2011

The number of international students enrolling in American colleges and universities grew at a faster clip in 2010 than a year earlier, reaching an all-time high of 723,277. But the growth was heavily reliant on two countries: China and Saudi Arabia, according to data released this week by the Institute of International Education.

The explosion of interest among Chinese students continued unabated, with numbers rising more than 23 percent—the fourth year of double-digit increases. Meanwhile, Saudi students, while coming in much smaller numbers, benefited from generous government scholarships, expanding their presence by 44 percent.

Each year, two students who show exemplary Hawkeye spirit are selected to represent the University of Iowa’s student body as its Homecoming king and queen.

Those two students are chosen not by election, but through a process that includes a written application, reference letters, and an interview. Candidates are considered for the honor based on their leadership, scholarship, and service, as well as their enthusiasm for the university.

This year, seniors Wei Du, a finance and accounting major from Jinan, China, and Kevin Velovitch, a finance and management major from Noblesville, Ind., were chosen to wear the crowns.

At 5:00 p.m. on November 11th, in the Old Capitol Senate Chamber, Joan Kjaer will host a very special edition of WorldCanvass where, in addition to a full program that is free and open to the public, University of Iowa President Sally Mason will present the second annual International Impact Award to Dr. Trudy Huskamp Peterson. Former acting archivist of the United States, founding executive director of the Open Society Archives, and director of archives and records management for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Dr. Peterson’s achievements are of the very highest order. The award recognizes her tenacious commitment, sometimes in the face of intimidation, to the protection and appropriate dissemination of documents that tell truths that some would rather never be told. Through her work, records that have been subject to the ravages of war are given a voice to reveal abuses of power that otherwise may never have come to light.

The University of Iowa Opera Studies Forum (OSF) will continue its 2011-12 lecture series coordinated with the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD theater screenings with a talk on Glass’s “Satyagraha” Wednesday, Nov. 16, presented by Paul Greenough. All lectures take place at 5:30 p.m. in the University Capitol Centre conference seminar room 2520D and are free and open to the public.

Greenough, a professor in the UI History Department in CLAS will give a talk on Philip Glass’s opera “Satyagraha.”

The University of Iowa is opening gates for students to attend a study-abroad program in Cuba this winter.

This latest inclusion in the destinations offered by the UI Office for Study Abroad came after President Obama decided to ease regulations on sponsored trips to Cuba by accredited universities and religious organizations in January.

Limits on study-abroad programs were first put in place in 2004 by then-President George W. Bush.

The Iowa International Summer Institute (IISI) study abroad program kicked off last summer and was well received by participants.

IISI offers six, three-credit General Education classes in Europe for University of Iowa students taught by University of Iowa faculty. These classes take place sequentially in London, Paris, Florence and, added this year, Madrid. All of the classes are taught in English and knowledge of a foreign language is not required.