International Accents

A UI program sent 13 students to Romania for research among the minority Roma population.

Defending his dissertation in May, Byung Wook Kim has one final semester devoted to the completion of his research about how news covers climate change in Korea. Kim was recognized by two organizations for his work.

The South Asian Studies Program will present a talk focused on the life of immigrant scholar Sudhindra Bose during his time in Iowa City from 1904-1946, during which he became a keen reporter on Midwest America.

The Japan Foundation New York together with International Programs, the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, the Obermann Center, and the Division of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures present a workshop and bilingual reading with Murata Sayaka and Ginny Tapley Takemori on Tuesday, October 30, 2018.

WorldCanvass began its tenth season of internationally focused discussions on October 9 with “The Politics and Impact of Immigration.” Arguments over reasonable and desirable immigration legislation and the control of U.S. borders have long vexed the political class, policy makers, and the American public, but they’ve become extraordinarily polarizing under the heightened rhetoric of recent years. WorldCanvass guests joined host Joan Kjaer to explore, from diverse and often divergent points of view, the complexities that make the immigration discussion so nuanced and difficult.

Bridging Our World is a display of 116 flags at the IMU to signify the role of international students on campus. This comes at a time when international student enrollment at the UI is declining.

The impact of international students is significant.

WorldCanvass will celebrate International Education Week* with a program on “Educational Cross-fertilization: the Iowa/India Connection.” The program will feature UI President Bruce Harreld’s presentation of the 2018 International Impact Award to Rajat Jay Sehgal and the Sehgal Foundation for their leadership in support of community-based development activities, educational access, and the empowerment of women, particularly in rural India. Sehgal will also be recognized for the foundation’s multi-year partnership with the University of Iowa’s award-winning India Winterim program. Joining the discussion about the Iowa/India educational connection are Craig Just, Marian Muste, and Allen Bradley from the College of Engineering, Stephanie Gilbertson-White from the College of Nursing, Vijay Kamalumpundi from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Associate Provost and Dean of International Programs Downing Thomas. WorldCanvass begins at 5:30 on November 13 at MERGE, 136 South Dubuque Street, with a pre-show reception from 5-5:30 p.m. The program is free and open to the public.

The University of Iowa is weighing an idea to charge all undergraduates an extra $30 a year to encourage more of them to study abroad. The fee, if ultimately approved by UI leadership and the Board of Regents, would generate about $770,000 a year. That would boost study abroad support about 66 percent, according to Downing Thomas, associate provost and dean of International Programs. “Unlike any other fee, 100 percent of the revenue would go back to students in the form of scholarships,” he told faculty leaders this week in presenting the idea.

Dr. Hyaeweol Choi describes her academic journey as “rather peculiar and unconventional.”While pursuing her undergraduate degree in Korea in the 1980s, Hyaeweol was deeply engaged in intellectual political movements that advocated Korean scholars developing indigenous ways of knowing and creating a deeper understanding of their own history, society, and culture instead of constantly relying on Euro-American theories and methods. With that background, she was resistant to the idea of going to the U.S. for her advanced studies. However, after being accepted to and receiving a scholarship to SUNY-Buffalo, she decided to take a chance and move to the U.S. When she told her colleagues of her decision, many of them were shocked, some even actively opposed the idea. Still, she decided to take the plunge and now looks back fondly at that decision.

The International Writers Program allows writers to get a taste of life in Iowa City.