The 52nd Soka University and the 40th Soka Women’s College Graduation Ceremony
On Wednesday, March 18th, the 52nd Soka University Graduation Ceremony and the 40th Soka Women’s College Graduation Ceremony were held in Ikeda Auditorium. Luis Alberto Negreti, Director of the Daisaku Ikeda International Peace Research Center in Argentina (Rector of the National Villamaría University of Argentina), delivered a congratulatory speech and congratulated the graduates on their departure.
At the ceremony, following the opening remarks of the Mizumoto Noboru President of the Soka Women’s College, 14 students in this year's doctoral program were awarded the title of "Doctor", 102 students in the master's and master's programs were awarded the title of "Master", 16 Law School graduates were awarded the title of "Doctor of Law (Professional)", 22 Graduate School of Teacher Education graduates were awarded the Master of Teaching (Professional), and 1,326 students and 440 students in the Distance Learning Division were awarded the title of "Bachelor's Degree" 74 junior college students were awarded the degree of "junior college master", and 12 students were awarded certificates of completion of other courses.
In addition, graduates of the Double Degree Program were awarded a Master's degree from the University of Valladolid, Spain, and a Bachelor of Science from Beijing Language and Culture University in China and University of Buckingham, United Kingdom were awarded to graduates of the Double Degree Program in Faculty of Letters.
After that, awards from renowned overseas educational and cultural institutions with which the university interacted were presented to the representatives.
〇 Lu Xun Cultural Development Center in Shanghai, China "Lu Xun Youth Literature Award": Kazuya Nakagawa (Faculty of Letters), Shion Yamada (Faculty of Law)
〇 "India Soka Ikeda College of Arts and Science for Woman World Friendship Award": Aika Nemoto (Faculty of Letters)
〇 "Mahatma Gandhi Youth Peace Prize": Masahiko Goto (Faculty of Law), Taeko Sasaki (Faculty of Economics) )
〇 "India Soka Ikeda College of Arts and Science for Woman Kamineko Ikeda Honorary President's Award": Keiko Shimizu (Junior College)
〇 "India Soka Ikeda College of Arts and Science for Woman World Friendship Award": Yokazu Hara (junior college)
In addition, 20 representatives of the faculty were awarded the "Soka University Contribution Award", 6 students who achieved outstanding results in club activities, etc., the "Sports Glory Award", and 10 junior college representatives received the "Marie Curie Award", and finally, the "Founder's Award" was presented to Soka University Masanori Inada (Faculty of Economics), Yoko Murai (Faculty of International Liberal Arts), and Mika Moriyama (junior college).
After the alumni representative aspirations, Mika Suzuki President praised the graduates for their commitment to value creation. Founder Dr. Daisaku Ikeda introduced the guideline "Turning Tribulation into the Power of Flight" given at the entrance ceremony in April 2022. While touching on the chaotic world situation, he said, "The courage to not give up is the nickname of 'Soka,'" and gave encouragement, saying, "I hope that you will not succumb to any storm and live a life of 'hope' and 'victory.'"
Next, the director of the Academic Institute, Negreti, gave a congratulatory speech, emphasizing that "graduating from a university is not just about obtaining a degree, but about taking on the mission of contributing to the future of mankind." He introduced the three guidelines of "service to the people," "dignity of life," and "optimism" presented by the founder of our university, stating that "the value of life is not determined by the environment, but by how well we keep our beliefs." Finally, he sent a message of hope, saying, "With a sincere personality and an attitude of dialogue, I hope that you will become a generation that embodies human dignity in all aspects of society."
On the same day, the university's Professor Emeritus titles were conferred on Koichi Kamitachi, Hirotomo Teranishi, Tadashi Takahashi, Ryo Hayashi, Hiroyuki Kunishima, Kazuhiko Sekita, Tatsuo Tsunomi, Yoshiaki Terashima, Tadayuki Yamamoto, Hideo Abe, Akemi Kojima, Takeshi Miyazaki, and Kusujiro Miyoshi.
In addition, the Soka University Schliemann Prize was presented to students and organizations to recognize the achievements of language learning, and the Soka University Da Vinci Prize was presented to students and organizations, which recognizes outstanding achievements that serve as role models for juniors in academic and research fields.
After the ceremony, all the graduates gave a chorus of "Mother" to express their gratitude to their parents.
You can view the photos taken at the "Soka University Self-Photo Studio," a project held to celebrate graduating students, in the Stories Highlights on the official Soka University Instagram account.