A UCLA scientist and professor emeritus of the David Geffen School of Medicine donated $1 million to the UCLA Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies, officials announced Thursday.
Paul Terasaki’s donation will serve to expand the center, promoting new initiatives like the Global Japan Program, which aims to serve the next generation of Japanese leaders through community engagement, according to a statement by the UCLA International Institute.
The Terasaki Center has been making plans to expand since celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2012, said Noel Shimizu, assistant director of the Terasaki Center. The center will send a group of leaders to the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics to speak about how the leaders incorporate the disabled into their workplaces, as part of the expansion.
Shimizu said the center’s disability initiative and its other plans for expansion encouraged Terasaki to make another donation.
The donation will also contribute funds to the Terasaki Center’s annual Global Japan Forum, which seeks to address Japan’s diminishing economic and political influence, among other issues.
Terasaki has contributed more than $6 million to the university, funding the construction of the new Terasaki Life Sciences Building and a professorship in surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine, according to the statement.
Compiled by Jorge Valero, Bruin contributor, and Alejandra Reyes-Velarde, Bruin senior staff.