大学案内｜ABOUT MDU

　A plan to renovate the university hospital has been prepared. A ground purification ceremony was held on May 26th. The renovated hospital will house the original dental department and other departments such as the internal medicine department and the ophthalmology department. The hospital will be effective, efficient, functional, equipped with the latest facilities, and create a pleasant, spacious setting for patients as well as the medical staff.
The reinforced concrete, four-story hospital (with a basement) is scheduled for completion in September 2007.

　MDU's annual cherry blossom appreciation party took place on campus on Saturday April 29th. The eleventh such party, it attracted 3,500 people - the most ever. The party included a Japanese harp concert, an outdoor tea ceremony, food stalls, miniature steam locomotives, and a new attraction - stalls selling Shiojiri wine and Kiso lacquerware. The partygoers had a good time.

　MDU founder and chairman of the board of MDU, Dr. Yasushi Yagasaki, was nominated for the position of director of MDU (the seventh director in the history of MDU) at the 149th meeting of the board on May 26th. Dr. Yagasaki accepted the position on the same date. A new group of administrative lecturers was also assigned. This group has already started dealing with important issues of MDU to develop the university further under the new MDU director.

　The 8th MDU Photo Contest award presentation ceremony was held in a conference room on the third floor of the 30th Anniversary Building on Wednesday April 19th. Recipients of commendations and higher received a certificate and prize money. Contest entries were screened and one for the prize of supreme excellence, three for the prize of excellence, ten for the prize of commendation and ten photos for good quality prize were selected.

　The 27th general meeting of the Matsumoto Dental University Alumni Association was held in the student hall of the library building on Saturday April 29th. About 80 officials of the association came from all over Japan, including the chair of the association, Dr. Tadashi Yagasaki, to attend the general meeting and discuss issues. Association chair, Dr. Yagasaki, and Toshio Kozai, who is on the board in charge of MDU finances, announced new projects and the prospects of MDU.

　he 47th lecture meeting of the Japanese Society for Dental Materials and Devices was held at Tower Hall Funabori in Edogawa-ku, Tokyo, on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd April. The lectures of Sakae Nagasawa, assistant professor of the MDU Dental Materials and Technology course, and Toshihide Mizoguchi, lecturer of the MDU Institute for Oral Science, received the prize of excellence.

　The Matsumoto Bone Forum, with Dr. Hidehiro Ozawa, director of the MDU Institute for Oral Science as one of the officials, was held in the 30th Anniversary Building for two days from Friday May 12th. The forum is organized by leading researchers in bones in the Kanto Koshinetsu Region. Four special lectures and eight lectures by guest lecturers were delivered at this 5th forum to approximately eighty people who engaged in lively discussion.

　The 44th meeting of the Japanese Society of Pediatric Dentistry, chaired by Prof. Hiroo Miyazawa of the MDU Pediatric Dentistry course, convened in MDU and Matsumoto Art Hall for three days from Wednesday May 24th. The meeting was attended by approximately 1,300 members of the society (mostly lecturers, dentists and dental hygienists) from all over Japan.

　Prof. Li-Hong Ge of Peking University, School of Stomatology and Prof. Shi-Sizhen, director of the Research Institute of Pediatric Dentistry of Tongji University in Shanghai, and Dr. Xu Qiang, a postgraduate student of Tongji University, all from China, visited MDU on Wednesday May 24th. They had a friendly talk with MDU directors and then toured the university hospital and MDU Institute for Oral Science, and observed students doing practical training.

　The 1st FD study meeting for the academic year 2006 on Tuesday May 16th featured a lecture by special guest Prof. Osamu Fukushima of the education center of the Jikei University School of Medicine titled "Academic Ability Assessment". Prof. Fukushima made various meaningful suggestions, such as stop making students write reports which will never be returned, in his entertaining lecture. The listeners gave their full attention all through the presentation.

　The 2nd FD study meeting, held on Saturday May 20, was a workshop to help participants prepare questions for the CBT common examinations. Among the participants were two people from the taskforce, Common Achievement Tests Organization, and 32 people from MDU, including the dental department director, Dr. Toshifumi Morimoto. The participants were separated into groups and they had discussions to improve proposed problems.

　The Nagano Red Cross Blood Donor Center came to MDU for blood donations on Friday May 19th. Seventy-three MDU students and staff donated blood (40 people donated 400ml; 33 people, 200ml).