Season eight of WorldCanvass premiered on Tuesday, September 13, in the newly-opened Voxman Music Building in downtown Iowa City. WorldCanvass guests joined host Joan Kjaer to discuss the controversial method of energy production known as fracking and its impact on the environment, social dynamics, and the economy. They also explored, through music and literature, ways in which artists have documented transitions and grappled with the drumbeat of change.

International Programs will host information sessions regarding the Stanley Awards for International Research. 

What defines a nation, or a state? What’s the meaning of sovereignty, and how do communal or religious identity figure into demands for self-determination? The world community in 2016 appears to be a fractured place with aspirations to statehood like those we’ve seen in South Sudan and Palestine, as well as civil disruptions and realignments like those between Crimea, Ukraine, and Russia. Amidst all of this there are non-state actors like ISIS challenging sitting governments and established states. The 2016 Provost’s Global Forum, The Nation, the State, and the Global Redefinition of Self-Determination, will address these questions and more during a series of lectures and panel discussions on October 13-15. A highlight of the forum will be the October 15 WorldCanvass, which will be held for the first time in Des Moines at the John and Mary Pappajohn Education Center, from 5-6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and begins with a reception at 4 p.m.

We're excited to share our new interactive web page celebrating our internationalized campus! Check out the page and see why thousands of students from Iowa and the world call us home each year.

The European Studies Group invites you to attend the first event of the ESG Lecture Series, titled "The Poetics of HIV/AIDS in Contemporary Spain." This event will take place on Friday, October 21, 2016 at noon. 

Have you ever wanted to learn Korean? Now's your chance! Students, adults, and children of any language level are invited to sign up for a variety of community classes with the UI King Sejong Institute during the fall 2016 semester.

My name is Ashley Arkfeld, and I am a first generation student as well as the first in my family to study abroad. I interned abroad in Barcelona, Spain this summer. Funding a trip abroad for an unpaid internship was something that many of my peers, family members, and friends couldn’t quite wrap their heads around. “Why are you paying to go work over there?” “Couldn’t you get a paid internship here?” “That seems like a waste of money.” I listened to comments and questions such as these for months prior to my trip abroad. Though it seemed silly to so many bystanders, the experience was worth the cost in my eyes. With that being said, scholarships and grants covered 70% of my program costs.

My name is Marcus Smith and I had the wonderful opportunity to spend the spring 2016 semester in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was without a doubt the best 5 months of my life, and gave me the chance to grow intellectually, emotionally, and culturally. That being said though, I did have several concerns before my departure, and a majority of them had to do with how my identity as a black male would be received over there.

A new major in global health studies is now available to undergraduates after long efforts by campus faculty.

Although my daily life in Bolivia is so much more than a class schedule, I want to describe what college is like in Cochabamba. It’s (almost) perfect and I (almost) never speak English. From indigenous languages to week-long field trips, my class schedule is anything but dull. Here’s a look at my classes