A Flashlight and a Postcard | Hideyuki Tokuda (Dean, Graduate School of Media and Governance)
2006.02.03
Every year as this time of year approaches, many students in the Ph.D. program are applying to establish their Academic Degree Evaluation Committees for their doctoral dissertation reviews or are undergoing their final examinations after their dissertation hearings. At the most recent Graduate School committee meeting, doctoral degrees were conferred upon five individuals, and the establishment of nine Academic Degree Evaluation Committees was approved.
Obtaining a doctoral degree means you have acquired a license that certifies you, anywhere in the world, as a professional researcher capable of identifying problems on your own and navigating research toward their solution or resolution. It signifies that you have reached a new starting point for your future research; it is by no means the finish line. I hope that those who have received their degrees this time will not forget that the real practice of navigating on their own begins now.
Now, regarding the topic of "gifts," I have had many opportunities to give and receive various "gifts" over the years, but among them, there are some I received as a student in the Doctoral Programs that remain particularly memorable.
One was a gift I received at a welcome party for the CCNG (Computer Communications Network Group), where my supervisor, Prof. Eric G. Manning, served as Director. It was a small flashlight, about the size of my pocket, given to me by someone who was a secretary at CCNG at the time. When I received a rather large box, unwrapped it, and pulled out the flashlight from inside, I thought, "Huh?" It was a tiny, seemingly unreliable light for someone like me who would be writing programs at CCNG late into the night, debugging systems with colleagues, and then walking back to my apartment along pitch-dark roads. But in the next moment, I received these wonderful words: "Please use that light to illuminate your path to a Ph.D.!" It was by no means an expensive present, but I still remember how moved I was by such a heartfelt message.
Another was a postcard from my father, sent to me while I was studying abroad. Nowadays, you can send emails anytime, from anywhere, with a mobile phone and always stay "connected." Back then, we were still in the era of researching and developing network technologies like LANs and WANs and distributed systems; the internet did not yet exist. A postcard would suddenly arrive when I least expected it. It was a hasty scrawl, likely written during a break from his busy work. I remember that his handwriting was quite masterful, and there were often times I couldn't decipher it right away. In the space of just one card, he would tell me about our family, about Japan, and about various current topics. I still treasure it today.
In March, many people will be leaving the nest of SFC. To those who are about to "take off" from the familiar SFC into the wider world, I want to offer a memorable and heartfelt message.
(Date of publication: 2006/02/03)