The East-West Center community was saddened to learn of the sudden death on Nov. 29 of Adjunct Senior Fellow Jon Van Dyke, a University of Hawaii law professor and longtime associate of the Center. He was a leading authority on constitutional, international and maritime law, as well as indigenous and environmental issues. Recently, he participated in an EWC-organized meeting of supreme court justices from ASEAN countries.

Our thoughts and deepest condolences go to Jon’s wife Sherry, his family and his many friends, students and colleagues. The University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson School of Law has created a tribute page, where those who wish to do so may share their condolences and memories.

The EWC’s AsiaPacificEd Program for Schools launched the AsiaPacificEd Crossings Website and educational initiative. This online resource, established just prior to the APEC Summit in Honolulu, has already enabled more than 1,400 K-12 students and educators from 48 schools in eight APEC economies (Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and United States) to explore and connect with the Asia Pacific region. 

EWC President Charles E. Morrison (center) and EWC Foundation VP Mangmang Brown with Island Pacific Energy President Joseph Saturnia and members of the EWC Sustainability Task Force.

The East-West Center expresses its sadness over the passing of Emeritus Senior Fellow Meheroo Jussawalla following a long illness. After a very distinguished career in her native India, Meheroo joined the East-West Center’s Communications Institute in 1977 and was a pioneer in developing the field of information economic. After she formally retired, she remained active in East-West Center projects and activities.

By Charles E. Morrison

(Note: This commentary originally appeared in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Sept. 12, 2012)

It may not compare to APEC or the G-20 for global economic weight, but for the Pacific island nations, the annual Pacific Islands Forum summit is the premier regional meeting. It brings together heads of the island nations (including Australia and New Zealand) with representatives of international organizations and “dialogue partners,” including the United States, China, Japan and many others. For the Cook Islands, with less than 15,000 residents, hosting last week’s PIF was a rare event made especially significant by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s unprecedented stop to attend the post-meeting partner dialogue ­– the highest level U.S. participation ever.

APLP fellows gather with the White House social media team.On the first day of their Washington, D.C. field study, EWC’s Asia Pacific Leadership Program (APLP) fellows met with the White House Office of Digital Strategy (a.k.a. the Twitter Team). They discussed how for the first time, a U.S. President is using social media platforms to amplify the Administration’s message and directly interact with the American public. “Being from Indonesia, this is very new for me,” remarked Ismail Sulaiman, APLP fellow and head lecturer of communications at the State Islamic College Cot Kala in Aceh.  “Of course we are online, but this is actively exchanging information with the U.S.

Ambassadors Thomas Armbruster (Marshall Islands) & Helen Reed-Rowe (Palau), with PIDP Co-Director Sitiveni Halapua. On April 4, 2013 the U.S. ambassadors to the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands participated in an informal discussion at the East-West Center intended to launch a broad-ranging conversation about the future of U.S. engagement with the freely associated Pacific island nations. Participants included policymakers, Pacific island scholars and public intellectuals. Topics included the future of the freely associated states in the regional system, migration, institution building and new paradigms for engagement. 

The East-West Center community is saddened by the death of former EWC Board of Governors member Thomas S. Foley, a U.S. congressman from Washington State for three decades, speaker of the House from 1989 to 1995, and later Ambassador to Japan.  Foley, who passed away Oct. 18 at age 84, served on the EWC board from 1995 to 1997. 

The East-West Center community is saddened by news of the recent passing of the Center’s first leader, Murray Turnbull, and longtime arts and exhibits coordinator Jeanette "Benji" Bennington.

"Murray Turnbull was the father of the concept of bringing the young people of the Asia Pacific region together, and the East-West Center was established because of him," said EWC President Charles E. Morrison. "And Benji was an incredible, invaluable resource during her decades of service at the Center. She embodied the EWC spirit, and her legacy remains with us all.”

The East-West Center community has been saddened to learn of the sudden passing of former Education Director and longtime community supporter Larry Smith, who suffered a fatal heart attack over the weekend, shortly after arriving in New Delhi to attend a conference.

HONOLULU (Aug. 3, 2015) -- With the Hawaiian Voyaging Canoe Hokule‘a now sailing out of the Pacific for the very first time and currently in Bali, Indonesia, for the canoe’s only scheduled Asian stop on its unprecedented worldwide voyage, a number of East-West Center participants, alumni and community members are in Bali with the canoe, or helped plan the visit.

The East-West Center, in partnership with Yale University and the Pacific Basin Research Center, launched the new book The Evolution of Development Thinking: Governance, Economics, Assistance, and Security at the United Nations on December 15, 2016. (Watch video of the book launch.)

HONOLULU (Aug. 28, 2019) -- Journalism students from Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi and the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi met recently in Nepal for a two-day dialogue about cross-border media collaboration. The six Indian and Pakistani students were joined by three Nepali journalism students for the dialogue in Kathmandu, which was moderated by EWC media alumnus Kunda Dixit, Editor and Publisher of the Nepali Times.

HONOLULU (October 22, 2019) -- The East-West Center community has been saddened to learn of the passing on October 20 of former Dean of Students and longtime Center supporter Sumi Makey. Generations of EWC alumni carry warm memories of Sumi as a caring mentor over the course of her several decades leading the Center’s student and Open Grants programs, which she helped to establish, and later as an active supporter and donor. (Read Sumi’s EWC oral history.)