Greetings from the Center Director
Our Center conducts the health administration duties of the Health Administration Office and promotes the education and research of the university’s undergraduate and graduate programs. For carrying out these duties, the Center adopts a large unit system consisting of two departments, the Health Science Department (doctors) and the Sports Science Department (physical education faculty). The research of our staff covers a wide range of research fields, with those in the Health Science Department involved in areas such as Sports Medicine, Psychopathology & Psychotherapy, and Human Nutrition, and those in the Sports Science Department involved in areas such as Sports Science for Lifelong Physical Activity and Sport Behavioral Science.
The Nagoya University Research Center of Health, Physical Fitness and Sports (commonly known as the Health and Sports Center) was established in April 1975 as an internal joint-use education and research institution when the Health and Sports Education Division at the former Liberal Arts Department and the Health Administration Center were consolidated as part of university reforms. Our center has its own faculty council and acts as an independent department of Nagoya University. Our mission, to be more specific, has been to conduct education and research on mental and physical health maintenance and improvement, physical education and sports science, as well as to provide health care for students and faculty, from the standpoint of medical science, sports science, or both.
Our Center is in charge of the Liberal Arts and Science course, “Health and Sports Science” (lectures and practicums) to students of each department. With the goal of “cultivating courageous intellectuals”, one of Nagoya University’s educational principles, we aim to foster, through lectures and practicums, talented individuals who can act for the maintenance and improvement of their own health and physical fitness even after graduation. Since 2010, we have created shared teaching materials for Health and Sports Science lectures, and have been conducting lectures on health- and sports-related knowledge that we would like all Nagoya University students to acquire.
As for faculty, each member is in charge of education at either the Graduate School of Medicine or the Graduate School of Education and Human Development as a cooperative unit, and we have already produced many graduates, including individuals who have gone on to become faculty at domestic and international universities and researchers at state-of-the-art research facilities. Recently, to make the most of the Center’s unique qualities, both departments have worked together to contribute to the development of interdisciplinary and comprehensive education and research.
The Center has also been involved in health administration duties for undergraduate and graduate students since its foundation, and the number of students has doubled since that time. Furthermore, ever since the University became a corporation, we have also engaged in the duties for faculty and staff members, such as duties to ensure that everyone undergoes health checkup and the industrial physician duties related to faculty health and safety. As a result, especially in the area of mental health, the needs of not only students but also faculty and staff members have increased and the number of patients has constantly increased year by year.
Meanwhile, we manage the sports facilities so that all members can use them comfortably and so that everyone in Nagoya University can cheerfully take part in activities such as our lectures to athletic clubs, health and exercise classes to faculty and staff members, and personal exercise coaching to withdrawn students. In this way, we have been actively engaged in not only education and research but also the above duties and programs. However, our current situation is not easy because of a reduction in personnel. In spite of this, as an organization of Nagoya University, we will continue to strive to support all members of the University, as well as contribute to society as a whole.
