[Special Feature: Looking Toward CGS's 10th Anniversary]
Miho MATSUZAKI
CGS research institute assistant, CGS
[The article below is the same as the article that appears in the sixteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.]
Miho Matsuzaki is one of the many research institute assistants (RIAs) who are involved in the day-to-day operations at CGS. As a postgraduate student with some experience in the workforce, she shares her thoughts on how CGS has influenced her life so far.
After working as a student assistant in the then Division of International Studies at ICU from 2000 to 2003, I began postgraduate studies at a different university while working as a research assistant and in a company. I found that the gender research center at that university was strictly a research institute; it did not focus on providing support for students or a platform for communication with them. In general, I feel that the "diversity" proclaimed by Japanese universities and companies is still concerned mostly with "gender equality," in terms of the conventional male/female dichotomy of public policy, rather than with issues of other minorities or multiculturalism.
Since I began working at CGS in 2012, I have been impressed by how open it is to both people within and outside the university, how it provides a meeting place for people of diverse backgrounds, and how it continually comes up with multifaceted projects and events. Indeed, sometimes I envy the students here, who have the benefit of a supportive environment where they can nurture their own identities and learn about the diverse colors of this world.
I am currently making good use of my experience in nursing care research to organize various events at CGS. Meeting people who share the same interest in issues concerning students, youth, and elderly care has stimulated my interest in further research. I also hope that I can utilize my experience in career counseling to help students think about how they will make their way in today's world with the awareness they have developed here. As for myself, my own learning and development continues through the encounters facilitated by this dynamic place for implementation and practice that is CGS.