Scholarship
Kaoru Ando Memorial Scholarship
The Dr. Kaoru Ando Memorial Scholarship was established in 1998 by family members, the Japan Chapter of the Indiana University Alumni Association, and friends. The scholarship is awarded to an eligible student at IU wishing to study Japanese language and culture in Japan.
In his lifetime, Ando held a point of view and had an abundance of experience that could be termed nothing less than global. He started his career focused primarily on moving his country forward in computer technology but as time went on, he became increasingly involved in that field’s international aspects. He had strong convictions about the importance of international cooperation.
Ando was born in Tokyo in 1914 as the third son of Professor Katuichiro Ando of Kyoto University and Ko Ando, the first violinist in Japan. In 1936 he graduated from IU in management studies. Upon returning to Japan he joined the Watson Statistical Accounting Machines Corp. of Japan (now IBM Japan Ltd.), where he was involved in the sale of punched card systems. Immediately following the end of the World War II, Ando become a consultant to the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers in social statistics, economic statistics, and social analysis and simulations.
He then returned to IBM Japan Ltd. and helped launch the Japanese general-purpose-computer business. Following this, he became senior vice president of IBM Japan and served as a special advisor to IBM Asia Ltd. As he became increasingly involved in the international aspects of computer technology, his deep-seated convictions as to the importance of international cooperation grew. After joining Fujitsu FACOM Information Processing Corporation in 1966, he was broadly successful in the information-processing industry — not only in Japan but also on an international scale. In the autumn of 1974, he was awarded the Blue Ribbon Medal from the Japanese government for his contribution to industrial computerization in Japan. This distinction earned him an imperial audience.
In 1977, he was appointed to be the Japanese representative to International Federation for Information Processing and become president of this prestigious organization from 1983-86.
Ando received the Distinguished Alumni Service Award from IU in 1976 and an LL.D. from the same institution in 1980. He established the Japan Chapter of the IUAA and served as president from 1964-81.