Leadership Corner: Charles E. Morrison
Interviewed by Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
Name: Charles E. Morrison
Age: 60
Title: President
Organization: East-West Center
High school: Billings Senior High School in Montana
College: Bachelor of arts, master of arts and Ph.D. in international relations from The Johns Hopkins University
Breakthrough job: The eight years Morrison spent as a legislative assistant to the late Sen. William V. Roth Jr. (R-Del.) was a good introduction to the U.S. policy process, he said. "That was a great job for me," he said.
Little-known fact: Morrison enjoys reading about the origins of societies and ancient history, in particular Hawaiian, Scottish and Japanese. "Not contemporary issues so much," he said.
Major challenge: His biggest challenge is getting the message out about the East-West Center in a way that "makes people sit up and listen," he said.
Q. The East-West Center is an internationally recognized education and research organization established by Congress in 1960. But people drive past the building on East-West Road and immediately associate the center with the University of Hawai'i.
A. "People think we're part of the University of Hawai'i when they see our buildings here, but they don't know what we're about. I wish people in Hawai'i felt as proud of the East-West Center as they are of the U.S. Pacific Command being based here ... The center has a special importance to the community. We do an important job for the local community, the Asian Pacific region and the world."
Q. In what way does the center contribute to the local economy?
A. We bring in about $17.5 million a year (in federal money) and another $17 (million) or $18 million in private money and about 30,000 visitor days per year ... That's business. But it's more than business, it's a mission.
Q. How many people have gone through the programs here at the East-West Center?
A. Of those who have participated in any East-West Center program, whether it's a conference program or a journalism program, I'd say about 50,000 people. Those who have stayed a year or more in Hawai'i are around 5,000 to 6,000 ... They tend to be very dedicated alumni.
Q. What new programs has the center implemented recently?
A. East-West Center is continually introducing new programs. About 15 every year get started. In 2001 we opened our Washington (D.C.) office ... We do congressional study groups and educate the staff on issues (regarding U.S. and Asia Pacific relations) ... We place strong emphasis on two areas: conflict reduction and the support of regional economic and development integration and cooperative policy.
Q. The Asia Pacific Leadership Program is new as well, starting in 2002. What makes this program different from the other educational offerings the center has?
A. This is for students based at home universities in the Asia Pacific region where they can come here and get a different experience in six or nine months — like a study abroad program but at the graduate level. What we have here is an international faculty and student body from 30 different countries ... What's different about this program from our student scholarship programs is those are for degree students at UH. We provide the dormitories and some of the networking activities, but the classes are provided by the university. Now (with the leadership program) we provide the classes and UH offers credit for those classes. It's called a "sandwich" program ... These students take all their classes together for six or nine months. They really bond.
Q. Has interest among students to study this region increased over the years?
A. Interest has grown a lot. One reason is there's so much more interdependency in Asia. Certainly that's because of the rise of China. (The country) has always loomed large for them, and it's very central in Asia, with (many) countries on its borders. This is the most rapidly growing region in the world right now.
Q. Does that make Hawai'i a good place to study relations between Asia Pacific and the United States?
A. Hawai'i is a great place to study. We're enough back from this region to see it as a whole. And then you have that distance from the (Mainland) United States. In a sense, we're more connected to this region than to the U.S. We're more part of this community.
Q. Back in January, you wrote an editorial for The Advertiser about your economic forecast for this region. You mentioned concern about the rapid growth of China, saying that its economy was booming at an almost dangerous annual growth rate of 8 percent or 9 percent. Were you on target?
A. With China I feel more encouraged. They had a sizzling economy, but now they're trying to slow things down a little ... But there's still a lot of issues there in terms of labor, the environment, health. They need to strengthen their hygienic standards. This is an incredibly important issue, as we saw with SARS and avian flu. That's still a potentially dangerous problem.
Q. Has the war in Iraq impacted this region in any way?
A. Virtually all these countries had local terrorism ... But since 9/11, terrorism focus internationally has been anti-West, anti-America ... The war hasn't been a big deal in Asia as it has been in Europe. Most Asians feel the Middle East is a faraway place that doesn't really affect them. And they don't have the same commitment to democracy as we do. They don't feel they're targets ... But these attitudes are changing. The incident in Madrid showed that (terrorism) could affect more than just (the Middle East).
Q. What are your long-term goals for the center?
A. I'd love to see three or four East-West offices in this region. Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Delhi. That will compliment what we do in Hawai'i, bring our mission and message to the region. To simply sit in Hawai'i isn't going to work in the long run. We have to be present there.
