HIGHLIGHTING UD'S INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
Volume 3, Number 1
Happy 90th to a UD innovation! Join us in celebrating a University of Delaware innovation, as we look back at America's first study abroad program and share stories of its ongoing legacy.
Volume 2, Number 1
How many countries have you visited? In this issue, expand your horizons with Ralph Begleiter, director of UD's Center for Political Communication (and former CNN world affairs correspondent) who recently reached the travel century mark.
Volume 1, Number 1
Our premier issue celebrates the opening of the Confucius Institute at UD, our continuing role in the Middle East Partnership Initiative and our world-class program for Olympic coaches. Welcome, world, to UD Global!
For UD News, visit www.udel.edu/udaily/
After 22 years as the liaison for University of Delaware students traveling to Spain for study-abroad trips and home-stays with local families, Jorge Barrientos is retiring.
The esteemed professor at the University of Granada has been "like a father" to UD students in Spain. It is his friendly face that greeted UD students arriving at the airport. He would later shepherd them on excursions to historic and cultural sites ranging from the Alhambra near Granada, to the 1992 Olympic Village in Barcelona and numerous points along the way. With seemingly limitless wisdom, humor and patience, he guided students on four-week study-abroad programs and 15-week semester-long programs.
"He's truly remarkable," said Marion Bernard-Amos, program coordinator in UD's Institute for Global Studies. "He received our students as if they were his sons and daughters. Day in and day out, he assisted them without complaint. That says a lot about his wonderful personality."
The University of Delaware has enthusiastic and loyal alumni all over the world. The Korea Alumni Association is one of the University's largest international alumni clubs. The UD‚ÄàKorea Gala hosted by the Office of Alumni Relations in Seoul recently brought together over 100 alumni, English Language Institute graduates, visiting scholars, exchange students, friends and guests for a fun-filled evening. President Harker briefed the alumni on exciting developments at UD, from plans for a new science and technology campus, to renewable energy projects that are boosting the University's sustainability efforts.
You can't see it, but a giant telescope over a mile deep in the Antarctic ice is now providing a new eye into the universe.
It's called "IceCube," and it's designed to shed light on elusive particles called neutrinos that are formed when stars explode and galaxies collide.
Physicists and technicians from UD's Bartol Research Institute are part of the international team that will complete construction of the novel tool near the South Pole in Feb. 2011. Summer temperatures hover around -40°F there, and survival in the elements requires wearing 35–40 pounds of extreme cold-weather gear.
Matthew Gordon, in UD's GIS Certificate Program, won first-place honors in the Institute for Global Studies' 2010 study-abroad photo contest. He took this photo in Koforidua, Ghana, during his study-abroad group's visit with the inspiring Emmanuel Yeboah, who has competed in a U.S. triathlon with a prosthetic leg and now is building schools for children in Ghana.
"During a break in the performances the people of Koforidua put on for us, these kids came up to watch from an opening in a wall," Gordon says. "As I was walking by to get another shot of the dancers and drummers, I took one glance, handed the oldest girl the globe to incorporate into the shot, and took the picture. Just the way they all lined up vertically turned out great, and the different emotions on the kids' faces really struck me."
The University of Delaware is searching for excellent students globally through collaborative efforts involving Admissions, Alumni Relations, the English Language Institute and the Institute for Global Studies.
In 2010, Amy Greenwald Foley and Christine Yang Schultz, senior associate directors of admissions, recruited on multiple continents, visiting top high schools, participating in college fairs and meeting with alumni.
Foley traveled to Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and the Dominican Republic last spring, then to Turkey in the fall with Deborah Detzl, assistant director of the English Language Institute.
Schultz recruited extensively throughout the Gulf region with stops in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Quatar.
"Engagement with alumni is an important aspect of our collaborative efforts," says Foley. "We work closely with Alumni Relations to reach out to alumni prior to our travels. While abroad we've enjoyed coffee with UD graduates, hosted dinner parties with international faculty and alumni, and benefited from alumni who volunteered their time with us at recruitment fairs. Our goals are many: to reestablish and improve upon relationships with our overseas alumni, to create a stronger brand abroad and to include alumni in future recruitment efforts."
Current international students are a welcome addition to UD's recruitment strategy, Foley says. The Delaware International Ambassadors (DIAS), formed by Admissions, are assisting these global endeavors via virtual interviews to informational videos in prospective students' native languages.
