On 18 October a delegation from PEN-International visited IBM Headquarters in Japan to discuss areas of possible collaboration with IBM Asia-Pacific. The delegation from PEN included:

1. RIT vice president for NTID, Dr. T. Alan Hurwitz
2. PEN-International director, Dr. James J. DeCaro
3. PEN-International coordinator, Professor E. William Clymer
4. PEN project officer from The Nippon Foundation, Ms. Tomoko Tsutsui
5. NTID interpreter, Ms. Doney Oatman

The delegation described PEN-International to officers of IBM and sought their advice and counsel as regards employment of men and women who are deaf in the Asia-Pacific basin, and in particular at IBM. The representatives of IBM at the meeting included:

1. Vice President for Human Resources IBM World Trade Asia Corporation, Ms. Robbin Suess
2. Director of Human Resources and Organization IBM Japan, Ltd., Mr. Kazuya Johno
3. Manager Information & Interaction, Accessibility Center-Asia Pacific Tokyo Research Laboratory, Mr. Hideshi Yoshinaga
4. Program Manager Asia Pacific Workforce Diversity Human Resources, Ms. Toshiko Ochi

Two action items were selected for attention:

1. NTID is to provide IBM (Ms. Ochi) with a listing of the majors that are being pursued by deaf international students at RIT so that the corporation can determine if any of these majors are ones that are of interest to IBM Asia Pacific.
2. IBM China will provide consultation to Tianjin University of Technology as regards its curriculum for deaf students and how it can be modified to meet skill sets being sought by IBM.