The UW-EC Alumni and Friends Association was founded in 1990 by Mr. Yoshio Muto. Muto, born in 1919, graduated from Waseda University and spent his entire career as a teacher and educational administrator in Japan. He developed a relationship to the University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire when a recent graduate of the university was employed by the Miharu Board of Education as an English teacher. In the summer of 1987, thirty teachers and sixty students from Miharu, Japan attended a “summer camp” in Eau Claire and Rice Lake, Wisconsin. From 1987 to 1993, various student and faculty exchange programs were held in Eau Claire and Fukushima. Lloyd Joyal and other University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire faculty worked with Muto to develop and sustain the exchange programs.