Prof. Mami Tanaka

(Associate Executive Vice President (for DEI) / Professor, Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering）

The diversity at Tohoku University started in 1907 when the school was established. Our school principles are based on “Open-door policy”, “Research first ” and “Research based on practical learning”. We have been open to communities of diverse people, and particularly accepted the first female college students in 1913. The committee on gender equality promotion was established in 2001, and in the following year we announced the declaration for gender equality promotion to support female researchers and develop awareness of gender equality. On our 100th anniversary of the first female college students in 2013, we created the action plans for gender equality promotion, and since then, both the committee and the center for gender equality promotion (aka.TUMUG) that was established in 2014 have been working together to promote gender equality progressively.

As the world was entering a period of great change, we announced ”the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Promotion Declaration” on April 5, 2022 in order to seek for the present and future happiness for human beings through collecting our prominent knowledge and diverse resources, and challenge ourselves for creating and valuing the innovation, and develop the previous proclamation and action plans. According to the declaration, every member at Tohoku University should respect other identities and their identity should also be respected; we promise to educate ourselves and promote awareness, and set up appropriate environments and policies based on the principle of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Moreover, the declaration reconfirmed that diversity (applied not only to Japanese students but also international students) at Tohoku University was greatly significant since it had been focused on from the beginning of its history.

The year of 2023 is the 110th anniversary year for the first female college students and also the 100th for the first female college students who majored in humanities. In the same special year, the name of our center was changed to Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI Center). Our slogan is “Each member shines like a star at Tohoku University”. We, DEI Center, will support all members including students, faculty, and staff; we do research and find out what

the status quo is, continue creating and empowering female leaders, support nonbinary caregivers, teach about unconscious bias, create policies followed by the guidelines for gender and sexual diversity, and participate in various activities to promote equity. We will connect and build relationships with other relevant national and international organizations besides on-campus offices and departments so that all members at Tohoku University can shine more. We are here committed to promoting DEI as a team.

September 29, 2023

Director, DEI Center at Tohoku University Mami Tanaka

Prof. Noriko Osumi

(Vice President for Public Relations and Promotion of Diversity)

The Center for Gender Equality Promotion (aka. TUMUG) was established in 2014, and I took over the Director’s position from President Toshiya Ueki in 2018. In 2022, I handed it over to Vice President Mami Tanaka (Gender Equality Promotion, a faculty member of Medical Engineering). In July 2023, the name of the center was changed to the Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI Center), and the center is working with more diverse community members at Tohoku University. I will continue to serve as Chair of the DEI Committee, and together with the DEI Center, I will work as two wheels of the cart to promote diversity and co-participation in the University.

Tohoku University was established as the third national university in 1907 and accepted the first female students in 1913. However, since the university had mainly focused on the natural sciences, the number of female students had not significantly increased.

Then, we established a committee for gender equality promotion in 2001 and announced the declaration for gender equality promotion to support female researchers and develop awareness of gender equality. For example, we had the Tohoku Women’s Hurdling Project for three years (from 2006) and the Tohoku Leading Women’s Jump Up Project for five years (from 2009) that were supported by the MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology). Moreover, we had self-supported projects to promote and support female researchers, such as the Science Ambassador Project (which used to be called “Science Angels”), starting in 2006.

In 2013, we distributed the action guidelines for gender equality promotion as the 100th anniversary of the first female students, which are based on seven principles:

1) providing work-life balance support and improving conditions; 2) nurturing female leaders; 3) nurturing the next generation; 4) honoring achievements; 5) facilitating local collaboration; 6) promoting internationalization; and 7) creating a support organization. Since then, our center, run by the gender equality promotion committee, has become the core of gender equality promotion at the university.

In 2016, we promoted “Tohoku Women’s Empowerment Project”, as the MEXT Science Technology Diverse Project, opened “Aobayama Midori Daycare” as our third daycare center, expanded “Hoshinoko Daycare” in Seiryou campus, and added “Kawauchi Keyaki Daycare”. We can now accommodate 258 children on campus, which is the largest facility in universities in Japan. These facilities are available for faculty, staff, and students.

Additionally, we provided seminars for developing leadership skills and continued supporting the research, including providing funds, etc. Since 2017, we’ve given the “Murasaki Sendai Hagi Awards” to female researchers who have prominent achievements in social science, engineering science, bioscience, and medical science.

Our activities were mainly targeted at women as a minority group; however, our original “Open Door Policy” is not only for women. Our goal is to open a door for many kinds of people, besides high school graduates, who wish to study in higher education. In 2017, Tohoku University was chosen to be one of the national university corporations in order to promote globalization and achieve international standards. As well, we understand that we still have issues with how to include the international faculty and staff, students, and those who have disabilities.

On April 5, 2022, we announced ”the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Promotion Declaration”. Within international academia, Tohoku University will work on creating a truly inclusive campus in consideration of diversity and equity.

In order to enforce the promotion, the committee and the center have started working as one entity this year. The DEI center will move forward with Director Tanaka’s leadership, promoting the supporting programs, including the SA program, and at the same time, the committee will collect all the voices from each department and discuss how to make the DEI principles apply to the university, aiming for a 3% increase in female researchers, which was an objective for the 4th-period midterm plan.

We will continue working on the DEI at the university.

We appreciate your continuous support and your generous donation toward the Tohoku University DEI Promotion Fund.

September 29, 2023 Vice President for DEI Division Chair of DEI Committee

Noriko Osumi