Dear all,
T.S. Eliot opens his masterpiece The Waste Land by stating, “April is the cruelest month....” While we understand the poet’s angst over the apparent false hope brought by the arrival of spring, April has quite a different meaning for International Programs (IP). Our unit was a whirlwind of activity this past month, and I am delighted to share the details with you.
On April 9, IP’s WorldCanvass featured the USAID/University of Iowa (UI) cooperative agreement in Kosovo and UI Global Student Awards. We’ve often discussed the USAID cooperative agreement in this space, but WorldCanvass allowed us to give the Activity a wider audience. The forum hosted principal investigators from the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, Professors Cassie Barnhardt and Curt Youngs, respectively, as well as our team in Prishtina, namely, Elmaza Gashi, the Activity’s chief of party, and Ardi Mejzini, who serves as communications manager. I will be going to Kosovo this month and will have more to share on the progress the cooperative agreement has made in the past year. WorldCanvass also featured our UI Global Student Awards, with this year’s recipients Amira Nash and Katherine Lyu. Amira is a doctoral student in the College of Education who recently led a study abroad group to Ghana, while Katherine is an English and creative writing major who has been heavily involved in international student advocacy at Iowa.
Faculty also figured prominently in IP’s April programming with a webinar on April 11 entitled, “Global Mentoring: Strategies for International Faculty Success,” details and a recording of which can be found here. The panel featured colleagues from the Colleges of Dentistry (Sandra Guzmán), Engineering (H.S. Udaykumar), and Liberal Arts & Sciences (Anny-Dominique Curtius and Aniruddha Dutta), who originally hail from global destinations. Professor Meenakshi Gigi Durham (School of Journalism and Mass Communication) and I moderated the event, which focused on issues such as navigating university bureaucracies, adapting to life in the U.S., establishing research connections, and maintaining a work-life balance. Our discussion was both detailed and meaningful, and we are deeply grateful to the participants for sharing their experiences, which will no doubt inform and inspire others. Given the success of this webinar, IP has decided to initiate a series of panels designed to assist international faculty as they transition to working at Iowa.
The following week saw one of our favorite events of the year—the annual board meeting of the Stanley University of Iowa Foundation Support Organization (SUIFSO). This yearly gathering allowed us to connect with friends and supporters of International Programs, ranging from members of the Stanley family, to representatives from UI senior administration, as well as friends and colleagues from the UI Center for Advancement and the Stanley Museum of Art.
The highlight of the SUIFSO board meeting is always the presentations from students and faculty who have benefited from SUIFSO’s generosity. It is thanks to the Stanley family and SUIFSO that IP is able to fund student and faculty research, hold programming that brings awareness to global affairs, and provide scholarships to students who otherwise would not be able to access an international learning experience.
In expressing our infinite gratitude to the Stanley family and to the members of SUIFSO, we also express our warmest thanks to IP’s Communications and Relations team for compiling the report that meticulously details the impact of the Stanley gifts from one year to the next. IP is so very fortunate to have this support, with the annual board meeting serving as the moment to convey our appreciation, celebrate our accomplishments, and plan for the success yet to come.
Our busiest month concluded with a flurry of activities that I will briefly summarize. From April 18-25, IP organized a Major Projects symposium entitled, Sacred Threads: Spirituality, Health and Collaborative Partnerships for Health in Indigenous Communities. The featured speaker was Lorenzo Sanford, the youngest chief elected in the history of the Kalinago people of Dominica. Special thanks to Professor Jeanine Abrons of the UI College of Pharmacy as well as SUIFSO for putting on this event.
During the week of April 22, the UI was proud to host two delegations from Sub-Saharan Africa: the Kenyan Judicial Academy sponsored by the UI College of Law and an African University Leaders delegation organized by the Tippie College of Business. IP extends its gratitude to Dean Adrien Wing and Professor Dimy Doresca, respectively, for their tremendous work in building and maintaining these crucial partnerships.
April ended with the visit of Dirk Wouters, former Belgian ambassador to the United States. Ambassador Wouters gave a talk at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum and Library on April 26, with IP holding a small reception with friends and colleagues later that day.
With graduation and travel, May will be no less busy, and we will be sure to keep you updated. IP is immeasurably privileged to serve Iowa’s global mission. It is our pleasure to give you a glimpse into these activities. April may have been cruel to T.S. Eliot, but it is infinitely kind to us.
All the best,
Russ
International Programs (IP) at the University of Iowa (UI) is committed to enriching the global experience of UI students, faculty, staff, and the general public by leading efforts to promote internationally oriented teaching, research, creative work, and community engagement. IP provides support for international students and scholars, administers scholarships and assistance for students who study, intern, or do research abroad, and provides funding opportunities and grant-writing assistance for faculty engaged in international research. IP shares their stories through various media, and by hosting multiple public engagement activities each year.