships,” the term Dr. Susan Buck Sutton, Emerita Associate Vice President of International Affairs and Emerita Chancellor’s Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University, introduced in 2010.
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November 7, 2023
My life has always been surrounded by world cultures. My parents always wanted me to know about my Swedish and German family heritage and this led me to wanting to know about other world cultures.
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November 7, 2023
When I moved from Boston to Athens, OH, with my family at 13, I didn’t expect such a small, rural town to be the place that jumpstarted my international experiences.