“Faculty-Student” Collaboration Revitalizing Sophia University’s Campus

Atsuko Nagai
Vice President for Student and General Affairs
Professor, Department of French Literature, Faculty of Humanities

In order to realize a campus that is truly suited for a diverse student body, faculty, and staff, it is essential for all members of the Sophia community to work together to solve problems. Vice President for Student Affairs, Atsuko Nagai, talks about Sophia’s efforts to create a campus where students, faculty, and staff can work together.

Creating a Welcoming Campus for a Diverse Community

In order to make a university campus a comfortable place for those who gather there, it is important for its members to share opinions across barriers, deepen mutual understanding through activities, and resolve issues. In recent years, universities have been required to make various efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs), however, we can only come closer to realizing these goals through the commitment of each community member. For this reason, the University is actively engaged improving the campus environment through collaboration among students, faculty, and staff.

A typical example of “Faculty-Student collaboration” is the role of our student staff. The university has established the Office for the Promotion of Diversity and Sustainability to promote social responsibility initiatives, and has hired student employees to work in this office since FY2021. Student staff work a minimum of 10 hours per week (6 class sessions), receiving a stipend for their work. Students interested in working in this office undergo a document review and interview prior to their hiring. This year (FY2024), 10 student staff have been hired to work in this office.

2023: Student Staff Operating as Three Teams. The Campus Environment Improvement Team worked to improve and renovate facilities to make the campus more comfortable and environmentally conscious. In the renovation of the courtyard in Building No. 9, benches can be used as a furnace were installed for use in the event of a disaster. Students and faculty are now working together to plant greenery in the area.

The Communications Team was responsible for editing and producing the Sophia University SDGs & Sustainability Report in both Japanese and English. This booklet is also used as a resource for explaining the University’s initiatives to universities overseas.

The Planning Team created opportunities for high school students and their parents to learn about the University’s initiatives for solving social issues through open campus events like talk sessions and quiz competitions for high school students to learn about sustainability on campus.

However, this year, we have renewed the traditional three-team system in favor of a project team format where our student staff members can identify issues from a broader perspective, plan projects in cooperation with faculty and staff members, and see their projects through until their completion. We hope this will give our student staff more freedom in planning than the previous team-based system, which assigned specific tasks to each team, and hopefully gives a greater sense of accomplishment.

In April this year, student staff members swiftly put on an event called “Find the Missing Sophian-kun! Sophia Campus Quest.” In this quiz-solving quest, students had to solve a mystery left behind by Sophia-Kun, the university’s official mascot, which would help them better understand Sophia University and its deep commitment to sustainability. Faculty and staff were impressed by the emergence of these student-led initiatives.

Collaboration among students, faculty, and staff in a variety of campus settings

Collaboration between students, faculty, and staff is not limited to the activities of student employees. The Sophia University Future Center Project, launched in 2013, is a project in which students, faculty, and staff come together beyond their day-to-day work and organizational structures to talk and collaborate in creating new value.

The “Peer Café” project is one example of an initiative started under the Sophia University Future Center Project. Peer Café is where students and faculty members join forces to come up with ideas and plan a variety of exchange opportunities. This and other similar initiatives create a lively campus atmosphere and helps each student find their own place on campus.

The Peer Café project also organizes a Christmas market every December in collaboration with the aforementioned Office for the Promotion of Diversity and Sustainability and various other student organizations. The concept is to “share the warmth of Christmas lights with as many people as possible.” In addition to decorating the market with illuminations, the market features goods for sale from Southeast Asia and Africa, a charity bazaar, fundraising activities, and a display in support of refugees. A portion of the proceeds from the bake sale will be donated to charity, and visitors can discuss and learn more about social issues in conversation with the students who run the stores – it’s a very heartwarming initiative full of Sophia character.

In the “Sophia Topics” section of the Center for Student Affairs’ official website “FIND SOPHIA,” university-accredited student reporters plan, interview, and write articles, while staff members proofread and publish them, collaborating to manage the site. Although FIND SOPHIA is a media outlet for students, Sophia Topics has an audience that includes high school students and their parents, and therefore plays an important role in disseminating information to the wider community.

The Sophia Student Integration Commons (SSIC), which was established to promote communication among students, also conducts activities in which faculty and staff participate. In FY2023, SSIC held about 20 exchange events between Japanese and international students, including a tour to experience Japanese culture with a Japanese tea ceremony and a visit to the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima. These events provide opportunities for faculty and staff to engage in conversation with students and create deeper mutual understanding.

Sophia Campus Quest, April, 2024
SSIC study tour to World Heritage Tomioka Silk Mill, July, 2024

Endeavoring to Realize Sustainability on a Campus where students, faculty, and staff work together

In recent years, I feel that students’ awareness has changed, and they are more interested in sustainability and realizing the SDGs goals. This is probably due in part to increased opportunities to learn about social issues through extracurricular activities starting in elementary, and extending through middle and high school. I think it is necessary to provide students with the opportunity to learn and experience something different and more advanced in university than what they were exposed to in high school.

Sophia University has always had a culture of collaboration and acting as one among the students, faculty, and staff. President Archbishop Joseph Pittau S.J. (1975-1981) and his efforts with students and faculty to fundraise streetside for Indochinese refugees was a great example of this spirit. Our campus is a place for students, faculty, and staff to live, learn, and work, but it is also a laboratory of diverse people coming together. Activities promoting the creation of a comfortable campus that transcends the different positions of academics, faculty, and staff should be an important opportunity to consider solutions to social issues. These activities will not only lead to student growth, but will also enhance a sense of belonging among the members of our community, and we intend to further enrich and expand these activities in the future.

Sophia University

For Others, With Others