2014 fall/winter illinois international review

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ILLINOIS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN ISSUE NO. 19 FALL/WINTER 2014 Immersion Program Brings Science Officials to UI Alumnus with Big Plans for Prosthetics Sustainable Futures Workshop for HS Students Fall Exhibitions at Krannert Art Museum

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Page 1: 2014 Fall/Winter Illinois International Review

ILL INOIS INTERNATIONAL

REVIEWUNIVERSIT Y OF ILL INOIS AT URBANA- CHAMPAIGN

ISSUE NO. 19 FALL / WINTER 2014

Immersion Program Brings Science Officials to UI

Alumnus with Big Plans for Prosthetics

Sustainable Futures Workshop for HS Students

Fall Exhibitions at Krannert Art Museum

Page 2: 2014 Fall/Winter Illinois International Review

Veerle Opgenhaffen | Executive Editor

Matt VanderZalm | Managing Editor

As this issue of the Illinois International Review goes to press, I am celebrating my third month here at International Programs and Studies (IPS), part of a strong team of professionals at the Univer-sity of Illinois dedicated to helping the university sustain its legacy as a premiere research institution and a model of global citizenship. Although the university has a long legacy of global impact, our international engagement and profile continue to expand exponentially, making this an extremely exciting time to be at Illinois.

The growth of our international status is no acci-dent. IPS works diligently to raise the profile of our international scholarship by creating robust new strategic partnerships around the world; engaging potential and current international students—as well as alumni—in new and innovative ways; and continually seeking opportunities to both integrate our domestic student body into the global community, and welcome our foreign students and faculty into our campus life. Developing global citizenship is not just about attracting international students to our campus—it requires a comprehensive vision of engaging proactively with the world at large to share the great learning and discovery for which Illinois is known.

Our desire to integrate the principles of global citizenship into every facet of our learning environment is evident in our activities and consequently reflected in numerous rankings. The Institute of International Education’s pivotal annual Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange just ranked Illinois 3rd nationally in international students and 16th in the number of students studying abroad. And recently, US News and World Report’s first-ever ranking of “Best Global Universities” placed Illinois 35th in the world. These are just two of numerous rankings to shine the spotlight on Illinois’ international breadth in the past few months.

Behind the numbers, there are proactive efforts that help to facilitate Illinois’ strong international reputation. This past summer, IPS carried out new student pre-departure orientations in three major cities in China, responding to the demand for greater integration for the incoming student body. IPS plans to expand these efforts to other key countries with significant student popula-tions at Illinois, starting with South Korea next summer.

Our global engagement is amplified by the exceptional level of international scholarship being carried out by our area studies centers, which recently received significant collective validation as they were awarded more than $12.5 million in the latest competition for Department of Education Title VI funding. At a time when many universities across the country are losing this funding, our awards not only increased, but placed us third in the nation in terms of total awards—a true reflection of our reputation for scholarship of global relevance and excellence.

None of this would be possible without the generous support of our global Illinois family and, for that, I’d like each of you to feel a personal sense of pride in these accomplishments. You are an integral part of the Illinois story and truly ambassadors for the university as it continues to be a world-renowned leader of global citizenship. We couldn’t do this without you and we truly appreciate your ongoing support.

Wishing you the best,

Veerle Opgenhaffen Associate Director of Advancement, Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs and Global Strategies

On the cover: “Butterfly Love” by Richard Fu

This image was taken at the Taipei City Zoo in Taiwan in July 2013, and was a submission for the 2014 International Photo Contest.

See page 18 for the winners and their essays.

In This Issue 3 Immersion Program Brings Science Officials from Latin America, Caribbean

4 “Journey to My Mother’s Land”

5 IPS Grants Going Strong into 4th Decade

6 Alumnus Has Big Plans for Prosthetics

8 2013 International Achievement Award Recipients

9 Sustainable Futures Brings High School Students to U of I

12 Officials Welcome New Students – in Person

14 Fall Exhibitions at Krannert Art Museum

17 Gift Aims to Add Study Abroad Options

18 2014 International Photo Contest Winners

20 Consultant Program Gives Students Valuable Global Experience

22 Six Area Studies Centers Designated National Resource Centers

To subscribe/unsubscribe to the Illinois International Review (IIR) or request a digital copy, contact us at: [email protected] or 217-333-6104.

IIR is also available online at international.illinois.edu/iir

2 ILLINOIS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

Page 3: 2014 Fall/Winter Illinois International Review

Ministers and High Authorities of Science, Technol-ogy, and Innovation from Central America and the Caribbean participated in an Executive Immer-sion Program at the University of Illinois in March. The program, developed in partnership with the Organization of American States (OAS), included guided visits to Illinois’ research facilities where the participants experienced a firsthand look at some of the most advanced technologies in the world, as well as lectures and networking events with Illinois’ leadership and faculty.

Officials from the Bahamas, Costa Rica, the Domini-can Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago participated in the program, which is the result of a longstanding collaboration between the OAS Office of Competitiveness, Innova-tion, and Technology; the Institute for Computing in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (I-CHASS); the National Center for Supercomputing Applica-tions (NCSA); and the Organization of American States Advanced Research and Technology Col-laboratory for the Americas (OAS-ARTCA).

The Office of International Programs and Studies led the design and coordination of this program seeking to expose the high level governmental authorities from the Ministries of Science, Innova-tion, and Technology from Central America and the Caribbean to the state of the art research facilities and the academic and research expertise found at Illinois. The program’s goal is to identify and develop collaborative projects and partnerships with the governments, education, and research institutions of this region.

The program participants received a certificate from Illinois after completion of their three day experi-ence. They strongly encouraged Illinois to host a second edition of the program in 2015. Certificates were signed and awarded by A. Bryan E. Endres, Interim Associate Provost for International Affairs.

“Initiatives like the Executive Immersion Program with the OAS are a critical part of the University of Illinois’ overall global strategy and we hope this is the first of many collaborative efforts with the OAS and its member countries in the Americas,” Endres said.

The purpose of the Executive Immersion Program is to build stronger relationships between OAS, Illinois, and the Ministries and Councils of Science and Technology in Latin America and the Caribbean, explained Dr. Scott Poole, ICHASS Director. “We want to make all parties aware of the different resources everyone has to offer, and in turn encourage long-lasting international collaboration for economic and social empowerment in the Americas,” said Poole.

Dr. Poole added that “the Executive Immersion Program definitely positions the University of Illinois as a leader in these sorts of international outreach efforts.”

Danny Powell, Executive Director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, also high-lighted the importance of the program from a development standpoint.

“In today’s world, the key issues we deal with are increasingly global in nature – climate change, environmental management, food security, eco-nomic development, public health, etc.,” said Powell. “Finding solutions to these problems requires that When Sonja Foster, another respondent, discovered

Immersion Program Brings Science Officials from Latin America, Carribean

Participants in the Executive Immersion Program and colleagues from Illinois tour NCSA’s Supercomputing Facility, Blue Waters.

continued on page 24

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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 3

Page 4: 2014 Fall/Winter Illinois International Review

A Mende woman by the name of Bintu Sheriff kissing Collins and her mother-in-law in Moyamba.

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“Journey to My Mother’s Land”In December 2013, College of Media Assistant Professor Janice Collins traveled to Sierra Leone to film “Journey to My Mother’s Land,” a documentary exploring what it means for African Americans to return to their ancestral roots. This journey was made possible by funding from an International Research Travel Grant from the Office of International Programs and Studies and the College of Media. Collins discussed the film, and her experiences, with IIR Managing Editor Matt VanderZalm.

VanderZalm: What prompted you to travel to Sierra Leone? What are you hoping to accomplish with this documentary?

Collins: I wanted to examine whether I would feel less marginalized as a woman of color in a ‘sea of color’ or more marginalized as an American ‘out-sider’—authentically exploring what it means to be African American in the context of returning to Africa. I also wanted to understand what life was like for Sierra Leoneans today following a devastating war that had lasted some 11 years.

For me, “Journey to my Mother’s Land,” is more than just a creative endeavor; it fills a gap within research about African Americans and the construction of their cultural identities. It is also an emotional nar-rative that represents the many voices of African Americans who have always wanted to know who they are outside the boundaries of the United States and to whom this exploration has enduring relevance.

For the documentary, you also conducted in-depth interviews with four individuals who provided DNA samples through the website AfricanAncestry.com, currently the only database connecting African-American’s lineage to a specific tribe in Africa. What were their experiences like? What were their feelings about the findings of the tests?

Yolanda Williams, one of the respondents, discov-ered that she had a 100 percent DNA connection to the Massa people of Cameroon. I asked her if having this new information made a difference. She told me “It makes a big difference!” and that she’d always said that she was an “African in America, not an African American.” From this statement and subsequent interviews, I learned that Yolanda has never felt like she really belonged simply to America, telling me that she “was in the U.S. but not really home.” Now that she knows where part of her maternal ancestry began she told me she feels that she’s “more than

just a part of a continent, and (that she) has a specific place to go now.”

Sonja Foster, another respondent, discovered her roots are connected to Nigeria; she said she was shocked but also pleasantly surprised. She indicated to me that she’d always been interested in African culture and countries, and Nigeria was always one of those countries she was most interested in. Both Foster and Williams felt that this type of testing, although expensive, is important not only to learn about their family tree, but for African Americans, especially the younger generation. Foster told me she thinks that by “telling our history” and reaching the younger generation then maybe we can start to alleviate some of these negative behaviors that are “stereotypical or perpetuated by young black children.”

A fisherman working at Kent Beach, previously a major port of the slave trade.

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Page 5: 2014 Fall/Winter Illinois International Review

MATT VANDERZALM, MANAGING EDITOR

What started as a Challenge Grant of $200,000 has become an important source of funding for faculty research travel abroad and international themed conferences on the Urbana-Champaign campus.

The grant, which originated from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in 1982, was subsequently matched more than threefold by private donations and university funds to support the endowed grant program now in its fourth decade. The International Programs and Studies (IPS) Research Travel and IPS International Conference Grants provide Illinois faculty with critical funding to support international scholarship.

For Professor Valerie Hoffman, current Director of the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (CSAMES), the IPS Grant Program has provided funding for two major conferences over the last three years. CSAMES received a grant for a 2012 event, “The New Middle East: Social and Political Change in the 21st Century,” and for “The Indian Ocean: History, Networks and Spaces of the Imagination,” which took place in October 2014.

“Without the [IPS] grant, the ‘New Middle East’ conference simply would not have hap-pened,” Hoffman said. “Although we had to raise quite a bit more money from various campus units, this was the start-up package that enabled us to organize a conference that elicited many comments of admiration and appreciation.”

Hoffman added that the IPS Grant for this year’s conference made a “significant con-tribution” toward enabling CSAMES to bring some of the most preeminent scholars in Indian Ocean studies to campus.

Jon Ebel, Associate Professor in the Department of Religion, received an IPS Research Travel Grant in 2008 to visit American military cemeteries in France. He said the IPS grant not only made his research possible, but gave him a “tremendous sense of validation” as well.

“At the practical level, the IPS grant made it possible for me to spend three weeks in France doing the on-site research that I needed to do to be able to write honestly and, I hope, insightfully, about America’s overseas military cemeteries,” Ebel said. “It also means a lot to me that a committee of my colleagues judged my work worthy of IPS support.”

Professor Terri Barnes also received an IPS Research Travel Grant, helping to facilitate travel to Africa and England in 2013 for her upcoming book, “Apartheid’s Professor: The Destruction of Academic Freedom and Memory in South Africa,” about Andrew Howson Murray (1905-1997) a philosophy professor in the apartheid era. Through her trips to London and South Africa, Barnes was able to research documents related to Murray’s connection to British Intelligence and study historical papers collected at the University of Cape Town.

“I had read his papers before but this visit was very useful for final checking and reassess-ment,” Barnes said. “It was a very busy and productive five weeks and I am very grateful to the [IPS Grants Program] for its contributions to my research.”

IPS plans to continue to award Research Travel and International Conference Grants to faculty for the foreseeable future, according to Rajeev Malik, Acting Associate Director for IPS.

“The IPS Research Travel and International Conference Grants offer an excellent oppor-tunity for IPS to assist Illinois faculty with international scholarship,” Malik said. “We hope to continue this support indefinitely.”

Visit: international.illinois.edu/faculty/ipsconf.html international.illinois.edu/faculty/ipstravel.html

IPS Grants Program Going Strong into 4th Decade

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What were your experiences like returning to your ancestral home?

Upon discovering my DNA linkage to the Mende tribe of Sierra Leone, I was fortunate enough to spend almost a full month there, recording my journey through pictures and sounds. Some of my discoveries brought out the ‘American in a strange land’ response. Like the time I thought I caught an illness of some sort, only to learn that it was a simple heat rash. I realized, I had been sheltered under the naïve fabric of American luxury. I also discovered that in a lot of ways, the “African” part of my soul never really left, entirely, which was refreshing.

Yet other moments were emotionally painful, but cathartic. During a discussion with two Africans about the slave trade, I suddenly began crying, and, somewhere, deep inside of me, I had the courage or mere necessity to ask, “Why didn’t you save us? Did you know what was happening?” Questions I’m sure other African Americans have dreamed of asking while contemplating their place and value in America and if racism against Blacks will ever go away.

When will the film be finished? Any final thoughts on your experience making the documentary?

I hope to have it finished by the end of 2015. “Journey to My Mother’s Land” was transfor-mational. Through my story, I hope African Americans who may feel emptiness or pain that has no name (but is absolutely real) will find healing. For others, I hope this documen-tary will help illustrate a state of being that is implicitly American, implicitly black, told through authentic narratives. This journey captures the true essence of what and who an African American truly is: a story of survival, pride and victory, wrapped in red, white, blue … and green.

Contact: [email protected]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 5

Page 6: 2014 Fall/Winter Illinois International Review

BRITTNEY NADLER, COMMUNICATIONS INTERN, INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS AND STUDIES

When David Krupa was a year and a half old, his left foot was amputated due to a congenital defect. Growing up in an environment where he was constantly being fitted for new prostheses, Krupa decided to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a major in biology to begin a career in prosthetics.

“I like the whole idea of crafting this custom device for each and every person,” Krupa said. “As I was pursuing the profession, I also started looking more into what was happening to amputees internationally, just asking ‘What happens to people who acquire an amputation or were born with a limb deficiency [as I was].’”

Krupa then completed a prosthetics program at North-western University’s medical school and began to inves-tigate the availability of professionals and prosthetic clinics all over the world, especially developing countries. What he discovered was a critical shortage of resources.

While completing his residency within the Chicagoland area, Krupa started to become involved in volunteer projects and international opportunities in Haiti and Ecuador.

“Through that, I met other like-minded people that I was working with at the time, and we set up a non-profit called Range of Motion Project [ROMP],” he said.

ROMP is an organization dedicated to providing pros-thetic limbs and orthotic braces to individuals who cannot afford them or do not have access to these services, empowering them to be able to give back to their families and communities. They have served more than 5,000 patients throughout multiple countries over the past nine years.

Out of sheer luck, Krupa said they were invited to work in Guatemala by another organization, Hearts In Motion (HIM).

“HIM basically said ‘there’s a huge need here in Guate-mala and we’ll give you the space if if you guys want the space here, do you want to set up your prosthetic clinic here?’” Krupa said. “So that’s where we started.”

Soon enough, ROMP spread to Ecuador and has even touched base in the U.S. Krupa and his team have uti-lized multiple approaches to solve the problem of lack of access to prosthesis. In Guatemala, the team works specifically on custom designing prostheses and orthotics for patients, whereas in Ecuador, their role

David Krupa, recipient of the Charles C. Stewart Young Humanitarian Award in 2014, displays a prosthetic leg built for a young girl.

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Alumnus Has Big Plans for Prosthetics

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continued on page 11

also includes support, education, and delivery of specialized prostheses.

“In Ecuador, it’s a little different because I live here and have a private practice,” Krupa said. “Our role in Ecuador is more one of technical support for some of our local partners. We make very special-ized prostheses here.”

ROMP has developed a prosthetic program that uses carbon fiber springs to make running legs. They are also viewing Quito, Ecuador, as an ‘incubator space‘ where international volunteers, students, and professors can test their work and collaborate to develop technology that is less expensive, more accessible, and more advanced.

One obstacle ROMP has encountered is in finding adequate parts, such as hands, knees, and feet. While some inexpensive components exist and can be deployed around the globe, they are rudimentary and not very functional.

“Our philosophy is to try to give the same quality and level of care that you would seek for yourself or your family, whether in Guatemala, Ecuador, or anywhere around the world,” Krupa said.

In April 2014, Krupa (see page 8) was awarded the Charles C. Stewart Young Humanitarian Award by Illinois, bringing him back to campus for the first time since he graduated.

“That was awesome to be welcomed back to campus, to be awarded, to be recognized for all the work that ROMP and our organization has been doing,” he said.

While on campus, Krupa gave a presentation about his work in the hopes of generating more interest from campus departments and discovering others trying to tackle the same problem.

It turns out, there was. Aadeel Akhtar, a Ph.D. student in neuroscience, attended the presentation and talked to Krupa about his own team’s research in prosthetics, specifically on bionic hands.

“We work on how to control prosthetics with muscle signals and how to give sensory feedback back to the user,” Akhtar said. “If the prosthetic is touching something, how can they feel that? Or if they move their joints and they’re not looking at their hand, how do they know where their joint angles are?”

Akhtar gave Krupa a tour of their lab and the col-laboration began. Akhtar’s team’s plan was to 3D print a hand, put their own electronics inside, and

(Top) Krupa addresses a group of patients at the ROMP Clinic in Zacapa, Guatemala.

(Bottom) Shaking hands with a patient named German, who required a prosthetic design previously unavailable in Guatemala.

use their own algorithms. Krupa talked to the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador and they agreed to fund a few students to visit the country with their prototype.

With grueling 14-hour work days filled with meeting and fitting patients, performing a successful demo for the U.S. Embassy, and being interviewed by Ecuadorian media, the team was swamped during their last two weeks of summer.

Meeting Akhtar and his team was serendipitous to Krupa and is one of the many moments he has experienced over the past nine years when it seemed like a much needed solution appeared at the right time, just when the odds were against him, he said.

For ROMP’s future, Krupa said they are bringing down the largest volunteer group yet and will be inaugurating a new lamination center in the lab, as well as fitting high-impact patients with running prostheses.

“This is important for us as an organization to com-municate with the world because rather than just try to give someone a device, anything basically just to plug a leak, what we want to do is actually give them what they’re capable of using,” Krupa said.

Back in the U.S., ROMP has a program that reaches out to a network of volunteer practitioners around

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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 7

Page 8: 2014 Fall/Winter Illinois International Review

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign honored alumni, faculty, and students at the annual International Achievement Awards banquet on April 3, 2014.

Dr. MuKeun Lee, a native of South Korea and recipi-ent of the 2013 Madhuri and Jagdish N. Sheth International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achieve-ment, is a professor emeritus at Seoul National University. He earned a Ph.D. in vocational technical education from Illinois in 1977.

Lee was honored for his contributions to voca-tional-technical education and human resource development, as well as his work in government commissions that have helped shape economic and labor policies in South Korea. He is one of the founders of the first vocational doctoral program in Korea in the Department of Agricultural and Vocational Education at Seoul National University. He was the president of Kyungil University and Dongmyung University and has been made a fellow of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology. Lee received the Blue Stripes Medal in the Order of Service Merit, which is the highest honor presented by the South Korean President to educators.

Dr. Thomas J. Bassett, recipient of the Sheth Distin-guished Faculty Award for International Achieve-ment, is a professor of geography and geographic information science and the director of the LAS Global Studies Program. Bassett was honored for his seminal contributions to the field of political ecology and his pioneering work and its impact

on policy discussions surrounding issues such as climate change, poverty, and rural development. He has conducted field research for 33 years in Côte d’Ivoire as well as Mali and Burkina Faso. His current research examines the relationship between agricultural diversification and farmer incomes in West Africa. The award also recognizes Bassett’s mentorship of international and Illinois scholars interested in exploring interdisciplinary dimensions of contemporary global environment and development issues.

David J. Krupa (see page 6), founder of the non-profit organization Range of Motion Project (ROMP) in Guatemala, received the Charles C. Stewart Inter-national Young Humanitarian Award. Krupa was honored for his impact in prosthetics care in Latin America and Pakistan, which has brought mobil-ity and hope to countless lives that may not have otherwise had access to needed care. It is estimated that ROMP has helped fit more than 1,500 amputees in Latin America since the project began. He also founded his own orthopedic importation business, Krupa O&P, which supplies critical components and materials to countless other prosthetics clinics throughout Ecuador. He received his B.S. in biology from Illinois in 2002.

Yu-Kyung Kang, recipient of the Illinois International Graduate Achievement Award, is currently pursu-ing her Ph.D. in English with a specialization in writing studies. Kang was honored for her services and ethnographic research, which will help inform the work of other units at Illinois as they strive to define and improve the integration of international students and fulfill the international mission of the university. Kang also holds an MA in Teaching English as a Second Language from Illinois.

Lun Ou, recipient of the International Undergradu-ate Achievement Award, is a senior in agricultural and consumer economics with a concentration in international trade, policy, and development, as well as a chemistry minor. Ou was honored for her commitment to understanding complex global issues such as food security and sustainable development from both life and social science per-spectives through her extensive educational travel.

Visit: international.illinois.edu/grants/awards.html

2013 International Achievement Award Recipients

April 3, 2014: (From far left) Yu-Kyung Kang, David J. Krupa, Thomas J. Bassett, MuKeun Lee, and (far right) Lun Ou, pose with Chancellor Phyllis Wise (second from right) and Jagdish and Madhuri Sheth.

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2013 International Achievement Award Recipients

ELIZABETH INNES, COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST, I -STEM EDUCATION INITIATIVE

What prompted 14 high school students to give up part of their summer to attend the Sustainable Futures summer workshop? They shared a passion and desire to create a world that adheres to sus-tainable practices.

This intensive, interdisciplinary course, jointly spon-sored by the Center for Global Studies (CGS) and the Global Studies Program in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, offered a college-level foundation in environmental sustainability, plus an added incentive: students earned one college credit in Global Studies at the University of Illinois.

Over the course of six days, students heard pre-sentations by faculty and other experts on sustain-ability challenges, conducted research, and took field trips to local sustainability sites. For example,

they visited the Student Sustainable Farm, Woody Perennial Polyculture, and the Center for Advanced Biofuels test plots, which all practice agricultural sustainability. They also saw how ecologies have been transformed at the Prairie Restoration Project and experienced efforts toward sustainable urban environments at two LEED-Certified facilities: the campus’ s Business Instructional Facility (BIF) and the Champaign Water Treatment and Control. During Friday afternoon’s culminating event, participants presented their research findings.

All of the participants have impressive career aspira-tions. For instance, Damilola Ajasa, who is interested in global public health, came to the camp to “earn more international and global insight.” Her goal: to “understand everything from a global perspective, as well as being environmentally and socially con-scious.” She hopes to be an epidemiologist with an emphasis on global diseases such as malaria and typhoid fever—illnesses that are common in Africa. Ajasa, who is Nigerian (Yoruba) by birth, said her interests in public health concerns in Africa stem from her desire to help her home continent.

Ajasa said the experience was impactful in part because she learned about “the different kinds of plants that there are and different options that

Grace Moran during the Sustainable Futures final presentation event.

A workshop participant (right) shows off her certificate of completion.

Sustainable Futures Brings High School Students to U of I

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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 9

Page 10: 2014 Fall/Winter Illinois International Review

Damilola Ajasa, a rising senior from Tinley Park, during the Sustainable Futures final presentation reception.

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She particularly enjoyed the session about oils and whales, which she called intriguing because “we learned about the past and the future and where global sustainability is going in the future, which I really appreciated.”

Grace Moran, a rising senior from Rock Island, came because she’s interested in integrative biology.

“The reason I wanted to study this is because it’s the macro side of biology,” she said, adding that she has “been an environmental freak since 7th grade.”

How did she become an environmental freak? Through the internet. “I got kind of obsessed,” she admitted. “I forced my parents to get compact flores-cent bulbs in the house. So then I started researching the rest of it, and that’s how it happened.”

Has she converted them to LED bulbs yet? She’s working on it.

Moran, who hopes to join Illinois’ Integrative Biology program, has a very specific field in mind: cancer research, particularly angiogenesis.

“If you can cut off the growth of blood vessels,” explained Moran, who already sounds well versed in her chosen field, “you can stop the growth of tumors, which would also decrease the chance of metastasis, the largest reason why people reach stage four.”

Moran plans on being a researcher in a lab, “most likely in Boston,” she said.

What’s one thing she learned from the camp? Governments are key.

“I learned how government could be what got us into this issue, but it can also be the solution. And largely, the solution to sustainable futures is in international cooperation, particularly between governments who have more money who could give funding to other countries,” she said. “For instance, a lot of smaller countries need subsidies for farms to increase their production.”

She also learned that nitrous oxide is a major culprit. “It’s 300 times more potent than CO2, so if we can decrease how much of that is produced in crops, because that’s largely where it’s released, I think we can really start decreasing global warming,” she said.

Based on what she has learned so far, she also has some general advice. “Go back to a more natural way of growing things,” she said.

She suggests prairie grasses, which have a lot of cellulose for creating biofuel, and “don’t take a lot of tending, so it would be a much simpler way of growing things that would help the environment.”

In its second year, the Global Studies Workshop organizers hope to expose high school students to key current issues in global studies.

“We want to give them an experience on campus and an introduction to the field in the hopes that that might shape their decisions when they get to college as to what to study,” said CGS Associate Director, Elly Hanauer.

However, when Hanauer, CGS Director Edward A. Kolodziej, and the former director of LAS’s Global Studies program began brainstorming about doing the workshop, they originally were considering college students. But in hopes of recruiting more students to the field, they decided on high schoolers.

With a myriad of topics to pick from about global studies, why sustainability?

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Alumnus Has Big Plans for Prosthetics (continued from page 6)

the country who want to be involved in the organization but either can’t or don’t wish to travel so far to do so.

ROMP helps these practitioners receive donated or gently used parts for prosthesestics. Krupa said the patients in these cases are generally undocumented immigrants that have no access to the public health system.

“It’s crazy for us to see this reality and know that in the U.S. we still have patients who are essentially struggling through the same struggle as that some of our patients in Guatemala and Ecuador,” he said.

He added that as a practitioner, it’s extremely frustrating to have to turn patients away when they know exactly what they need to drastically improve their lives.

“They’re already generally living in a socioeconomic environment that puts a lot of pressure on them,” Krupa said. “Just to have a fighting chance, we feel like they don’t need to be short changed on technology. Technology is the one thing we can at least provide them and say ‘okay, at least this stuff is taken care of.’ We’re not saying that’s going to solve all their problems, but it at least gives them a fighting chance.”

Krupa and his team are always looking for new collaborations and opportunities and encourage anyone to contact them, whether that is a school department looking into global issues in his region or helping public health people craft plans.

“I hope to encourage people to just feel free to contact us, our doors are wide open,” Krupa said. “We know already from the few collaborative projects with the University of Illinois that we can be incredibly effective at delivering high quality service, regardless of the setting. Just because someone is in a resource poor area doesn’t mean we have to give them poor technology.”

Visit: rompglobal.org

“It’s a topic that’s so urgent and really affects everybody,” Hanauer said. “So we thought it would be one that high school students, in particular, would be interested in.”

And Sustainability may be the topic for next summer’s workshop as well.

“After this summer, we may rethink the rotat-ing themes every year, because we really liked this one,” Hanauer said. “So we may stick with sustainability for another year.”

Camp participants didn’t just study and go on field trips. According to Hanauer, they also “had fun and made friends and enjoyed their times in the dorms.”

Some planned events included dinner with academic advisors from a number of campus units dealing with sustainability, a campus tour, a scavenger hunt, an evening at ARC, a concert on the quad, and bowling at Illini Union.

“We really enjoy this program. It’s nice for our staff. It’s something that we created from scratch and have watched grow, and that we hope to continue to expand in the future,” Hanauer said. “It’s a change of pace working with the high school students as opposed to the faculty and university students.”

Visit: publish.illinois.edu/globalstudiesworkshop

Krupa speaks with Juana, a young patient at the ROMP Clinic in Zapaca, Guatemala.

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MATT VANDERZALM, MANAGING EDITOR

International students often arrive at the University of Illinois to begin their studies without ever having set foot on the Urbana-Champaign campus.

After all, the cost of a plane ticket to the U.S. from Africa, East Asia, or Europe is often quite prohibitive. More often than not, the only real ‘preview’ of campus most interna-tional students get derives from a combination of its stellar global reputation (28th in the world, according to the latest Academic Ranking of World Universities), word of mouth, and what they can glean from the university’s website to select, and then prepare for, their education at the U of I. When you take into account the fact that more than 20 percent of the current student body is international, you are talking about as many as one in four students choosing the university sight-unseen.

This past summer, the university decided to ‘bring’ the campus welcome experience to a sizable portion of its incoming students for the first time, scheduling orientations in three of China’s largest cities—Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai—with about 570 students and their parents in attendance.

The goal was simple: make students and parents feel welcome, while giving them important information to help them plan everything from what to bring (including warm clothes for Illinois’ often harsh winters), to transportation options for reaching campus, as well as how to properly cheer on Fighting Illini athletic teams (I-L-L, I-N-I).

“The goal was to better orient and welcome new students before they arrived on campus, and ease common concerns by allowing both students and their parents to ask ques-tions face to face,” said Nicole Tami, Director for International Student Integration at IPS.

The U of I, with the largest international student population among all public institutions in the U.S., has seen consider-able growth in its international student body over the last decade. This is particularly true with regard to students from China, currently the country sending the largest number of its students to the U.S. According to the Office of Admis-sions, more than 600 new students from China arrived on campus in August 2014 and the total number of Chinese students who currently study here is at more than 4,800.

With that in mind, officials from across the U of I campus decided that conducting new student orientations in China

Officials Welcome New Students – in Person

Interim Associate Provost for International Affairs Bryan Endres stands with a group of incoming Chinese students in Beijing.

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would be well worth the investment. Interim Associ-ate Provost for International Affairs, Bryan Endres, said the sessions provide the university with a great opportunity to form connections with incoming students and their families, while also reinforcing a growing network of U of I alumni in China.

“Being proactive in building these relationships with incoming students, and showing them and their parents that the university is invested in their long-term success, will only serve to enhance the university’s global reputation,” Endres said.

After the success of this year’s orientations and the positive feedback from students and parents, Tami said she expects the university will offer in-country programs again next year, with the goal of expanding the number of cities and countries on the itinerary. To complement these efforts, the university has also launched a series of pre-arrival videos, with translated subtitles, to share key infor-mation about the campus and life in the U.S.

“In order to reach our growing international student population, we have to be creative and collab-orative,” Tami said. “Units across our campus are working together to meet the unique needs of our international students as they adjust to life both in and outside of the classroom.”

Visit: isss.illinois.edu/students/incoming

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(Clockwise from Top) 1. Professor Charlotte Ku (far right), Assistant Dean for Graduate and International Legal Studies in the College of Law, welcomes students to the orientation in Guangzhou. 2. Nicole Tami, Director for International Student Integration, welcomes attendees in Beijing. 3. Endres talks to a student and her family.

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Fall Exhibitions at Krannert Art Museum

Simay. Souscrivez à l’emprunt de la liberation! (Subscribe to the liberation!), 1918

Color lithograph. Courtesy of University of Illinois Archives

GOYA’S WAR: LOS DESASTRES DE LA GUERRA (THE DISASTERS OF WAR)

This exhibition features a series of 80 etchings by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes created in response to the Napoleonic invasion of Spain. The installation at Krannert Art Museum (KAM) is divided into five thematic sections — Carnage, Atrocity, Passions of War, Hunger, and Caprice. It includes printmaking materials and a bound, later edition of the etchings from the University of Illinois Rare Book and Manu-script Library. The exhibition is a collaboration of Pomona College Museum of Art and the University Museums of the University of Delaware. “Goya’s War” is curated by Janis Tomlinson, with installation and additional content curated by Robert G. LaFrance, director of the David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University. The exhibition is on view at KAM through Dec. 23. LA GRANDE GUERRE: FRENCH POSTERS AND PHOTOGRAPHS FROM

WORLD WAR I

As part of the University of Illinois cross-campus initiative to mark the centenary of WWI, “The Great War: Experiences, Representations, Effects” (http://www.thegreatwar.illinois.edu). “La Grande Guerre” presents a selection of artwork from two important university collections—the first consisting of large lithographic posters and the second comprised of commissioned photographs—produced as propaganda in support of the French war effort. In conjunction with “La Grande Guerre,” Ségolene Le Men, professor of art history at the Université Paris Ouest Nanterre-La Défense, presented a public lecture “The French Poster and World War I” Oct. 1. The exhibition is curated by professor David O’Brien and Pauline Parent and is on view through Dec. 23.

Francisco Goya y Lucientes. Y Son Fieras (And They Are Wild Beasts), ca. 1811–12

Etching, burnished aquatint, and drypoint. Courtesy Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont, California

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continued on page 16

GLOBAL GROOVE 1973/2012

Global Groove 1973/2012 celebrates the art of video by paying homage to its first major practitioner, Nam June Paik (1932–2006), and offering an overview of current examples of the genre by an international sampling of artists, some of whom are working under very difficult political constraints. A characteristically fast-paced barrage of images and sounds, Global Groove was kinetically edited single-channel video that anticipated the “video cities” we now inhabit (New York, Shanghai, Seoul), where video screens as high as buildings engulf entire city centers.

As video cameras and digital editing equipment have become ever more accessible, starting in the 1990s, video has been adopted by artists worldwide. This exhibition is a tribute to video art as an international phenomenon and features artists from the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the United States. Global Groove highlights multiple artistic approaches to the medium, from low-tech to highly cinematic, personal, and diaristic to intensely political and challenging. The exhibition will be on view at KAM through Dec. 23; it is organized by the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University and curated by Michael Rush.

Lee Yongbaek. Angel Soldier, 2005

Single-channel video with sound, 23 min

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, MSU pur-chase, funded by the Emma Grace Holmes Endowment © Lee Yongbaek

Nam June Paik in collaboration with John Godfrey. Global Groove, 1973

Single-channel video with sound, 28 min 30 sec

Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York © Nam June Paik Studios

The Propeller Group. Spray It, Don’t Say It, 2006

Single-channel video with sound, 20 min 30 sec

Courtesy of the artists © The Propeller Group

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AFTER THE FRONT LINE: ARTISTS WHO SERVED IN THE WORLD WARS

“After the Front Line” presents works from the KAM collection by artists who served during World War I and World War II, including Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Leon Golub, George Grosz, Jack Levine, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, Henry Moore, Robert Rauschenberg and Jacques Villon. The exhibition is designed to give museum visitors a sense of the ways in which military conflict can profoundly influence artistic practice and alter artists’ worldviews and attitudes toward society. “Some of the exhibited works offer scath-ing social commentaries while others expose the atrocious aftermath of war,” states exhibi-tion curator, Kathryn Koca Polite. “After the Front Line” is open at KAM through Dec. 23.

Fall Exhibitions at Krannert Art Museum (continued)

George Grosz. Nach Ladenschluss (Rush Hour), from the Ecce Homo series, 1919

Brush and ink on buff paper. University of Illinois Purchase 1949-20-9

Art © Estate of George Grosz / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

WITH THE GRAIN: JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTS FROM THE POSTWAR YEARS

“With the Grain” showcases woodcuts that helped to shape a postwar image of Japan in the minds of the American public. The exhibition concentrates on the work of sōsaku hanga printmakers from the 1950s and 1960s. Unlike traditional Japanese print designers, whose work is also represented in the exhibition, sōsaku hanga artists carved their own woodblocks and made their own impressions. The term sōsaku, ordinarily translated as “creative,” was coined to denote a work that is original to its maker. Innovative and striking, the work of sōsaku hanga artists was widely collected in the U.S. during and after the years of the Allied Occupation of Japan. Their work, part of a centuries-long printmaking tradition, invites inquiries not only about the nature of “modernity” but also about the transformative role that visual images play in making history.

“With the Grain: Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Postwar Years” is curated by Anne Burkus-Chasson and is an exhibition of modern Japanese woodcuts from the KAM permanent collection with additional artwork on loan from Northern Illinois University. It will remain on view through Dec. 23.

(Above) Kitaoka Fumio. Ship at Rest, ca. 1950s Color woodcut. University of Illinois Purchase 1957-19-12

(Left) Kiyoshi Saito. Gioji Kyoto, 1955 Color woodcut, University of Illinois Purchase 1957-19-19

Visit: kam.illinois.edu

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(Above) Kitaoka Fumio. Ship at Rest, ca. 1950s Color woodcut. University of Illinois Purchase 1957-19-12

(Left) Kiyoshi Saito. Gioji Kyoto, 1955 Color woodcut, University of Illinois Purchase 1957-19-19

Gift Aims to Expand Study Abroad OptionsBRITTNEY NADLER, COMMUNICATIONS INTERN, INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS AND STUDIES

When alumnus David Thomas (‘75) teaches Chinese history at Trevor Day School in New York City, he pays particular attention to his students’ reactions.

“I teach at a private school. These are entitled, mostly coddled, high school students. Their reaction to the history of China is interesting to watch,” he said. “This is all sort of news to them and strange and difficult to deal with, so I thought, this still isn’t right.”

Thomas knew students needed greater international exposure to increase cultural understanding, which led him to donate $25,000 to the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies (CEAPS).

Although Thomas himself never studied abroad, he said his main motivation behind the donation was to expand study abroad options for students in CEAPS because he believes studying in another country is critical. He has other plans for possible gifts in the future as well.

“I would eventually like to establish an annual prize to the top student in either Chinese history or East Asian studies,” he said.

Thomas graduated with his name on the Bronze Tablet, summa cum laude, the highest distinction in East Asian studies, and received the Ralph S. Tyler award. He went on to earn a Master’s degree at Yale University in East Asian Studies.

“I believed that I would go on and get a Ph.D. and acquire a tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows and settle with a pipe in some small New England college,” he said. “That didn’t happen.”

He went on to the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and earned degrees in finance and accounting. After graduating in 1979, he worked for Prudential Insurance, followed by Lehman Brothers for three years and then AEA Investors until 1990.

For the next 21 years, Thomas and a colleague managed their own private equity partnership before he became a full-time high school history teacher.

“One of the themes of my Chinese history course is our shared sets of humanity,” he said. “We have the same problems. China had a border problem long before today. We have a border problem. Should we build a wall? Should we learn from China?”

In the mid-80’s, Thomas became very passionate about fundraising for the university and figured that New Yorkers would contribute to a state university, especially with the heavy alumni presence in Manhattan.

“I was the recipient of this academic prize which was funded by somebody’s gift,” Thomas said. “And so in the mid-80’s, I became active in fundraising for the university.”

By utilizing the techniques he picked up from fundraising for his family’s schools, Thomas helped organize a Japanese art exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, curated by an Illinois professor, along with a reception that was a “rip roaring success,” he said.

He and others who helped organize the exhibit met with the Illini Foundation, but couldn’t connect on further fundraising initiatives. Thomas was then contacted by George Yu, the first director of Asian American Studies and one of his former professors, to meet on the Illinois campus. Yu persuaded him

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David Thomas (far left) with a group of 10th grade students he advised.

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“I would eventually like to establish an annual prize to the top student in either Chinese history or East Asian Studies.

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PERSONAL CONNECTION | FIRST PLACE

“Connection through the Northern Lights” Kivanç Avrenli Abisko National Park, Sweden

Photographing the Northern Lights is a challenging task, not only because of the level of photography skill it requires, but also due to the extreme weather conditions one has to endure. I had no background in either of these, so I connected with the American photographer Patrick J. Endres, who is one of Alaska’s most prominently published nature photographers with emphasis on North-ern Lights Photography. Patrick not only thoroughly taught me how to photograph the Northern Lights, but also provided me with detailed information as to how to cope with extreme cold while waiting for the Aurora to show up high in the sky. Having learned so much from Patrick, I felt ready to face the extreme cold and practice my fresh photography skills to capture the Aurora Borealis. During my most recent dissertation trip, I went to the Swedish Lapland and took this self-shot using a tripod and camera’s self-timer. It was the first time that I saw and photographed the Aurora Borealis while it was dancing up high in the sky over Abisko National Park. I regard this photo as my best ‘selfie,’ which I would not have been able to photograph at all if I had not connected with Patrick.

Visit: international.illinois.edu/iw

2014 International Photo Contest Winners

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ACADEMIC CONNECTION | FIRST PLACE

“The Cows and I” Carolyn Filarski

Kaikoura Peninsula, New Zealand

From this five-hour walk, we learned all about the vegetation and wildlife along the peninsula. We also discussed the property laws and how the government controlled national parks. Due to the fact that the pen-insula mostly consists of conservationally protected land, we walked through farming land that was rented from the government. We crossed fields of hundreds of grazing cows and sheep until we reached the tip of the peninsula, where a seal colony resided. This photo is a representation of academic connection because it displays our traveling classroom. Rarely did we use a classroom as a learning environment. Instead we used every location we visited as a source of knowledge. I greatly enjoyed this aspect because I learn most from interacting with the material and having fun while doing it.

CAREER CONNECTION | FIRST PLACE

“A Day with the Kids” Xuanyan Ouyang Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Flats is an area in Cape Town that is very poor. We had visited two other such areas earlier that day. But just visiting them did not satisfy us. We asked our professor to let us do something for the children in the community. After we got approval, we bought many necessities with the money we earned from our fundraising at Illinois. We were preparing for this event from before 8 a.m. almost 6 p.m., which left us tired but happy.

This is one of the kids we hung out with. The kids had a good time, and so did we. We set up several groups doing activities such as face and fingernail painting and playing soccer.

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BRITTNEY NADLER, COMMUNICATIONS INTERN, INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS AND STUDIES

Of the many global initiatives at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Innovation Immersion Program (IIP), has one crucial aspect that sets it apart from other consultancies: immersion trips taken either halfway through the project timeline or at the end in which students meet their clients in person.

Students from nine universities in the U.S., Israel, Sweden, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea work together in teams of six to eight to complete consultancy projects throughout a 12-week period.

IIP is a global entrepreneurship Registered Student Organization (RSO) that currently services some 80 consultants worldwide. It was founded at Illinois by Dr. Robert Valli, Director of the College of Busi-ness Global Consulting Program, and has been recognized by the European Commission as an exemplary university global collaboration.

It all began in Fall 2012 when former Illinois MBA student Matthew Foreman realized there was a need for consulting on an international scale, said Public Relations Officer Sherwyn Koa. At first, IIP was under the jurisdiction of the Illinois MBA program, until founders realized this would limit their scope of consultants.

“The projects were so diverse that we, too, needed consultants from diverse backgrounds,” Koa said. “That’s when we decided to become a full-fledged RSO.”

Their first immersion trip took place in Israel where they met with five startup companies. They worked in Israel again in Fall 2013 and branched out to Singapore and Taiwan this past spring.

Nicole Crosby, senior in Engineering, went to Israel with IIP and found it to be “unique and exception-ally interesting.”

“As we’re running around these different high-tech businesses and organizations, it’s really interest-ing to have both sides in one place -- a country that’s so technology forward that also has biblical history,” Crosby said.

Her team worked with a company involved in cloud-based technologies that wanted to develop an all-encompassing app in the U.S. for different organizations. While most tourists go to Israel to

Consultant Program Gives Students Valuable Global Experience

(Top) Members of the Innovation Immersion Program outside AT&T Israel headquarters in Tel Aviv.

(Below) IIP members carry a stretcher full of sand as part of a team building exercise in Israel.

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experience the religious and historical aspects, Crosby enjoyed learning about the technology side.

“We were on our way to Microsoft and on this drive our bus driver points out the window and she says, ‘That’s where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac,’” she said. “That didn’t fit my concept of how something so high-tech can be surrounded by so much other history.”

Farva Jafri, a J.D., MBA student, joined IIP after hearing about the consultancy through the MBA program. She consulted with a cell phone company in Taiwan and analyzed why the company was not as popular as competing markets.

“In undergrad I was really active in organizations and I thought that was kind of behind me,” Jafri said. “It ended up being something I didn’t anticipate but something that I’ve definitely held onto because it’s so valuable.”

She and her team held Skype calls with their clients past midnight on Thursdays and then had team meetings at 6 a.m. on Fridays.

“It required a lot of dedication,” she said. “It turned out to really be worth it because the experience was completely unforgettable.”

Prior to the trips, students keep in contact with their clients through virtual mediums like Google Hangout and Skype. These platforms allow them to ask questions about research and the directions of the projects, as well as discuss options for resolv-ing the company’s specific issues and challenges.

But not everything can be expressed through virtual mediums, Koa said, which makes the trip that much more valuable. Along with hands-on experience, the trips also include professional development in the form of workshops and events.

In Fall 2014, students are working on projects in real estate, marketing, cybersecurity, and an entre-preneurial project about establishing connections between entrepreneurial hubs and international domains, among others, said Student Director Stablein, who heads the Champaign chapter.

“Projects range in scope because we recruit from all majors and disciplines,” he added. “The projects go from marketing to human resources to cyber-security to application based.”

IIP is now the second largest consultancy on campus and has taken on 10 projects this semester, which is six more than last semester. They also have 25

“The organization is something you entirely give yourself to and then it really gives back in the long run.

”additional consultants from the university and 13 more international consultants, Koa said.

“We see the organization coming full circle to its founding principles, which is to create a network that links up all the innovation clusters of the world in order to foster cross-cultural collabora-tion among students, academics, and profes-sionals,” he said.

A technology cluster is “a center around which an exchange of ideas and information enhances entrepreneurship and technological innovation.” When IIP was founded, they determined the most important innovation clusters in the world: Cam-bridge, Seoul, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Stockholm, Taipei, Taiwan, and Tel Aviv.

“Every semester we aim to go to a new technology cluster,” Koa said. “We’re trying to do two clusters

IIP members take a moment to fly kites on a beautiful day in Singapore.

continued on page 24

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Six area studies centers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were selected in October to receive Title VI funding from the U.S. Depart-ment of Education—support considered critical to the existence of many international programs in higher education. With a commitment of more than $3 million for 2014-15—and an expected total of more than $12.5 million through 2018—the announcement affirmed Illinois’ established and growing reputation as a leader in international public engagement and research.

“These awards are a testament to the depth and breadth of the international scholarship that we have at the University of Illinois,” said Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise. “Competition for funding for these center grants is intense and to win six of them speaks very loudly to the national reputation earned

in these areas by our faculty, students, and staff.

Illinois hosts a total of six federally funded Title VI Centers in international and area studies, each focus-ing on a different world region or issue. More than 600 faculty from all colleges on campus are affili-ated with one or more of these centers. This year’s recipients are a diverse group, both thematically and geographically, highlighting the wide range of international programs and studies at the university. They include: the Center for African Studies (CAS); the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies (CEAPS); the Center for Global Studies (CGS); the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS); the European Union Center (EUC); and the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center (REEEC).

A seventh center received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Undergraduate Inter-national Studies and Foreign Language (UISFL) program. This grant will enable the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (CSAMES) to provide more South Asian language instruction, including in Sanskrit, Bengali, and Urdu.

“These centers and the scholarly productivity they catalyze are exactly why Illinois is a pre-eminent public research university with a global impact,” said Provost Ilesanmi Adesida. “The world is truly watching what we do at this university. All of those involved in this effort deserve the congratulations of the entire campus community.”

All of the centers are considered models of col-laboration, with joint programs that help build bridges with other renowned universities. CAS, for example, received funding in part to support its partnership with the Program in African Studies at Northwestern University; CEAPS will work closely with partners at the East Asian Studies Center at Indiana University; and CLACS will partner with the University of Chicago. The grants also encourage multidisciplinary cooperation at both the campus and international levels. The EUC, which recently renewed its EU Center of Excellence grant from the European Commission, will provide comprehensive support for faculty research, teaching, and public engagement in interdisciplinary EU Studies, a hall-mark of the EUC.

“Title VI Funding has been vital to encouraging the development of a strong academic community that spans across multiple disciplines,” said David Cooper, Director of REEEC. “By supporting the kind of resources that attract top faculty and graduate students, the impact of Title VI funding can be felt in multiple academic departments across the disciplines and not just the area centers.”

The university has been receiving funding from Title VI and its predecessors since 1959 and has consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally for the number of Title VI centers. The six National Resource Centers are jointly contained within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and International Programs and Studies (IPS).

Title VI was introduced as a part of the National Defense Education Act in 1958 as a means of pro-moting language development, with a focus on less commonly taught languages. Today, National Resource Centers, Foreign Language and Area Studies Programs, and International Research and Studies remain central programs for Title VI awards.

Visit: international.illinois.edu/programs

Six Area Studies Centers Designated National Resource Centers

“The impact of Title VI funding can be felt in multiple academic departments across the disciplines...

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Illinois hosts a total of six federally funded U.S. Department of Education Title VI Centers in international and area studies. The money helps fund events such as an annual Latin American Film Festival and the biannual Joint Area Centers Symposium.

Alum’s Gift (continued from page 17)

to begin a scholarship fund that lasted a few years before Illinois and Thomas stopped contacting each other.

Rebecca Linder Blachly, Director of International Advancement, contacted Thomas last year and he agreed to begin the fund again. Thomas believes that the university knows best what to do with the money and has left it up to the discretion of CEAPS.

“The best people to figure out how to use the money is the university,” Thomas said. “Whether it’s for foreign study, scholarships, outreach, or broadening.”

CEAPS Director Elizabeth Oyler said that although the process still needs to be finalized with their advisory board, CEAPS is very excited to receive the donation and will be using the money for study abroad scholarships for programs in Asian countries over the next five years.

“It’s not cheap to study abroad, so this is something that can help students realize dreams that they have,” she said. “We hope we’ll be able to attract a big pool of applicants and help students who are most in need of and ready to go study abroad.”

Scholarships will range from $500 to $2,000 and are anticipated to be open to students this summer or the following academic year.

“We are delighted to have this kind of support from an alumnus,” Oyler said. “This is a commitment that will make a difference in the lives of a number of students and we’re very excited to be able to roll this out next year.”

Visit: eaps.illinois.edu

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International Programs and Studies University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 507 E. Green, Suite 401 Champaign, IL 61820

PHONE: 217.333.6104 FAX: 217.265.0810 EMAIL: [email protected] WEB: international.illinois.edugiving: giving.illinois.edu

Find us on Facebook: Illinois International

Follow us on Twitter: @Illinois_Intl

Follow us on Sina Weibo: weibo.com/uiuc2012

Consultant Program (continued from page 21)

Executive Immersion Program (continued from page 3)

per semester, but we don’t have the manpower to achieve that yet.”

Although careful not to get ahead of themselves, Stablein said they hope to work in Turkey and South Africa in the future as well. IIP will be visiting Silicon Valley this January to meet clients, tour companies like Yahoo! and Google, and enjoy leisure events.

IIP accepts applications on a rolling basis and the next round of interviews will be held at the end of this semester. For more information, interested students can find the organization on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages.

“The organization is something you entirely give yourself to and then it really gives back in the long run,” Stablein said. “It’s a wholesome and worthwhile experience.”

Visit: innovationimmersion.net

“Finding solutions to these problems requires researchers, educators, and policy makers from across the world find better ways to collaborate. OAS-ARTCA real-izes this and has very effectively established the Executive Immersion Program to help move these discussions along, and find the types of partnerships that can work to find the solutions that are much needed.”

Cesar Parga, Chief of the Section of Competitiveness, Innovation, and Tech-nology of the Department of Economic and Social Development of the OAS, underlined the effort and investment that both the university and officials of countries attending the program made to make the exchange program possible.

“The OAS supports initiatives that help countries engage in policy dialogue and share best practices in key areas of the economic and social development agenda, such as innovation,” said Parga. “The Executive Immersion Program serves as a catalyst to facilitate further collaboration among OAS member States and with the University of Illinois, reaching other stakeholders in the region, to work on projects that can contribute to improving the quality of life of citizens of the Western Hemisphere. In that sense, the OAS is very proud to be part of this initiative.”

Given the success of the program and the existing interest and collaboration opportunities identified with the Office of Competitiveness, Innovation, and Technology of the Department of Economic and Social Development of the OAS, Illinois will continue to engage in innovative international collaboration initiatives that enable further cultural understanding and the development of research and teaching initiatives across the Western Hemisphere.

Visit: chass.illinois.edu

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