Message from Center Director
Prof. Mami Tanaka
Vice President for Promotion of Diversity / Professor, Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering
DEI Center Director / Chair of DEI Committee
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.
Vice President for Promotion of Diversity
DEI Center Director / Chair of DEI Committee
Mami Tanaka