Committee Chair on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Dr. Noriko Osumi
Vice President (Public Relations and Promoting Diversity)
Director, Tohoku University LibraryProfessor, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine
The Center for Gender Equality Promotion (aka. TUMUG) was established in2014, and I took over the Director’s position from President Toshiya Ueki in2018. In 2022, I handed it over to Vice President Mami Tanaka (GenderEquality Promotion, a faculty member of Medical Engineering). In July 2023,
the name of the center was changed to the Center for Diversity, Equity, andInclusion (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 twowheels of the cart to promote diversity and co-participation in the University.
Tohoku University was established as the third national university in 1907 andaccepted 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 andannounced 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 theTohoku Leading Women’s Jump Up Project for five years (from 2009) thatwere supported by the MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science,and Technology). Moreover, we had self-supported projects to promote andsupport female researchers, such as the Science Ambassador Project (whichused 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 sevenprinciples: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 genderequality 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” asour 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. Thesefacilities are available for faculty, staff, and students.
Additionally, we provided seminars for developing leadership skills andcontinued 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 adoor 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 andachieve international standards. As well, we understand that we still haveissues with how to include the international faculty and staff, students, andthose 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 andequity.
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 fromeach department and discuss how to make the DEI principles apply to theuniversity, 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