As the leaders of 21 economies gathered in Honolulu to take part in APEC meetings and activities, the East-West Center ramped up into high gear.  The EWC hosted three public speeches by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang, and Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak (click link to view video/transcript) and cosponsored a business symposium.Secretary Clinton p

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.

Lee Howell of the World Economic Forum presents the keynote address at the International Graduate Student Conference.IGSC co-chairs Apinya Jantunyarux & Asmatullah Junejo (center) with presenter Lee Howell and EWC directors and board members.

The East-West Center joins many in the international relations community in mourning the April 15 passing of EWC Board of Governors member Tadashi Yamamoto, a strong advocate of the development of a vibrant, internationalized civil society in Japan and of deepened Japanese ties with other countries.

SUSI participants from Southeast Asia present their eco-solutions at the EWC.As part of the five-week SUSI institute (Study of the U.S. Institute for Student Leaders on Global Environmental Issues), the East-West Center recently hosted a showcase of student-generated solutions for local environmental problems. The ‘Gallery of Eco-solutions’ focused on four themes: sustainable agriculture and food security; waste management; watersheds; and climate change and energy.

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.

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. 

HONOLULU (April 24, 2013) -- Last month in Singapore, the East-West Center realized a four-year goal to gather ASEAN-wide young environmental leaders to create collaborative project proposals in what was deemed ““an incredible, innovative, and enriching workshop” by Eric Watnik, the Public Affairs Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore. 

Fifty-seven alumni from the Study of the US Institutes (SUSI) at East-West Center and University of Montana Mansfield Center (UMT) spent three intensive days crafting proposals for the chance to win $25,000 from the U.S. State Department’s Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund. 

HONOLULU (May 3, 2013) -- East-West Center President Charles E. Morrison met yesterday with the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O'Neill, and U.S. Ambassador to PNG Walter North to discuss the possibility of PNG hosting the next meeting of the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders, the only U.S.-based organization that convenes summit meetings of Pacific island heads of government. EWC serves as the administrative secretariat for the PICL summits.

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. 

APIA, SAMOA (Aug. 29, 2014) -- Youth leaders from 18 Pacific nations have converged in Samoa this week for the second ‘Future Leaders of the Pacific’ conference, organized by the U.S. embassies in New Zealand and Samoa in partnership with the East-West Center and held in connection with next week’s International Conference on Small Island Developing States.

Photo: US Embassy New ZealandThe youth delegates are meeting with more a dozen of the region’s top dignitaries to discuss regional issues such as non-communicable diseases, gender equality, climate change and sustainable development in the Pacific.

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.

The 2014-2015 Pacific Islands Women in Leadership (WIL) Program held its capstone workshop in Suva, Fiji, May 17-23, 2015.  The weeklong program allowed the participants to reconnect with each other as well as make new connections within the Pacific Region.

The group reported on the status of the projects they started upon returning home after the initial program workshop held in Honolulu in October 2015.  Two of the participants from Fiji shared their projects with the WIL group with site visits.

Name in the News

New Head of the East-West Center Returns to Hawaii

By Maureen O’Connell
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Jan. 27, 2017

When Richard R. Vuylsteke left his post as president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong to become the East-West Center’s 11th top executive at the start of the new year, he was eager to begin work at his Honolulu alma mater of sorts.

Leadership fellows from the 2016-17 cohort of East-West Center’s Asia-Pacific Leadership Program, spent a week recently volunteering their technical assistance for the Parinaama Development Foundation in India's Odisha state.

HONOLULU (July 5, 2017) -- The East-West Center played host to several women's leadership programs in the last week of June, bringing together participants from around the world to meet and collaborate on issues of women's advancement and equality.