The Meet the Challenge Hawkeye Awards recognize five undergraduate students who exemplify one of the values promoted by The IOWA Challenge to Excel, Stretch, Engage, Choose, and Serve. This year, international student Hexiang Wang was awarded the Meet the Challenge Award in the Stretch category. Hexiang was nominated by International Programs' Dean Downing Thomas. Below is his letter of nomination describing the many ways in which he has seen Hexiang seek out personal challenges during her time at Iowa. Congratulations Hexiang!

Phil’s Day 2013 celebrates the many ways philanthropy and private gifts support the university and its programs. Every year, hundreds of students are able to study or conduct research abroad thanks to generous donors. In honor of Phil, check out some of their unique experiences.

Rivers as Bridges is a program that examines the sister-river relationship of the Mississippi River in America and the Yangtze River in China. The Yangtze and Mississippi have rich histories and are vital channels of commerce in each nation.

You may recognize her striking face from fashion spreads in Elle and Vogue or the Victoria's Secret runway, but Alek Wek has another story to tell. Not that of an international supermodel but of the struggles of life as a refugee.

On April 5, Wek will tell the story of her personal journey as a refugee and her current work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) when she appears as a guest on International Programs’ WorldCanvass television and radio program as part of the UI Provost’s Global Forum on Refugees in the Heartland. WorldCanvass will be held in the Old Capitol Senate Chamber from 5 to 7 p.m., on Friday, April 5, 2013, and the public is invited to attend.

While many of us took time to relax and unwind over the holiday break, Professor Joann (Jo) Eland, PhD, RN, FAAN, was scrambling to finalize international travel plans while prepping to instruct a class that provides vital hospice and palliative care overseas.

On December 29, Dr. Eland and a group of 18 students (11 from the College of Nursing) embarked on multi-day journey that took them from Iowa City, to Chicago, to Abu Dhabi and ultimately to their final destination—a hospice in Trivandrum, India, a city located in the Southern tip of the country—where Eland taught a three-week course titled “Hospice, Pain and Palliative Care.”

One of my referees (based at Yale) told me candidly that I should not be disappointed by a rejection, for no one he had recommended had ever been accepted. When the letter came from the College, it was in a thin envelope. My heart sank, for thin envelopes rarely contain good news. To my surprise, this one did. From the dean of visiting fellows, the letter began with the words "I am pleased to invite you...." And to my delight, the invitation was for not one, not two, but three Oxford terms -- a full academic year.

UI Professor Armando Duarte has been a choreographer at the University of Iowa since 1993, but a trip back to his native Brazil in 2008 is what inspired him to research the culture of Carnival. Armando organizes the Brazil Carnival winter study abroad program.