Updates from the Program Director

July 14th July 10th July 8th

July 14, 2006

Clarification: Presentation outlines are not due today

Your group presentation guidelines are not due until August 7 (except for Health & Disabilities groups, who submit them on August 5). If you refer to the updated presentation guidelines, the only requirements for the presentations before the program are:

You will have time to do your outline and research while you are at Stanford. Here is an example of what we'd like you to submit (this is all!):

Group: Azusa Shimoda, Mioko Ishii, Eric Liu, and Takahiro Yamagami
General topic: Global climate change and sustainability
Who is bringing laptops: Azusa and Eric

Of course, if you have time and you want to submit an outline with your group, that's fine. Here is a good example of a first draft of an outline.

These changes were made because we realized it is difficult for participants to work in groups only using email. Therefore, you have times set aside to work on your presentations with your group members.

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There will be 5 designated times for you to work on your presentation as a group while at Stanford.  After each, you will check-in with the Faculty Advisor and/or Program Director and coordinators.  Outside of the scheduled work periods, you will have some time to work on your presentations during the evenings and study hall periods. Each of the work periods are approximately 3 hours long.

Work Periods and Assignments at Stanford

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July 10, 2006

Presentation Topic Interests
Below you will find the research summaries of most participants. I hope this information will help you learn more about your fellow participants' interests and make it easier to decide on a common presentation topic for your group.

If you haven't sent in your research summary, or if you have and you don't see it listed, please send me an email.

Education

	Yuriko	Immigration policy & economic importants of immigrants
	Haruka	Issues in immigrant education
	Saori	Education for "at risk" youth and orphans
	Song	Education & economics, public vs. private education, historical background on educating the poor
	Junsaku	Education for immigrants in Japan: economic and cultural factors
	Risako	Education policy for immigrants.  Cultural identity
	Yuki	Comparing economic disadvantage in rural and urban Japan
	Mina	Education for economically disadvantaged
	Dennis	"Imported brides" in Taiwan: education, language, and policy

Environment & Agriculture

	Takahiro	Japan's responses to the Kyoto protocol
	Mioko	Corporate social responsibility & the Federation of Economic Organizations
	Yoshino	Farmer/local government relationship - "fukyu-jigyou" - in Japan
	Azusa	CO2 emissions and carbon tax in Japan
	Yo	Implications of agribusiness
	Maki	Protecting local farming/implications of global food system
	Asato	Implications of the global food system
	Eric	Taiwan's responses to the Kyoto protocol

Health & Disabilities

	Aya	HIV/AIDS prevention policy in US vs. Japan
	Mika	Mental health issues in Japan
	Masanori	Awareness of AIDS in Japan
	Aya	Care of the elderly in Japan.  Coping with falling birthrate.
	Sakiko	Mental health, depression, Minamata disease
	Yusuke	Transmission of infectious diseases through blood donation in Japan
	Webster	Lifestyles of the disabled
	Mayu

Urban Issues

	Emiri	Women and homelessness
	Kohei	Response to homelessness in US & Japan: public policy & NGOs
	Chiaki	At risk youth
	Miho	Resources for homeless (women, children, & elderly)
	Noriyoshi	Public policy & homelessness (particularly health policy)
	David	Root causes of homelessness, measures to alleviating homelessness in Japan & Taiwan

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July 8, 2006

We're now less than one month away from AUSL! VIA staff, Stanford and Asia Coordinators, and our Faculty Advisor Momo Waguri are all busily preparing for your arrival. We are currently about 80% complete with all of our planning and arrangements, which means the program is really taking shape.

There are some significant updates to the website, so please take some time to review them. I will continue to update this website in the coming days and weeks. If anything could use more clarification, please let me know!

1) Group Presentations
2) Service in the US & Asia course structure
3) Program activity calendars & updates
4) Computers

1) Group Presentations

The guidelines for the AUSL group presentations will be changed to allow participants more time to collaborate face-to-face on their assignment. After reviewing your excellent research summaries, it became clear that it would be difficult to truly make the presentations a "group" activity (especially during this busy exam period) with the current guidelines

Therefore, we have made time for participants to plan, research, and organize their presentations while at Stanford. Please download the updated presentation guidelines from this website and read them carefully.

Group Presentation Guidelines

2) Service in the US & Asia Course

AUSL's class, "Service in the US and Asia", will meet Monday - Friday from 9 - 12pm while we are at Stanford.

The first and second week of Service in the US and Asia are structured very differently, but both are designed to prepare participants with information, concepts, and questions before the Service Project Week.

Below you will find the structure of "Service in the US and Asia". Stanford Coordinators are currently finalizing the curricula for SUA week 2 for each Service Project Group, which will be updated on this web page shortly.

Service in the US and Asia: Week I (SUA1)

• All service project groups meet together
• SUA1 explores broad issues of service relevant to all groups

	Monday August 7	Tuesday 8	Wednesday 9	Thursday 10	Friday 11
Daily theme	Service in the US & Asia	Service and Education	Service and Government	Service and Religion	Service and Business
9 – 9:20 am	Course Introduction	Project Group check ins and introductionto day's theme: Program Director
9:20– 9:35 am		Presentation on Japan/Taiwan Issues: Asia Coordinators (related to guest speaker’s topic)
9:35– 10 am	Small group discussions of days topic. Active listening exercises
10 – 11 am	Guest speaker and question & answer
11:10– 11:45 am	Small group discussion (in service project groups)
11:45 am – 12 pm	Whole group discussion, reporting, and wrap-up

Service in the US and Asia: Week 2 (SUA2)

• Each service project group meets separately for SUA2
• SUA2 lessons are facilitated by Stanford and Asia coordinators
• SUA2 lessons focus on the themes and organizations of service project week

	Monday 14	Tuesday 15	Wednesday 16	Thursday 17	Friday 18
9 – 10 am	Lesson 1	Lesson 4	Lesson 7	Lesson 10	Final group presentations (1:30 - 4pm)
10:05 – 11 am	Lesson 2	Lesson 5	Lesson 8	Lesson 11
11:05 – 12 am	Lesson 3	Lesson 6	Lesson 9	Lesson 12

 

3) Program Calendar and Activity Updates

The AUSL online calendar has been updated, although does not represent the finalized schedule. Further details will be added in coming days and weeks. Stanford Coordinators are 80% complete with both the lesson plans for SUA 2 and with the itineraries for service project week. Itineraries will be posted shortly.

4) Computers

As mentioned in the Presentation Guidelines, we recommend that 2 people per project group bring a laptop computer for research purposes. Because AUSL participants are not official Stanford students, you will not have access to campus computers. Although it's not necessary to use powerpoint (we have materials for posters), bringing presentation software will also be useful.

Because internet access is relatively expensive ($60 per computer for 2 weeks), you will want to discuss with your group members if and how you will divide the cost. I suggest that participants who do not bring a computer help pay for those that do because 1) bringing a laptop does involve some inconvenience and risk, and 2) it is a very important tool that all group members benefit from.

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