Sylff News

Nippon Foundation Chairman Sasakawa (center, wearing light blue suit) with members of the Howard faculty and incoming Sylff fellows.

On September 8, 2011, Chairman Yohei Sasakawa and other officers from The Nippon Foundation—the Sylff endowment donor—visited Howard University, whose Graduate School celebrated the twentieth anniversary of its association with Sylff earlier this year.

They met with university faculty, including Graduate School Interim Dean Charles L. Betsey, Associate Provost Joseph Reidy, and Senior Academic Advisor to the President Alvin Thornton.

They were also welcomed by incoming Howard Sylff fellows Elana Denise Anderson (African studies), Melvin Barrolle (history), Jude Daceus (history), Ronald C. Noel (history), Wanjiku Gachugi (African studies), and Abdul Samad Mukati (communication sciences and disorders).

In his welcome speech, Dean Betsey said, “As the battles for freedom continue throughout the world, we are proud that Sylff fellows and alumni are continuing on the quest to find solutions to the global problems that face us. These problems know no particular nationality, creed, or language. They are universal in scope and therefore require the tools and approaches embodied in a variety of disciples and fields of study. This need underscores the continued significance of the Sylff program, of which Howard University is extremely proud to be a part.”

According to a 1989 resolution of the university’s board of trustees, “Howard University is a comprehensive, research-oriented, historically Black private university providing an educational experience of exceptional quality to students of high academic potential with particular emphasis upon the provision of educational opportunities to promising Black students.”

A Howard press release of the visit can be read at: http://www.howard.edu/newsroom/releases/2011
/20110914HowardHighlightsPartnershipwithSylffGlobalFellowshipProgram.htm

The Graduate School has its own Sylff website at: www.gs.howard.edu/financial/Sasakawa