Part of the Vietnamese community in Iowa City joined to celebrate their culture and share it with others. The University of Iowa Vietnamese Student Association took time to celebrate the culture with an annual Lunar New Year celebration in the IMU on Feb. 27. “The Lunar New Year is celebrating spring coming, and it’s a time for family to get together,” group member Amy Luong said.

As a University of Iowa senior studying political science and psychology, Jake Murphy long has been intrigued by Cuba. The island nation’s political and economic isolation from the United States since the 1960s has made it a sort of “forbidden fruit” for Americans, Murphy said. “So when (President Barack) Obama announced the relationship would be renewed, and they were relaxing some embargoes, I was in shock,” he said. “It was finally happening, and I thought it was so cool.” So cool, in fact, that Murphy wanted to go and experience the country and its culture during this transition, and before America’s influence affects substantial change.

Before jetting off to Ireland, I, equal parts nervous and excited, read loads of articles, books, and travel guides to learn everything I could about the place I would be living for a year. Besides learning about all the places I wanted to visit while in Cork, I was also very interested in knowing more about the accent.

When UI student Heather Barney studied abroad in Havana, Cuba, this January, she expected to expand on her Spanish-speaking abilities, learn more about the country’s history and culture, and investigate the types of medical schools and careers Cuba has to offer to foreigners. What she didn’t anticipate, however, was that she would be one of several students featured in a news story by Telesur, a Venezuelan broadcasting company

On the morning of Jan. 11, I woke early, poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down to reflect. It was an important day, one that had the potential to significantly impact my scholarship and teaching. I wanted to get it right. I was about to join the ranks of nearly 200 other graduate students who, over the last ten years, had participated in the Obermann Graduate Institute on Engagement and the Academy. Their engagement work — which ranges from collaborating with incarcerated Iowans to creating public art to coordinating disaster relief — both excited and intimidated me as I thought about my own project.

UI alumnus and award-winning photojournalist David Guttenfelder will be featured in an ad for Squarespace, the website-building platform, debuting during the Academy Awards on Sunday, February 28. Guttenfelder graduated from the UI in 1993 and has since captured powerful moments in more than 75 countries.

Ben Mauk is a 2012 graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop who earned a Fulbright Study/Research Grant to Germany. In this article, Mauk reflects upon on the work of fellow UI alum, Patrick Reed, who graduated with a Master in Fine Arts in papermaking and bookbinding from the UI Center for the Book in 2013 and also earned a Fulbright Research/Study Grant to Germany.

I got on a plane to LAX with an overweight suitcase as opposed to a dream in my cardigan.

The University of Iowa is one of the top producers of Fulbright students for 2015-16, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Top-producing institutions are highlighted annually in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Twelve University of Iowa students were awarded a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant to conduct research, attend graduate school, undertake creative projects, or serve as English teaching assistants abroad in the 2015–16 academic year. This is the greatest number of placements the UI has ever secured in a single calendar year, resulting in a tied ranking for 27th on a list of peer institutions.

The African Studies Program (ASP) and UI International Programs invite you to attend an upcoming baraza titled, "Producing Communities and Commodities:Saraficom and Commercial Nationalism in Kenya." Featuring guest speakers Melissa Tully and David Tuwei, the lecture will take place on February 26, 2016, from 2:30-4:00 p.m. in the UCC 2390 Executive Boardroom.