A Message from the President

Dear Friends and Supporters,

This fall, we successfully welcomed our campus community back to Aliso Viejo after months of COVID-19 prevention planning and preparations, starting with the undergraduate Class of 2025 and the graduate Class of 2023 in August for their orientation and Fall Block, followed by the undergraduate Class of 2024 for their first time on campus, and then the undergraduate Classes of 2022 and 2023. The Graduate School welcomed six new students representing Hong Kong, Japan, Nepal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The undergraduate Class of 2025 welcomed 134 new first-year students representing such countries/regions as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, France, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Peru, Serbia, South Korea, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Zambia in addition to the United States. The campus is full of energy and excitement once again with our students, staff, and faculty safely and actively engaging with one another in meaningful dialogue and exchange.

We celebrated the 17th annual Celebrating a Vision of Peace Gala on Saturday, October 9, 2021, and raised $787,908 for the student scholarship fund. Among the 176 attendees in-person, we had many of our precious alumni present. We also had many of you attending virtually from around the world as far away as Brazil, Guatemala, Ireland, Israel, Japan and Vietnam. One of the highlights of the event came from the alumni speaker, Leonard Bogdonoff ’11, who shared his sincere appreciation for the scholarships he received while studying at SUA. His experiences, lessons learned, and network developed while at Soka became the foundational basis for the growth and success of his startup tech company. The great success of this year’s hybrid gala was a culmination of months of detailed planning and execution by the Peace Gala Committee under the leadership of our gala chairs, Joan May and Misty Fisher, and the entire Development team led by Linda Kennedy. I would like to especially thank the sponsors and donors whose contributions directly support student scholarships.

We also officially held the dedication ceremony for our state-of-the-art life sciences building, Marie and Pierre Curie Hall, on November 18, 2021, where the Orange County Board of Supervisors presented a resolution to SUA celebrating this milestone. With the launch of our Life Sciences concentration last year, the dedication ceremony for Curie Hall, and the growth of our academic opportunities as seen with the accelerated master’s degree programs with the University of San Diego and Claremont Graduate University, I would like to express my sincerest appreciation to all of our donors whose contributions and support directly impact SUA’s education for global citizenship as envisioned by university founder Daisaku Ikeda.

Following the dedication ceremony, the students hosted the inaugural Lions Day event on November 20, 2021, reimagining the Student Festival from SUA’s founding years. I was deeply moved by the efforts of our students using dialogue to bring the student body together to celebrate each other’s identities and learn from one another. After experiencing a challenging year with the difficulties of online learning, the processes leading up to the event served as a means to deepen their bonds of friendship and understanding of the university’s founding principles and mission.

Having just completed my first year as President, I have had many meaningful dialogues with our donors hearing your personal stories and heart behind your generous support of SUA. I am truly humbled and inspired by all of your efforts and actions to continue to help us build a university fulfilling our mission to foster global citizens who will contribute to the betterment of society and peace.

Thank you again for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Ed Feasel, Ph.D. President