Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ), held its 2013 commencement ceremony on Sunday, June 9 at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel, Tokyo. The TUJ ceremony was part of the 126th commencement of Temple University, which took place on May 16 at the main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The commencement in Japan was attended by seven delegates headed by President Neil Theobald who assumed the position of the Temple’s 10th president in January 2013, together with Mr. Mark Davidson, Minister Counselor for Public Affairs, U.S. Embassy Tokyo.
This year the combined commencement at the Main and Japan campuses honored a total of more than 9,000 graduates, the largest number of graduating students in Temple’s history. At the Japan campus, a total of 240 students from about 30 different countries and jurisdictions graduated from the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degree programs.
Temple University was founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell* as an informal adult-education institution to supplement his Baptist Temple ministry. Today Temple has 17 schools/colleges, and more than 38,000 students including those at Japan Campus.
Temple students can apply to 3 campuses (Temple Main Campus, Japan Campus, and Rome Campus) for an intra-university transfer, and graduate at either Main Campus or the Japan Campus. Since 2005, the year TUJ was officially recognized as a Foreign University, Japan Campus by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the number of international students who apply to TUJ directly from overseas and complete their studies without leaving Japan has increased. More than 60% of this year’s graduates from the Japan Campus were students from outside Japan.
“Today, Temple University Japan is our preeminent international program, attracting students from more than 60 nations to its undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs”. President Theobald, who had his first opportunity to deliver a speech at both Main and Japan campuses to the graduates, said during his keynote address, “Your education here at TUJ has prepared you to contribute meaningfully to the prosperity and progress of your respective nations, and the world – and to be, as Conwell said, “blessings to society.”
Following President Theobald’s remarks, four graduating students gave speeches on behalf of the undergraduate and graduate programs (Education, MBA, Law School). They spoke about their memories of life at TUJ and their future ambitions. See their speeches here.
The event was streamed live on the internet, allowing friends and family from around the world to tune in and share the experience with the graduating students. (See archived video here.)
Total number of graduates in the TUJ Class of 2013: 240
- Associate of Arts: 4
- Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Business Administration: 173
- Master of Laws: 13
- Master of Business Administration: 21
- Master of Science in Education: 24
- Doctor of Education/Doctor of Philosophy: 5
* Russell Conwell – Born in 1843, Temple’s first president. He gave the famous speech “Acres of Diamonds” more than 6,000 times in his life.