33 Years | Tomoki Kamo, Dean, Faculty of Policy Management
2024.03.19
For 33 years since 1990, the faculties on Endo Hill have connected the academic disciplines of Policy Management and Environment and Information Studies.
We now realize that in the past 30-plus years, the order of the world we live in has changed dramatically. Many of the assumptions previously taken for granted have shifted. For example, while the advancement of communication technology was once understood to deepen liberal democracy, we are now keenly aware that it also contributes to strengthening authoritarianism. Similarly, while globalization and deepening economic interdependence were believed to guarantee peace and prosperity for the international community, the reality of society today shows a different picture.
Of course, looking back at history, it is inevitable that order changes over time, that values and perceptions of interest fluctuate, and that the rules of the game become unstable. To be astonished by such things is far too naive. The seeds of a new order emerge as the existing one recedes. To build a better world, we must strive to sharpen our senses to sensitively perceive the changes unfolding before us and to calmly discern what to uphold against change and what to adapt to it. We must also recognize that order itself can easily shift without the resolve to "support" it.
Policy Management can be described as a discipline that recognizes the fluid nature of the order shaping the world we live in. The problems facing our society do not arise within any single academic field. Deriving effective policy judgments to solve these problems requires perspectives from multiple disciplines. Policy Management is an academic field that, while being well-versed in individual advanced areas of study, re-examines them comprehensively and ventures into interdisciplinary territory to solve problems.
The undergraduate graduation ceremony for the Fall 2023 semester will be held on March 25. Just before that, on March 22, the Takeoff Rally will be held at SFC. Then, on April 1, the start of the new academic year, we will hold the entrance ceremony for the Spring 2024 semester, and on April 5, the Kickoff Lecture will be held at SFC.
To all of you who are graduating, I hope you will reflect on the academic traditions that our faculties and campus have fostered over the past 33 years. The Faculty of Policy Management has championed Policy Management as a discipline for "honing the skills necessary to carve out one's own future" (Hiroshi Kato, first dean). The Faculty of Policy Management is the faculty for conceiving policies to shape the future. The discipline of Policy Management is founded on the idea that policy is "the choices and decisions humans make to take action" and the recognition that "human action constitutes society, and the science that analyzes society must be comprehensive." I wrote about this in the preface to "Opening Up Policy Management."
Many of you graduating now entered the university during the COVID-19 pandemic and have, I imagine, gone through a very difficult time. I believe you have reached this milestone by accepting that period, dedicating yourselves to your activities at SFC to overcome it, and have now arrived at your graduation. I want to express my heartfelt congratulations on your efforts.
To all the new students who will soon be joining us: I ask you to take another look at the discipline of Policy Management and the studies offered by the Faculty of Policy Management, which you have chosen.
Unfortunately, this March, Professor Ichiro Inaminami will be retiring from the Faculty of Policy Management, and Professors Koji Matsui, Atsushi Kanazawa, Hiroyuki Kondo, Hiromi Shirazu, Mika Kunieda, and Jae-pil Ko will also be leaving the faculty. From the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Professor Tatsuya Hagino will be retiring, and Professors Akinori Okada, Satoru Tezuka, Sachiko Tsukahara, Megumi Tsujimoto, and Masaki Mori will be leaving. It is heartbreaking for the faculties to see colleagues, who have shared the responsibility for education and research on campus, choose different paths, whether through retirement or the end of their term.
On the other hand, starting in April, the faculties and the campus will welcome new colleagues. And together with them, we will welcome all of you, our new students.
To our new students, I encourage you to look through the syllabi available to students to get to know the faculty members who lead education and research on campus. We are waiting for you here to help you "hone the skills necessary to carve out your own future." I hope you will spend the time before you enroll thinking about what you will learn at SFC to shape the future 30 years from now, while also engaging in the reading necessary to advance your studies.
For 33 years on Endo Hill, our fellow faculty and staff have worked together to connect the disciplines of Policy Management and Environment and Information Studies. To our new students, I hope you will enjoy this history. And I hope you will join us in creating the history that extends beyond these 33 years.