4:03 p.m., Nov. 19, 2008----Havidán Rodríguez, vice provost for academic affairs and international programs, who recently visited several institutions of higher education in Sweden in order to further enhance and expand the University of Delaware's academic and research partnerships, welcomed Agneta Bladh, rector of the University of Kalmar in Sweden, and Johan Persson, mayor of the city of Kalmar, during their Nov. 6 visit to UD's Newark campus.

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Bladh and Persson visited UD to discuss strengthening current collaborative projects and the development and implementation of new initiatives, Rodríguez said.

During his trip to Sweden, Rodríguez visited the University of Kalmar, Mid-Sweden University and Lund University. At the University of Kalmar, Rodríguez discussed expanding and strengthening collaborations in the life sciences, biotechnology, avian influenza, and business and economics, among others

The University of Delaware and the University of Kalmar have had significant research interactions for a number of years and both universities signed an institutional agreement in 2005. In 2007, a delegation from the state of Delaware, including Governor Ruth Ann Minner and UD President Patrick Harker, among others, visited Kalmar as part of the sister city relationships between Wilmington and Kalmar.

“The Delaware-Sweden relationships date back to the 17th century, when a small Swedish settlement--New Sweden--was established along the Delaware River and was centered in Fort Christina, today known as Wilmington,” Rodríguez said.

Rodríguez also visited Mid-Sweden University. Mid-Sweden University was established in 1993, has about 15,500 students spread throughout three campus, and is divided into three Faculty or Colleges and eight academic departments. MIUN and UD signed an institutional agreement in 2007 to expand and enhance research collaborations between these two institutions.

During his visit to Mid-Sweden University in Ostersund, Rodríguez had the opportunity to meet with faculty, administrators and staff to discuss potential collaborations in academic and research areas, as well as student and faculty exchange and research partnerships.

In fall 2007, Anna Olofsson, a faculty member in the Department of Social Sciences at Mid-Sweden University, was a visiting scholar at UD's Disaster Research Center (DRC), while Saman Rashid, director of statistics at the Swedish Institute of Communication Analysis at Mid-Sweden University, was a visiting professor in UD's Lerner College of Business and Economics.

Rodríguez also presented a research paper at a conference focusing on crisis communication, which included the participation of students, faculty, practitioners, government officials and policy makers. The presentation provided a comparative analysis between the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, particularly focusing on disaster vulnerability and resiliency.

At Lund University, Rodríguez met and discussed his research with faculty and students in the Lund University Centre for Risk Analysis and Management (LUCRAM), which has a number of research clusters, including emergency response research, international disaster studies and human and organizational factors in risk management. LUCRAM and UD's DRC are exploring potential collaborative research initiatives that are interdisciplinary in nature.