NEWWelcome greetings from our center director

Welcome Greetings!

Greetings to you all!

Although the Center for Gender Studies (CGS) office is closed due to the coronavirus crisis, I would like to welcome you all to ICU, especially first year students who are now forced to discover us virtually.

I would like to emphasize for all ICU students that the CGS will do its utmost, in these extremely challenging times, to support all those in need.

CGS staff has launched a virtual space for academic support, “CGS Chat Room” so please feel free to use it and ask them any questions you may have. The Online Chat Room is held every Monday from 10:00 to 12:00, but you can join at any time of the week, and is intended to serve as a supportive platform for all people who feel isolated, wish to share a moment of togetherness, or share ideas to feel better. The focus of the chat is gender and sexuality studies and online learning. To join email CGS’s Assistant Professor Juliana Buriticá at jburitica@icu.ac.jp.

For those who are not already aware, please also be informed that the Counselling Center is now available online for psychological and emotional support (http://counseling.info.icu.ac.jp/home).

Mental health balance should be the top priority for students, as well as for all ICU employees, as the current situation is completely unheard of for everyone.

So do not worry if you do not feel “as yourself” lately, it is completely normal. Please just take extra time to look after yourself before anything else!

This is truly the most important task for everyone nowadays!

And, once again, welcome to our (virtual) CGS.

And see you all soon (one way or another).

Olivier Ammour-Mayeur

Director of CGS (2020-2022)