ASEAN Gateway
This new initiative in collaboration with IU Ventures and the IU Alumni Association builds bridges and shares knowledge and connections between IU's international alumni entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.
In spring 2020, the ASEAN and India Gateway offices began a webinar series connecting start-up entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to exchange their experiences and viewpoints on the industry. Panelists included IU alumni Mark Hesemann from India/Thailand, Budi Limansubroto from Indonesia, Netita Taechathanasiri from Thailand, Dibbs Ghosh from Singapore and Executive Director of IU Angel Network Jason Whitney based in Bloomington, Indiana.
"The Hoosier entrepreneurial spirit is strong globally and our team at IU Ventures was enthusiastic to help identify and support the growth of this awareness campaign. These initial events are creating a platform for future global engagement which we hope helps everyone remain connected back to the campus where they earned their degrees regardless of their current country of residence."
During the fall semester, twelve IU alumni-founded start-ups from China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singpore, Thailand joined the IU Ventures-ASEAN Gateway Start-up Pitch event to practice their pitch and connect with alumni resources around the region. The key question asked of each start-up was: "In what area of your start-up are you seeking support from the IU global alumni network?"
Even before the event, two of the start-ups from Thailand were connected and had a successful collaboration. Edison Motors is an innovative electric motorcycle company founded by Dr. Vikram Ahuja, PhD, an IU Kelley Business alum. The team was working day night to launch their newest innovation. "We are run by caffeine: if no coffee, then no motorcycles." says Dr. Vikram. Luckily, he met IU Chemistry alum Eliot Delunas, founder of Nitro Labs Coffee, who was able to fulfill the need by installing two taps of their cold brew coffee right in the Edison Motors Headquarters in Bangkok.
Brian Carraway, IU SPEA alumni and founder at Flying Squirrel Outfitters, also participated. He reflected on the experience, saying, "I’ve been in Asia now for about 6 years and I have never felt more connected to IU than I do now living abroad. It was an honor and a lot of fun to pitch our small business to a very friendly and supportive group of IU alumni. I was actually really nervous but the audience was completely disarming and felt a strong sense of support compared to other more competitive pitch events. Afterwards I was contacted by a bunch of alumni through LinkedIn all asking how they could help or expressed genuine interest in your products and story. I really appreciate the opportunity and the continued effort by the school and the IU alumni organizations to keep our community strong, even while living abroad."
With the third pitch event scheduled for January 27, we are excited to expand the reach of the program to include alumni-led start-ups from across the globe. Further events are in the works which will likely focus on industry sectors including social enterprise. Stay tuned!
China Gateway
Indiana University President McRobbie visiting Beijing as part of 15-day East Asia trip
Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie will continue a 15-day visit to East Asia on Tuesday in Beijing, where he will renew a partnership agreement with one of China’s pre-eminent research universities, meet with IU alumni and business and government leaders, and participate in a special event for newly admitted Chinese students and their families.
McRobbie will sign a renewed agreement of friendship and cooperation between IU and Peking University, the first established modern national university of China. Additionally, he will sign a new agreement that will generate graduate student and staff exchanges between IU and PKU.
IU Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret and IU first lady Laurie Burns McRobbie will join McRobbie in Beijing and also serve as presenters at a special presidential reception for incoming IU students from China and their families, as well as for alumni. During the event, they will deliver an overview of academic and social life at IU and advice for making a successful transition to the university.
McRobbie also will visit Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai during his visit to China. While in Hong Kong, he will sign an agreement of friendship and cooperation between IU and the University of Hong Kong as well as an agreement to establish a graduate dual degree master of public administration program between IU Bloomington’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs and HKU’s Master’s in Non-Profit Management Program.
More than 4,700 students from East Asia are enrolled at IU, including more than 3,250 from the People’s Republic of China, who accounted for more than 40
“Indiana University is committed to meeting the changing needs of students and faculty in an increasingly globalized world,” McRobbie said, “and that commitment is reflected in our strategic partnerships with China’s most prestigious universities and in our ever-growing numbers of Chinese alumni.”
“I am delighted to be back in China to extend efforts that have resulted in more overseas study opportunities for IU students in the world’s largest country, enhanced research collaborations among faculty and staff here at IU and in China, and more of the best students from this important region of the world coming to Indiana to pursue a quality education.”
This is McRobbie’s third official visit to China since becoming IU’s president in 2007. The trip is one element of IU’s international engagement plan. The university has identified 30 countries as priorities and has plans in place to strengthen institutional ties, increase research opportunities and provide greater access to study abroad for IU students.
In addition to the agreement with Peking University, IU has active, university-wide partnerships with Sun Yat-sen University, Tsinghua University and Zhejiang University.
Business remains a highly sought-after area of study at IU for Chinese students. IU’s Kelley School of Business, with degree programs on IU's campuses in Bloomington and Indianapolis, is consistently ranked highly by peer academics, corporate recruiters, business developers and business publications such as Bloomberg Businessweek, the Financial Times and U.S. News & World Report.
Kelley’s undergraduate program in Bloomington was ranked No. 1 in a Bloomberg Businessweek survey of corporate recruiters. Last fall, the school received three No. 1 rankings in MBA student surveys by the publication: career services, teaching quality and student satisfaction.
The Kelley School offers undergraduate and
Its new Institute for Business Analytics, one of the first such institutes in the nation, supports academic programs that prepare students to solve challenging business problems using advanced analytics.
It was the second business school in the United States to include international components in its curriculum (it added international business classes in 1959), and it has furthered its global reach through several new educational programs and initiatives.
The Kelley School has recently partnered with Zhejiang University in Hangzhou on summer exchange programs for students. The Kelley School at Indianapolis has partnered with Sun Yat-sen University on an undergraduate dual degree program.
Sun Yat-sen University is an important strategic partner at IU’s Indianapolis campus, IUPUI. Undergraduate dual degree programs also include those in computer science, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, media arts and science, public affairs, and mathematics. Several academic programs at IUPUI also have student exchange programs with SYSU.
Students from the IU School of Medicine and the SYSU Zhongshan School of Medicine, for example, can complete clinical electives at the partner school.
In 2011, the National Science Foundation selected IU to lead an effort to link the China Education and Research Network, or CERNET, with Internet2 and other U.S. research and education networks, which is allowing researchers in both the U.S. and China to more easily collaborate and share research data.
The study of East Asia spans more than 20 departments and professional schools on the Bloomington campus, including the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, which recently marked its 50th anniversary; the Title VI-supported East Asian Studies Center; the Chinese Language Flagship program; and the IU-Australian National University Pan-Asia Institute.
At its Indianapolis campus, the Confucius Institute promotes the teaching of Chinese language and culture.
IU’s teaching and research activities in Asia will be efforts of the new School of Global and International Studies. The university recently broke ground on a new four-story, 165,000-square-foot structure that will house the school, starting with the 2015-16 academic school year.
Reports as the trip progresses will be available at a new website, “Global Engagements and Partnerships,” as well as the Global Engagements and Partnerships blog and through official IU social media channels on Facebook and Twitter.
IU gateway office opens in Beijing, as portal for international activities
Indiana University has announced the creation of its second international gateway office. Located in Beijing, China, the IU China Office will serve as a home base for IU activities in the country.
The office is located on the sixth floor of the China Education and Research Network (CERNET) building in the Tsinghua Science Park, which is the science park of China’s top-ranked Tsinghua University.
Like IU’s other gateway facility near New Dehli, India, the IU China Office will support scholarly research and teaching, conferences and workshops, study abroad programs, distance learning initiatives, executive and corporate programs and alumni events.
IU President Michael A. McRobbie said the facility will enable the university to accelerate academic activities and partnerships throughout China and will support a wide variety of activities.
“Indiana University has a long history of engagement in China, which laid the foundation for our announcement today to expand more of a much-needed presence here. This new gateway office will provide many outstanding benefits to our faculty, students and visiting scholars,” said McRobbie, who is making his fifth visit to China since becoming IU’s president in 2007.
“At the same time that many of our students are attracted to China, IU continues to be a desired destination and partner for talented students and scholars from China. Appropriately, the IU China Office is a portal that will function in both directions, facilitating excellent access to opportunities in the country for IU faculty and students while at the same time allowing our China-based students, alumni and partners to connect directly with the university.”
The 370-square-meter facility will include a 22-seat, state-of-the-art videoconferencing facility that can be used for distance learning and professional meetings. It also will have six offices, including one that will be occupied by an Internet2 staff member, and a larger office that includes workstations for up to six students and interns.
It also has an open area for receptions, creative performances and larger seminars.
It also will be home to Beijing office of the Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business, which since 2007 has provided a more detailed understanding of China's increasing role in the world’s economy. Its director, Scott Kennedy, an associate professor of East Asian language and cultures and political science, also will serve as academic director of the IU China Office.
An opening reception for the IU China Office will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, May 23. In addition to President McRobbie, David Zaret, vice president for international affairs, and Dan Smith, president and chief executive officer of the IU Foundation, will be among those in attendance.
The IU China Office is a joint initiative of the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs, the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President at IU Bloomington and the Office of the IU Executive Vice President and Chancellor of IUPUI, with additional support from the IU Foundation.
IU opens office in Beijing, signs agreements with three top Chinese universities
BEIJING and BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie concluded an official visit to Beijing today by dedicating IU’s international gateway office for China, a new home base of university activities in the country.
Over the past two days, McRobbie also has signed new agreements with China University of Political Science and Law, Tsinghua University and Beijing Sport University and renewed IU’s primary agreement with Tsinghua University, the top-ranked university in China.
He also met with Max Baucus, the U.S. ambassador to China, and with IU alumni. This was McRobbie’s fifth visit to China since becoming IU’s president in 2007.
The IU China Office is in the China Education and Research Network building, known as CERNET, in the Tsinghua Science Park, the science park of China’s top-ranked Tsinghua University.
Since 2011, IU has been leading a National Science Foundation initiative to link the CERNET with Internet2 and other U.S. research and education networks. This has allowed researchers in both the United States and China to more easily collaborate and share research data.
Like IU’s other gateway facility near New Delhi, India, the IU China Office will support scholarly research and teaching, conferences and workshops, study abroad programs, distance learning initiatives, executive and corporate programs, and alumni events.
McRobbie said the facility will enable the university to accelerate academic initiatives and partnerships throughout China and will support a wide variety of activities.
“Indiana University has a long history of engagement in China, which laid the foundation for our announcement today to expand more of a much-needed presence here,” he said. “This new gateway office will provide many outstanding benefits to our faculty, students and visiting scholars.”
“At the same time that many of our students are attracted to China, IU continues to be a desired destination and partner for talented students and scholars from China. Appropriately, the IU China Office is a portal that will function in both directions, facilitating excellent access to opportunities in the country for IU faculty and students while at the same time allowing our China-based students, alumni and partners to connect directly with the university.”
There are now 3,520 Chinese students at IU. Additionally, 225 students from across IU studied in China last year. Chinese students account for than 40 percent of IU’s international enrollment.
The 370-square-meter IU China Office will include a 22-seat, state-of-the-art videoconferencing facility that can be used for distance learning and professional meetings. It also will have six offices, including one that will be occupied by an Internet2 staff member.
It also will be home to the Beijing office of the Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business, which since 2007 has provided a more detailed understanding of China’s increasing role in the world's economy. Its director, Scott Kennedy, an associate professor of East Asian language and cultures and political science, also will serve as academic director of the IU China Office.
On Monday, the Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business and IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis will host the first official event at the new office, a workshop featuring updates on research projects about philanthropy in China.
During the dedication ceremony, McRobbie presented the Thomas Hart Benton Medallion to IU alumnus Vincent Mo, chairman of the board and CEO of SouFun Holdings Ltd., the largest real estate information provider in China. The Benton Medallion is given to individuals who have achieved a level of distinction in public office or service and have exemplified the values of IU.
He presented the Distinguished International Service Award to IU Kelley School of Business alumnus Esmond Quek, founder and principal of Ed Bernays, a leading brand consultancy firm in Beijing. The award recognizes extraordinary contributions by individuals, groups and public or private organizations associated with IU whose actions have had a substantial impact on promoting international understanding and service.
Today’s dedication ceremony followed a whirlwind of activity with three of China’s leading universities, all based in the nation's capital.
On Thursday, McRobbie signed an agreement between IU’s Maurer School of Law and China University of Political Science and Law, establishing a new Academy for the Study of Chinese Law and Comparative Judicial Systems.
“The new academy will foster lecture and research exchanges among leading faculty at both Indiana University and China University of Political Science and Law,” said Austen L. Parrish, dean of the Maurer School of Law and the James H. Rudy Professor of Law. “The academy will be a tremendous asset, and we are proud to be partnering with one of the finest law schools in China.”
Today, McRobbie signed new agreements with China’s top-ranked Tsinghua University and with Beijing Sport University, one of the world’s elite sport universities.
Mohammad R. Torabi, founding dean and Chancellor’s Professor in the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington, was part of the IU delegation at the signing ceremony at Beijing Sport University.
Torabi said the partnership is strategically important, given Beijing Sport University’s expertise and position in sport and recreation. It is home to multiple Chinese national sport teams, allowing Beijing Sport University sport scientists to conduct extensive research related to these athletes. Like at IU, many former Beijing Sport faculty and students have gone on to become Olympic gold medalists.
“This partnership aligns with the School of Public Health-Bloomington’s innovative approach to public health,” McRobbie added. “A wealth of research has shown that sport and recreation improve quality of life, mitigate non-communicable diseases, improve mental health, promote youth development, reduce health-related workplace costs and prevent early death.”
The two schools have been affiliates since the late 1980s, and the partnership signed today will lead to further research collaboration, McRobbie said.
The IU delegation also met with leaders from Tsinghua University, the top-ranked university in China. Before the opening of the IU China Office, McRobbie signed a new agreement with Tsinghua on behalf of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
For the past year, Kennedy and Angela Bies, director of international programs at the Lilly Family School, have been working on a research and teaching initiative with support from the Henry Luce and Ford foundations. As a result of the agreement signed today, the Lilly School and Tsinghua University will create a research institute to further study the role of philanthropy and non-governmental organizations in China.
IU and Tsinghua University also renewed their primary agreement together.
Joining McRobbie on his latest visit to China were IU Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret, IU first lady Laurie Burns McRobbie and IU Foundation President and CEO Dan Smith.
After leaving China, McRobbie and the rest of the IU delegation will travel to Singapore and Hong Kong. Reports about the trip are available at a blog site, IU Goes to Asia [editors note: no longer active], as well as new website, IU Worldwide [editors note: now global.iu.edu], and through official IU social media channels on Facebook and Twitter.
IU Maurer School, China University of Political Science and Law to establish comparative law academy
BEIJING and BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—The Indiana University Maurer School of Law and China University of Political Science and Law have signed a cooperation agreement establishing a new Academy for the Study of Chinese Law and Comparative Judicial Systems.
The academy will be affiliated with China University of Political Science and Law’s Collaborative Innovation Center of Judicial Civilization.
Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie and China University of Political Science and Law Vice President Baosheng Zhang executed the agreement Thursday in Beijing, as part of a larger visit to China. McRobbie also expects to sign or renew agreements with Tsinghua University and Beijing Sport University and open a new office in Beijing.
“This agreement is exciting and important because it demonstrates the Maurer School of Law's ongoing commitment to global legal studies and the complementary interests of our two universities,” McRobbie said. He noted that China University of Political Science and Law is widely known as the leading law school in China, with more than 200,000 graduates. For more than 60 years, it has played a key part in the formation of the Chinese legal system.
McRobbie added that the agreement coincides with the opening of Indiana University’s new gateway office in Beijing and with the university’s many other cultural and economic initiatives throughout Asia.
“The new academy will foster lecture and research exchanges among leading faculty at both Indiana University and China University of Political Science and Law,” said Austen L. Parrish, dean of the Maurer School of Law and the James H. Rudy Professor of Law. “Regardless of where they practice, today’s lawyers need to understand the impact of globalization on our profession, particularly with respect to China and its growing and dynamic economy. The academy will be a tremendous asset, and we are proud to be partnering with one of the finest law schools in China.”
Parrish said he expects the academy will have immediate benefits for faculty and students at the law school and throughout the university as opportunities for study and research become available.
The agreement deepens China University of Political Science and Law’s longstanding relationship with the Maurer School of Law, a relationship that began in the mid-1990s. In addition to the new academy, CUPL offers a one-semester exchange program to Maurer students at either of its two Beijing campuses. The academy will be officially unveiled in a ceremony in Bloomington in October 2014.
China University of Political Science and Law, which recently celebrated its 60th anniversary, is a “Project 211” university, a government honor bestowed upon China’s leading institutions of higher education. It has educated and trained more than 200,000 graduates and has taken part in nearly all national legislation activities since the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The partnership with China University of Political Science and Law is one of several between the Maurer School and international partners, including:
- Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany
- Escuela Superior de Administración y Derecho de Empresa in Barcelona, Spain
- Fundação Getúlio Vargas (Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo) in Brazil
- Jagellonian University and University of Warsaw in Poland
- O.P. Jindal Global Law School in New Delhi, India
- Peking University of Transnational Law in China
- Trinity College Dublin School of Law in Ireland
- University of Auckland in New Zealand
- University of Hong Kong in China
- Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) in Paris, France
The law school’s commitment to preparing students for a globalized profession includes programs through its Center on the Global Legal Profession, graduate legal studies for international students and advising emerging democracies on constitutional design.
The announcement was part of an IU delegation’s 15-day trip to five Asian countries. Joining McRobbie on the trip are IU vice president for international affairs David Zaret; IU first lady Laurie Burns McRobbie, and IU Foundation president and CEO Dan Smith.
IUPUI researcher to host international conference exploring China’s ancient links to Africa
INDIANAPOLIS—Ian McIntosh, associate director of the Confucius Institute in Indianapolis and director of international partnerships at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, has been awarded a $17,800 grant from the Confucius Institute Headquarters Division of Sinology and China Studies to host a conference, “Exploring China's Ancient Links to Africa.”
The conference will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in October.
It will be attended by some of the world's leading archaeologists in this field, including Sada Mire, director of antiquities in Somaliland, Felix Chami of Dar es Salaam University, Tanzania, and Qin Dashu of Peking University, China. IUPUI’s strategic partner in China, Sun Yat-sen University, will be represented by two leading archaeologists, professors Zhu Tiequan and Wensuo Liu.
“This conference will help to shed light on this early movement of peoples, especially Chinese navigators and traders, and their relationship with African merchants, especially from the Axumite Empire,” McIntosh said.
An Australian anthropologist, McIntosh is a co-founder of the Past Masters, an international team of heritage specialists, historians, anthropologists and archaeologists. The Past Masters received widespread media attention with their expedition to uncover the significance of medieval African coins from the long-abandoned Swahili settlement of Kilwa discovered in Tanzania on a remote island in northern Australia.
Participants at the conference will speak to connections between China and Africa, as far back as the Han Dynasty in the first century of the Common Era. Chinese coin and pottery finds from along the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa and also in East Africa, dating to the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, will also be discussed.
For more information, contact McIntosh at imcintos@iupui.edu.
IU2U program prepares international students for transition to IU Bloomington
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—Indiana University Bloomington students, staff, faculty and administrators traveled to Beijing, China, this week to help new students become acclimated to the campus and community before they arrive in August.
The program, IU2U, fosters student success by offering international students the opportunity to prepare for the academics, culture and engagement opportunities they will find at IU Bloomington. IU will hold two one-day sessions in Beijing on July 10 and 12, with workshops for both students and parents.
While students attend workshops on IU and student culture, academic and personal goals, and curricular planning and course selection, their parents are invited to attend workshops on helping from home and education in the United States. IU staff and current undergraduate students will lead sessions.
“IU2U will be an invaluable opportunity to new international students as they prepare for academics and student life, and it is also a high-impact cultural and leadership experience for current undergraduate students at IU Bloomington,” said Dennis Groth, vice provost for undergraduate education. “This program will continue to develop the university’s global network that continues to grow with President Michael A. McRobbie’s vision and new initiatives in China and around the world.”
When students from Beijing arrive in Bloomington in August for Welcome Week and orientation, they will have an established group of peer mentors awaiting them. The undergraduate students who travel to Beijing will reconnect with IU2U participants in the fall.
Representatives from the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of International Services, and the Career Development Center, along with eight students from various disciplines, will comprise the IU2U team.
The Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Indiana University Bloomington facilitates a broad range of activities that promote innovation and enrichment in the curriculum and leads campus-wide programs and initiatives in support of outstanding academic experiences for all undergraduates.
IU Honors Program in Foreign Languages successfully launches inaugural program in China
Viewpoints IU Inc.
Guest post courtesy of Alicia Swihart of the IU Honors Program in Foreign Languages:
Bright and early on Saturday, June 7, nine Indiana high school students departed for Hangzhou, China, with Stephanie Goetz, managing director of the Indiana University Honors Program in Foreign Languages.
Coming from several of the top schools in Indiana, including Carmel High School, North Central High School in Indianapolis, Culver Academy, Southport High School and Zionsville Community High School, the students made up the inaugural group for the program’s first site in Asia.
The students returned to Indianapolis after about five weeks with a greater understanding of the Chinese language and culture, as well as a stronger sense of self.
“Establishing a program in China has been the culmination of a project years in the making. We are proud of our first-ever Hangzhou cohort and all they managed to achieve during their five week stay in China,” said Goetz. “We cannot imagine sending a more qualified group of students to inaugurate the Program in Asia.”
Students spent five weeks studying the Chinese language in the classroom with two graduate instructors from IU’s Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at No. 14 high school in Hangzhou.
When students weren’t in class learning about communication, language usage and integrated Chinese from their certified Chinese as a second language teachers, they engaged in activities taught by the high school’s staff members, such as Tai Chi morning exercises, writing Chinese characters in calligraphy and learning how to play a Chinese instrument, hulusi.
Students in the IU program lived with host families in Hangzhou during their five-week stay. They explored Hangzhou with host families and became assimilated to the culture through shopping for groceries, visiting extended host family members and spending time with their new friends.
Throughout the program, students—accompanied by their instructors—went on excursions to explore various other sites and territories in China, including trips to neighboring Suzhou, as well as Shanghai and the country’s capital, Beijing.
Throughout the course of the program, students prepared a farewell show for their host families and administrators at No. 14 high school to thank them for being so welcoming.
Officials from the Foreign Affairs Department of Zhejiang Province also attended the farewell show, as they played a pivotal role in the development of the IU Honors Program in Foreign Languages in Hangzhou.
Goetz first met with Foreign Affairs officials on her site visit to Hangzhou in November 2012 and introduced her to No. 14 high school. Goetz said the collaboration with the school came naturally.
“We’re grateful for our colleagues at FAD for introducing our program to No. 14,” she said. “Given No. 14 is a key school at the provincial level, we knew that their standards and ours would align.”
With the successful completion of its first program in Hangzhou under its belt, the IU program looks forward to sending larger cohorts to China in coming years.
“I learned a lot about Chinese culture and got a lot out of the experience. Also, as this was the first year in Hangzhou, I think we demonstrated admirably that the program can be successful in China,” said Rachel Krieger, a student at Carmel High School and a participant in the program in Hangzhou.
Public Health student Michael Buening rises to the challenge during summer in China
Junior Michael Buening recently returned from his study abroad trip to China with more than the usual souvenirs from an international experience. He brought back something unique—a research partner.
Buening, a health services management major in the Fairbanks School of Public Health, traveled to Beijing and Guangzhou for three weeks—via a study abroad trip organized by Wan-Ning Bao, of the department of sociology in the School of Liberal Arts—while taking a course on a sociological study of China. A key course component then matched IUPUI students like Buening with a Chinese student from Sun Yat-sen University to complete an independent field study.
Together, Buening and Wanyi Huang, his research partner, began a comparative study of health insurance in China and the U.S. Their research continued when Wanyi traveled back to the U.S. with Buening to spend three weeks at IUPUI.
Despite differences in culture and background, Buening and Wanyi bonded quickly as they discovered a new city and delved into their research topic: health insurance. Buening and Huang found that social policy and health care were big topics in China, just as in the US.
“Being that I am a health services management major, I naturally wanted to dive into the health care system. Wanyi is interested in social work and is a graduate student in social work at Sun Yat-sen University. Access to medical insurance for the vulnerable populations dealt with both of our interests,” Buening said.
The research duo mainly focused on how migrants in China and the U.S. navigate their respective health care systems. Buening was surprised to learn that even under China’s socialized insurance, not everyone qualifies for coverage.
The U.S. and China may manage their health care systems differently, but Buening and Huang’s research demonstrated that migrant communities in both countries consistently lack access to health coverage, at a detriment to the society as a whole. “Insurance is what makes people as a community safe and disease free. To receive benefits, you have to be insured,” Huang said.
A distinctive aspect of study abroad through IUPUI is its connection to the RISE Challenge, an initiative focused on increasing undergraduate student participation in research, international, service and experiential learning options.
Instead of mandating the fulfillment of certain standards, RISE acts as a challenge to schools and departments to create unique educational experiences for students that build towards IUPUI’s mission of being a civically engaged urban research university.
Based on this initiative, IUPUI students worked with Chinese students at Sun Yat-Sen University to conduct an independent field study and comparative analysis in Guangzhou and Indianapolis on a sociological topic such as family, the medical system, migration, etc.
By way of RISE’s focus on creating strong community partnerships internationally through the expansion of scholarly and professional networks, Sun Yat-Sen University students made the trip to Indianapolis to finish out the course. Huang found beauty in Indianapolis’ greenery and significantly smaller population.
RISE’s inclusion of the international experience is demonstrative of a university dedicated to providing students with a unique undergraduate experience that will be individually transformative but also applicable in students’ careers and graduate education.
“I think that I am building more cultural awareness and acceptance of things different than what I am used to. I am not afraid of the unknown as much as I used to be. I believe this to be a useful skill,” Buening said.
With the increasing interdependency between nations around the world, knowledge and understanding of other cultures is an imperative aspect of higher education. Through IUPUI’s RISE Challenge, study abroad students are not only witness to different cultures—they directly participate in them and come to apply an international perspective to their academic work.
“I definitely believe that this program has given me a lot that is applicable in my professional endeavors. In the ever growing diversity of America, being able to accept another culture is becoming a must have skill for any organization” Buening said.
After dedicating their summer to learning more about each other’s culture and society, Buening and Huang have a simple piece of advice for prospective IUPUI study abroad students: be open-minded and just do it.
China’s evolving philanthropy sector is focus of two-day summit in Indianapolis
INDIANAPOLIS—Philanthropists, scholars and business people from around the world are gathering Friday and Saturday in Indianapolis for a summit on the present and future role of philanthropy in one of the world’s most rapidly growing economies, China.
The academic conference, at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis’ Hine Hall, attracted so much interest that registration had to be closed. Organizers are hoping to eventually present some of the sessions online.
Scott Kennedy, director of the Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business at IU Bloomington, said he was surprised by public interest in the topic. More often, he sees Americans’ interest in China driven by concerns over its growing military and economic influence.
“I thought there would be less interest in social activism in China and what could be done to make the country a better place, but obviously I was wrong,” said Kennedy, whose center is based within the School of Global and International Studies. “There are people who are concerned about the environment, health care and a lot of other issues that the Chinese government can’t solve on its own.”
“It just so turns out that America is the home of the global philanthropic movement,” he added. “Americans, both individually and through organizations, contribute a lot to our country and have been quite involved in China as well.”
Conference organizers had planned for about 75 people, but nearly twice as many—about 140—are registered for the China Philanthropy Summit.
The conference highlights a three-year Initiative on Philanthropy in China funded by the Henry Luce Foundation and the Ford Foundation, jointly carried out by the IU Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business and the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
“We are pleased to welcome our distinguished colleagues from China and U.S. institutions, both those presenting and those learning along with us as attendees,” said Gene Tempel, founding dean of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
“This is an exciting time in China and in the world of philanthropy. The summit is a continuation of our work to learn from and learn with our Chinese colleagues as we work together to strengthen and inform philanthropy in both countries,” Tempel said.
Researchers from several leading U.S. and Chinese universities and institutions, including the University of Wisconsin, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Maryland, Tsinghua University and Sun Yat-Sen University, will present the findings from 11 research projects associated with the initiative.
In addition, panels of both young and seasoned practitioners from China’s philanthropic community will participate in a variety of panels. Among them will be Yang Peng, former president of the Shenzhen-based One Foundation, and Holly Chang, founder and president of the Beijing-based Golden Bridges Foundation. The co-founders of the Hong Kong-based organization Philanthropy in Motion also are participating.
Today in China, about 3,000 foundations and non-governmental organizations are rapidly expanding activities. Corporate social responsibility programs are proliferating and social enterprises are taking root. A substantial community of experts and activists with strong ties with the global philanthropic community has become increasingly active.
Although China’s economic development path has been very successful, a growing gap between the extent of problems facing society and the government’s ability to address them has developed, said Angela Bies, endowed associate professor of global philanthropy and nonprofit leadership at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy. Philanthropic activity could be a key way to fill that gap.
“China’s contemporary philanthropic sector is at a pivotal juncture where societal needs are complex and pressing,” Bies said. “And while philanthropic capacity is immense and social innovation and experimentation exciting, the institutional environment and organizational capacity for philanthropy remain emergent and in flux. In this regard, it is vital for scholars and practitioners to come together and jointly reflect on these issues.”
The Initiative on Philanthropy in China was announced last summer, and since then there have been nearly a dozen research projects and a workshop and conferences in China. Last spring, a new course on philanthropy in China was offered at IU Bloomington and IUPUI. Three students received internships in China, working with Cummins Inc., Mercy Corps and China Development Brief.
One highlight of the China Philanthropy Summit will be the conceptual presentation of “My Philanthropic Story,” a bilingual, user-driven website that will go live early next year. The site will be dedicated to promoting philanthropy in China through the personal stories of givers and recipients.
“It will be a way to promote philanthropy, not through academic research like the kinds we're going to see this week, but through the voices of average people, which we think will be more powerful,” Kennedy said.
A mix of social media and connections from other key websites, combined with support from within the philanthropic sector in China, will draw attention to “My Philanthropic Story.”
Editors: As previously mentioned, registration for the conference is closed, but media are welcome. Contact George Vlahakis at IU Communications or Adriene Davis Kalugyer of the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy to arrange for interviews.
Related Links
IUPUI launches international recruitment initiative leveraging China relationships with Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS—The Office of International Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis is leveraging Indiana’s strong connections with a region just south of Shanghai, China, to increase the number of Chinese students enrolling at IUPUI.
Zhejiang Province is a sister state to Indiana, a relationship held for more than 25 years, and Indianapolis is a sister city to Hangzhou, Zhejiang’s capital. Hangzhou is the fourth largest metropolitan area in China with over 21 million people.
The University Preparatory Program for high school students in Zhejiang will prepare a cohort of students to enroll at IUPUI, through collaboration with the International Exchange Center, Zhejiang Foreign Services Corp., an entity funded and run by the Zhejiang provincial government to promote exchange and programs in foreign affairs, education and culture.
Under the umbrella of the Zhejiang-Indiana sister-state exchange, the program aims to enroll an annual class of 35 recent high school graduates from Zhejiang Province as freshmen at IUPUI. Student may apply for fall 2015, and the first full class would be enrolled at IUPUI in fall 2016.
An IUPUI delegation joined up with representatives of the Zhejiang Foreign Affairs Ministry and members of the Indianapolis-Hangzhou Sister City Committee attending the Oct. 15 to 18 Hangzhou International Sister City Mayor’s Conference to celebrate the formal program launch.
“This program will continue to strengthen IUPUI’s strong relationships to Zhejiang and increase enrollment from the region,” said vice chancellor for external affairs Amy Warner, who led the IUPUI delegation. “It’s another example of our growing global engagement that enriches our city, our state and beyond.”
Josh Zhang, general manager for the International Exchange Center, Zhejiang Foreign Services Corp., said, “The IEC will provide the students with necessary assistance on intensive English and cultural training to help them fully prepare for academic and social success at IUPUI. We are confident that this meaningful program will be a highlight of the Indiana-Zhejiang sister-state exchange.”
The University Preparatory Program will target Grades 9 through 12 to form four freshman classes aiming for enrollment from fall 2015 through 2018. IUPUI representatives will annually travel to Zhejiang to present lectures and share information with each class of incoming students.
More than 400 students from China enrolled at IUPUI in fall 2014, the second largest sending country after India. Thirty of those students are from Zhejiang at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Increasing the number of students from China is a part of IUPUI’s overall enrollment growth strategy of increasing international student enrollment to 8 percent of the total student population by 2020.
For further program information, contact Jan Aycock, director of international admissions at IUPUI [editor: no longer contact].
IURTC bolsters ties with China, explores future collaboration
INDIANAPOLIS—Two delegates from the Indiana University Research and Technology Corp. recently visited the Chinese cities of Beijing and Xi’an to explore future partnerships in technology transfer and introducing startup companies to the Chinese market.
The five-day visit for Marie Kerbeshian and Jeremy Schieler began Nov. 3 in Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province in the center of China’s Guanzhong Plain. Home to nearly 8.5 million people, Xi’an is one of China’s oldest cities and served as a starting point of the Silk Road, a network of ancient trade routes linking China with the West.
“Despite its much larger size, Xi’an is a lot like Indianapolis,” said Kerbeshian, IURTC’s vice president of technology commercialization. “As in the U.S., local governments in Xi’an and throughout the province are looking to recruit people to the area to boost economic development.”
At the invitation of the Shaanxi Administration of Foreign Affairs, Kerbeshian and Schieler participated in more than 12 hours of lectures and workshops during the 2014 China-U.S. University Technology Transfer and Partnering Forum in Xi’an. The forum, Nov. 3 to 5, was the first of its kind in China.
One session covered how to use assets within the province’s universities to bring their research innovations to the public, Kerbeshian said. Schieler, who is director of technology commercialization for Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, also briefed conference attendees on three medical technologies being developed by IU.
One of their hosts in Xi’an was Xin Bu, a former researcher at Eli Lilly and Co. and current president of Xi’an Sailest Biomedical Investment Consulting Co., who has seen what IURTC is doing in terms of technology transfer, Kerbeshian said. He also has ties to Xi’an, having earned his M.S. and M.D. degrees from the Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Medicine.
“Dr. Bu has been working to initiate technology transfer programs in China and he recommended that the local Chinese government invite us to participate in a training workshop in 2013 as well as the forum in 2014,” Kerbeshian said. “He wants to promote technology transfer partnerships between U.S. universities and China hopes to accelerate technology innovation and economic growth through technology transfer. These goals align with IURTC’s as well.”
While in Xi’an, Kerbeshian and Schieler also met with Yuecheng Yang, the deputy director general of high-tech industry development centers for China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, and Yifei Wu, the vice president of the Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group, as well as other local government officers and investors.
After the conference, Kerbeshian and Schieler spent Nov. 6 and 7 in Beijing, where they toured IU’s international gateway office in China.
Dedicated by IU President Michael A. McRobbie in May, it is the university’s second such office, joining a similar gateway near New Delhi, India, that opened in February 2013.
“This is a major initiative for IU,” Kerbeshian said. “Basically these are places where people can connect with everything IU has going on in that country. It can involve faculty research. IU students can use these centers for research and conferences, and Chinese students can learn more about the U.S.”
With the help of the IU China Office, Kerbeshian and Schieler also met representatives of the China Technology Exchange, a technology transaction agency jointly established by Beijing’s municipal government, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology and its State Intellectual Property Office.
“As a result, CTEX and IURTC are exploring further partnerships toward introducing startup companies into the Chinese market,” Kerbeshian said. “We are also interested in two-party training and education with the tech community in China.”
IURTC is a not-for-profit agency that helps IU faculty and researchers realize the commercial potential of their discoveries. Since 1997, IURTC’s university clients have accounted for more than 2,800 inventions, nearly 1,900 patent applications and 77 startup companies. IURTC is part of the Innovate Indiana initiative, which engages strategic partners to leverage and advance IU’s intellectual resources and expertise, enhance Indiana’s economic growth and contribute to the overall quality of life for Hoosiers.
School of Public Health-Bloomington faculty participate in IU Week in Beijing
Five Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington faculty members spoke recently about links between public health, sports, and recreation during “IU Week”, a series of lectures hosted by Beijing Sport University (BSU) in China.
Beijing Sport University (BSU) has partnered with the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington since 1989 on faculty and student exchange. BSU is one of the world’s elite sport-centered universities, with athletes having won more than 30 gold medals, 16 silver medals and nine bronze medals in the past four Olympic Games alone.
The weeklong visit to Beijing by IU School of Public Health-Bloomington faculty members underscored the innovative ways the partners link public health, sport, and recreation. IU delegates to BSU highlighted connections across these disciplines through lectures to BSU students:
- Dr. Lynn Jamieson (Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies) presented on the role of recreation and sport in healthy communities.
- Dr. Katie Grove (Department of Kinesiology) lectured on assessment and diagnosis of shoulder impingement syndrome in the field of athletic training.
- Dr. Hsien-Chang Lin (Department of Applied Health Science) spoke about multidisciplinary and translational research methods that may be used to bridge the gaps between sport and health.
- Dr. Andrea Chomistek (Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics) lectured on physical activity and its relationship to cardiovascular and chronic disease.
- Dr. Kan Shao (Department of Environmental Health) discussed human health risk assessment, which can be applied to evaluate health risks faced by athletes.
“IU Week at BSU complements the broad strategy to improving public health that is applied by the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington,” noted Dr. Jamieson, who served as lead delegate for the group.
Research has shown that sport and recreation enhance quality of life, mitigate non-communicable diseases, improve mental health, promote youth development, reduce health-related workplace costs and help prevent early death. Delegates discussed possibilities for further faculty and student collaboration between BSU and IU on these and other research topics.
While in Beijing, IU delegates also had the opportunity to visit the newly-opened IU China Office. The 3,900 sq ft suite, located in Beijing’s Tsinghua Science Park, opened in May 2014, enabling IU to accelerate academic activities and partnerships throughout China and support a wide variety of teaching, research, and outreach activities. The office also enhances IU’s highly regarded academic expertise on China and East Asia. Recent and upcoming events include: a “China Philanthropy Workshop” hosted by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the College of Arts & Sciences; “IU2U” orientation for new IU students and their families; and “China in the Middle East”—a conference hosted by the Turkish Studies Program.
Successful Chinese research center at IU transitioning into a think tank
About halfway through her career as an Indiana University professor, Joyce Yanyun Man founded and successfully led a “think tank” in Beijing.
From 2007 to 2013, while on leave from IU’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Man was founding director of the Peking University Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy.
An expert in public finance and policy analysis, Man frequently consulted with Chinese high-level officials, including one who wanted to know more about the center’s research about local debt.
Man returned to IU in January 2014 for family reasons, but she hopes to soon replicate her experience with Peking University-Lincoln Institute Center here in Bloomington.
At the beginning of the year, Man, who originally is from Nanjing, China, succeeded Scott Kennedy as director of IU’s Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business, based in IU’s School of Global and International Studies.
Kennedy, who directed the for eight years, is on a leave of absence from IU and serves as deputy director of the Freeman Chair in China Studies and director of the Project on Chinese Business and Political Economy, both at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
Need for a non-partisan research perspectives on China
In looking at the future of the Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business, Man is looking to reestablish it as a “university-based” think tank on China.
While many China experts are based in Washington, at places such as the World Bank and the Brookings Institution, she said many Chinese view these organizations as “having a hidden agenda” or “too political.”
“Based on my experience, if a group of scholars gets together and does the research and talks about policy issues, it’s more objective. It’s easier for them to engage with them in conversation … There is no hidden agenda in university-based research,” said Man, who continues to be a professor of economics Peking University’s College of Urban and Environmental Sciences.
“There’s a space in China for the non-partisan, non-identified academic to have a say on policy issues as long as they can establish themselves as objective,” added Roy Hooper, assistant director of the center.
That was the pattern for Man’s previous project center at Peking University. It focused on apolitical, data-driven, evidence-based faculty research about land and fiscal policy that was seen as being “more objective.” It also provided training for junior faculty members, arranged for visiting international scholars, and provided funding for faculty research and student fellowships.
A broader scope
Political science research will continue to be a part of what the Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business offers. But Man intends to broaden its scope and involve more faculty from SGIS, SPEA, the Kelley School of Business, the Media School, the IU Maurer School of Law and the IU School of Education.
Additionally, Faculty from IUPUI will be invited to participate, along with researchers at partner schools in China and scholars at other American universities.
“My vision is for the center to be based upon faculty members’ interests within the IU community,” she said. “But I also think we should go beyond IU, and we’re thinking about inviting some nonresident visiting faculty members to be associated with us.”
IU faculty members already affiliated with the center have indicated that they’d like to focus more on contemporary social issues and policies.
For example, Emily Metzgar, an associate professor in the Media School, studies the pivot between social media and public diplomacy. Ethan Michelson, an associate professor of sociology, East Asian languages and law, researches the legal profession in China.
The center continues to carry out an array of activities and initiatives, including projects on philanthropy in China. It hosts events the new IU China Gateway Office in Beijing, where Man serves as academic director (Take a look at the video below from the dedication ceremony). Fifteen IU faculty members serve as senior associates for the center, along with a 12-member outside advisory board.
This school year and in partnership with the Kelley School’s Institute for International Business, Zhang Xingxiang has been the practitioner-in-residence. Zhang worked for General Electric (China) for the past decade and, before that, with the State Council’s Legislative Affairs Office. An attorney, he was responsible for government affairs and legal issues at GE (China), and most recently led the legal team for the company’s joint venture with the State Power Grid, Yingda International Leasing Co.
The center will wrap up its activities this school year with a series of lectures in April about environmental issues, urban housing and anti-trust law in China and a forum looking at Sino-Russian relations.
The center is organizing a couple of conferences in China this summer, but more about that later.
IU2U program expands to reach more incoming international students and families
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—The IU2U program, a collaborative effort at Indiana University Bloomington that introduces incoming international students to life at IU, will expand to include visits to India, South Korea and an additional location in China.
The program launched in 2014 with sessions in Beijing, China, and will include a stop in Shanghai this year.
IU2U fosters student success by offering international students the opportunity to prepare for the academics, culture and engagement opportunities they will find at IU Bloomington. Currently, 251 students and 200 parents have registered to participate in this year’s session. The figures represent more than 30 percent of all undergraduate international students starting at IU this fall.
While students attend workshops to learn about student culture, setting academic and personal goals, curricular planning and course selection, their parents are invited to attend workshops on helping from home and education in the U.S. IU staff and current undergraduate students will lead sessions.
“IU2U builds a global connection for the newest international students, current undergraduate students, faculty and staff that strengthens intercultural understanding and relationships,” said Dennis Groth, vice provost for undergraduate education at IU Bloomington. “Through this program, we are engaging international students with the campus before they arrive, establishing a strong foundation for their success at IU.”
Workshops will take place in Beijing on June 13, Shanghai on June 16, Delhi on June 17 and Seoul on June 20. New this year, each IU2U session will culminate with an alumni reception connecting alumni in China, India and South Korea with the IU freshmen who are attending workshops.
The current undergraduate students who participate in IU2U will reconnect with the new international participants in the fall when they return for Welcome Week and orientation.
IU2U is a collaboration between the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Inclusion and Diversity, the Office of the Vice President for International Services, the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education, the Office of the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, the IU Alumni Association, the IU Foundation, the Kelley School of Business and the College of Arts and Sciences.
For more information about IU2U and the team of students traveling for this year’s workshops, visit the IU2U website. A video about last year’s inaugural trip is available online.
The Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Indiana University Bloomington facilitates a broad range of activities that promote innovation and enrichment in the curriculum and leads campus-wide programs and initiatives in support of outstanding academic experiences for all undergraduates.
Lieutenant governor, state delegation visit Indiana University China Office
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—The Indiana University China Office in Beijing received a visit today from an Indiana delegation led by Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann, highlighting ways in which the university’s global engagement will serve the people of Indiana.
Idalene “Idie” Kesner, dean of the IU Kelley School of Business and the Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management, hosted the meeting, which included Indiana government and agriculture representatives who are on a 10-day tour of China to establish stronger relationships and promote trade.
“IU’s gateway offices provide resources that can be as useful to Hoosier business and government interests as they are to education and research,” Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret said. “The lieutenant governor’s visit underscores collaborative opportunities and the value-added impact the IU gateway initiative can have for all Indiana residents.”
Indiana University opened its China Office in 2014. The office serves as a home base for university activities, including partnerships with a growing network of leading Asian universities and engagement with IU alumni and with prospective students and their families.
Steven Yin, manager of the IU China Office, gave the lieutenant governor a tour of the office, explained its mission and described events and programs that have taken place there. He greeted the delegation on behalf of Zaret and IU President Michael A. McRobbie and added that the China Office would be available as a venue for advancing the state’s interests.
Kesner answered questions from the delegation about the Kelley School of Business and its activities and engagement in China and elsewhere around the globe.
“We look forward to future collaborations between the visiting delegates, the Kelley School and the broader IU community,” Kesner said. “There are many potential opportunities to link Indiana companies with China, and we are happy to facilitate the exploration of those opportunities. We also welcome visiting Indiana business executives to use the gateway office in Beijing as they explore business opportunities in China."
Ellspermann and the 18-member state delegation arrived in China on June 24 and will depart for Indiana on Friday. The group visited and met with officials in Hangzhou, Chengdu, Tianjin and Beijing and other cities with a focus on expanding the variety and volume of Indiana agricultural products exported to newly developing consumer markets in China.
The delegation also celebrated Indiana’s sister-state relationship with Zhejiang Province and attended the Beijing Food Exposition, where an Indiana booth showcased Hoosier-grown products. Along with Ellspermann, participants include officials with the state Department of Agriculture and Office of Community and Rural Affairs and representatives of agricultural businesses and organizations.
The IU China Office is part of the Indiana University Global Gateway Network, which also includes university gateway offices in India and Germany.
Indiana University to Broadcast All IU Men’s Basketball Home Games in Mandarin
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—IU Athletics today announced that all 19 home men’s basketball games will be broadcast in Mandarin on the university’s official athletics website, IUHoosiers.com, making Indiana University the first institution in the country to broadcast college basketball games in Mandarin. These broadcasts can be accessed for free on the IU Athletics website anywhere in the world.
IU students who speak fluent Mandarin will provide the play-by-play and color commentary for the games, and will be trained through the university’s Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology. IU athletics has received strong student interest in announcing the games and expects to field multiple two-person announcing teams for the season.
“Basketball is the most popular sport in China and broadcasting IU men’s basketball games in Mandarin will bring one of America’s most storied and famous basketball programs to a country of more than 1.3 billion people in their native language,” said IU President Michael A. McRobbie. “It also will help cement our relationships with thousands of our Chinese students and alumni, and ensure they remain strongly connected to Indiana University”.
Approximately 3,000 students from China attend IU Bloomington, representing the largest single group of international students on campus. IU also has about 4,450 Chinese alumni around the world.
“Every day we strive to be integrated with our university and charge our coaches, staff and students to be part of something bigger than ourselves,” said IU Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass. “In the noble spirit of Herman B Wells’ commitment to internationalism, this effort led by President McRobbie is a remarkable opportunity for students to bring the excitement of IU basketball to the largest group of international students on campus and to thousands of Chinese alumni globally.”
With assistance from the IU Office of International Services and IU faculty from the East Asian Languages and Cultures department in the College of Arts and Sciences, student broadcasters were recruited by the Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology. More than 20 students fluent in Mandarin have signed up to be commentators. Through the Cuban Center, broadcast professionals will train and prepare the students to provide play-by-play and color commentary for games.
“We cannot thank the Office of International Services and the EALC faculty enough for their help in this process,” said Associate Athletic Director Jeremy Gray. “The response from Mandarin speaking students wanting to get involved in this project has been overwhelming. The Cuban Center is proud to help make IU the first in the nation to stream college basketball games in Mandarin.”
The broadcast streams on IUHoosiers.com can be accessed here. The streams are free and broadcast information will be distributed throughout the season on the men’s basketball schedule page, official game notes, and on IU basketball’s official Twitter account @IndianaMBB.
IU men’s basketball opens the season at Assembly Hall with an exhibition game against Ottawa on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 7:00 p.m.
Indiana University’s Kelley and Alliance Manchester business schools announce joint MBA program
MANCHESTER, England, and BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and Alliance Manchester Business School in the United Kingdom announced that they are launching a joint MBA program leading to degrees from both institutions.
The joint Kelley-Manchester Global MBA brings together two of the world’s leading business schools, with a combined legacy of nearly 150 years of innovation in business and management education.
Together, they will provide students with professional development and a global literacy that enables them to succeed in today’s complex and interconnected business world.
Deans of both business schools said the new program will offer students flexibility from the top online MBA program in the United States and a top 40 global school with centers all over the globe. A unique feature is a residential component in Washington, D.C., during the fall term in the second year.
“Speaking on behalf of our faculty, the Kelley School of Business looks forward to working with our colleagues at Manchester to provide students in this program with the skills needed to lead a multi-national enterprise and provide them with real career momentum,” said Idalene Kesner, the school’s dean and the Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management.
“This is another exciting international partnership for Alliance MBS as we strengthen our global offer,” added professor Fiona Devine, head of Alliance Manchester Business School. “Together with Kelley School of Business, we will continue to build on our history of delivering world-class research-led business education through innovative programs that stretch and prepare our MBAs to meet their career ambitions.”
Alliance Manchester Business School recently benefited from a landmark donation from Lord Alliance of Manchester that will be invested in its new campus development in the city and driving forward its ambitious research agenda. Alliance Manchester is the U.K.’s largest campus-based business school. It has a long tradition of global business education with centers in Dubai, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sao Paolo.
Building on a nearly century-long foundation, IU’s Kelley School offers a curriculum built on personal development, teamwork, and experiential learning with an emphasis on global and social responsibility. In 1999, its Kelley Direct program became the first online MBA offered by a top-ranked business school. Today, it consistently ranks No. 1 or No. 2 among online graduate programs and serves as a model for similar programs.
The same faculty who teach in the schools’ other highly regarded graduate programs will teach courses to students in the Kelley-Manchester Global MBA degree program. Students will receive personalized and insightful mentoring and feedback from career coaches, advisors and professors.
While much of the coursework will be delivered online, students will work on site with each other at both the Kelley School and at Alliance Manchester campuses.
Admissions requirements are the same as for all other Kelley and Alliance Manchester graduate programs -- in-residence and online. The program also offers flexibility and access to the schools’ alumni networks, which include more than 100,000 Kelley graduates. Cost of the program is $65,000.
About Alliance Manchester Business School
Alliance Manchester Business School was established in 1965 as one of the U.K.’s first two business schools. A full-service business school, Alliance MBS provides industry-focused education to undergraduates, postgraduates and executives. Its influential research impacts business locally, nationally and internationally. In 2014 the Research Excellence Framework ranked the school second in the U.K. for research power.
IU’s China Gateway office connects students with employers in Shanghai and Beijing
Since opening two years ago, Indiana University’s global gateway office in Beijing has actively supported Hoosier academic activities and partnerships across China and has met the needs of a rapidly expanding number of IU alumni there.
Indiana University is one of six universities that created a career fair for Chinese students and graduates seeking job opportunities with top firms in China. The China Gateway office was instrumental in organizing the event in downtown Shanghai on Saturday.
A similar event will take place this Saturday in Beijing at the China World Hotel.
About 65 companies participated in the Shanghai career fair at the China Financial Information Center, along with about 1,200 up-and-coming Chinese professionals. They included about 120 students who have been studying at IU across different majors and degree programs.
“It was also great to see that IU alumni staffed the desks of three companies there — Decathlon, JPMorgan and GE,” said Steven Yin, office manager for the IU China Gateway.
Before Saturday’s fair began, IU participated in a half-day conference on the topic of international career development for Chinese returning from overseas. It was attended by most of the companies and all the host universities. Yin said it was a great opportunity for IU to present to these leading Chinese employers, who included many familiar multinational companies, what its presence in the country can offer.
“They provided us valuable feedback on hiring Chinese students with overseas degrees and how our students can better prepare for the job market in China,” said Yin, who previously served as the deputy director of the EducationUSA China program at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
Participants included familiar brands such as Apple, AMD, Bloomberg, BP, Cargill, Citrix, eBay, GE, PayPal, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, as well as a number of top Chinese companies, such as HILTI and WuXi AppTec.
Yin was joined by Jing Han, a career coach at IU’s Kelley School of Business who works closely with the international student population. Before the Shanghai career fair, 14 recent graduates and students also visited GE China’s huge industrial park campus in Shanghai.
“We were given a very detailed introduction to GE’s operation in China and what career development opportunities students shall expect working for GE,” Yin said, adding that 2013 Kelley alumnus Yaonan Pan played a pivotal role in setting up the visit.
One of the students met with the top human resources manager during the visit.
“Yaonan also set up meetings for us with human resources in GE’s finance department and with campus relations, to discuss GE China’s future recruitment at IU. He plays a tremendous role in connecting GE China and IU, which demonstrates again the importance of maintaining strong overseas alumni relationships,” Han said.
“We also want to give a big ‘thank you’ to the Indiana University Chinese Student and Scholar Association and the Kelley Chinese Business Association. We really appreciate their continued support in promoting and coordinating the events on campus and in China,” Han added.
Glory Geng, a Kelley School of Business student who attended both the Shanghai career fair and GE visit, said those activities exposed him to the vast job market and diverse job opportunities targeting overseas returnees in China. He was once lost about his post-graduation plan, but interactions with employers and alumni have helped him better understand the advantages of beginning a career in China and confirmed his plans to go back after getting his business degree.
Ryan Liu, vice president of career development and alumni at the IU Chinese Student and Scholar Association and also a Kelley School student, said the career fairs will strengthen relationships between current students and international alumni and hopes these events can become routine for IU.
Ally Batten, IU director of international gateway offices, which also include those in India and Germany, also offered appreciation for all the hard work being done on behalf of IU students.
“Steven and Jing deserve much credit for coordinating and generating interest in this event. Our global gateway offices are a resource for the entire IU community — students, faculty and alumni — and this initiative really shows the benefit of having a presence on the ground in China. Without the gateway office, events like this would not be possible,” he said.
IU delegation returns after successful trip to South Korea and China
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University recently concluded a successful weeklong trip to South Korea and China, where IU President Michael A. McRobbie led efforts to create new intercultural and international opportunities for IU students and faculty and met with alumni and government officials in support of the university’s international engagement.
In China, McRobbie signed a cooperation agreement between the IU School of Education and the Institute of International and Comparative Education at Beijing Normal University, formalizing a decade-long partnership between IU and one of China’s oldest and most highly respected universities. He also signed an agreement between Tsinghua University, China’s top-ranked university, and the School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, which will result in joint research on autonomous cars.
In South Korea, McRobbie and fellow IU delegation members helped celebrate the 30th anniversary of the IU Alumni Association’s Korea Chapter, one of the university’s most active international alumni groups.
They also met with officials of The Korea Foundation, which earlier this year enabled the launch of the university’s new Institute for Korean Studies, one of the only academic institutes of its kind in the U.S., which educates students on various aspects of contemporary Korea.
The trip was McRobbie’s eighth official trip to China and sixth to South Korea since becoming IU president in 2007. It was organized by the office of IU Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret, who accompanied McRobbie as a member of IU's delegation.
“Each of our trips, and this was no exception, has served to initiate new and important relationships aimed at providing IU students with added opportunities to study abroad, as well as new research collaborations for our faculty, in one of the most economically, politically and culturally dynamic regions of the world,” McRobbie said. “Through our continually increasing engagement in East Asia and the enhanced connections we have fostered through the IU China Gateway office, we are making outstanding progress toward our goal of encouraging more students to study overseas in strategically important countries and achieving greater diversity on our campuses, ensuring that IU students are fully prepared for the competitive global marketplace they will enter after they graduate.”
On Dec. 7, McRobbie gave opening remarks at the all-day “Ostrom Symposium: the Study of the Commons, Governance and Collective Decision in China” at the IU China Gateway office in Beijing. Leading scholars and practitioners from across China and IU discussed the lasting legacy and impact of work by the late Nobel Prize winner and distinguished IU faculty member Elinor Ostrom and her husband, Vincent Ostrom, in China.
Many of those in attendance were members of the Chinese Ostrom Society, founded in 2009 to study and explore the Ostroms’ ideas and methods on resource management and polycentric governance.
The society features several scholars who have worked to translate Elinor Ostrom's many writings into Chinese, including Wang Jianxun, an IU alumnus now on the faculty of the China University of Political Science and Law, and professor Mao Shoulong of Renmin University, whose team of writers has translated almost all of the Ostroms’ core works -- more than a dozen books -- and facilitated their publication in China.
Following the Ostrom symposium and the agreement signing at Tsinghua University, McRobbie delivered an address to Tsinghua students and faculty on the role of universities in preserving knowledge and IU’s worldwide leadership in the area of media digitization and preservation.
Also in China, McRobbie also met with U.S. Ambassador to China and former U.S. Sen. Max Baucus to discuss, among other topics, how to ensure that more U.S. students study abroad in China and IU’s success in expanding its presence here through its Global Gateway Network. Along with its office in Beijing, IU also has Global Gateway offices in Berlin, Germany, and Gurgaon, India, just outside the Indian capital of New Delhi.
While in Seoul, McRobbie, Zaret and IU School of Global and International Studies Dean Lee A. Feinstein discussed with Korea Foundation officials their plans for further promotion of Korean studies in the U.S. They also discussed potential additional support for new faculty that will ensure that IU’s new institute continue the progress it has made in deepening understanding and appreciation of this dynamic part of the world.
They also met with Chung Sye-kyun, speaker of the nation’s 300-member legislature, the Korean National Assembly. They were joined by Su-chan Chae, a respected economist and professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and chairman of the board of the Han River Society.
IU has developed strong partnerships with many of Korea’s leading research and educational institutions. In 1986, the same year its alumni chapter was established, IU began a partnership with Yonsei University that led to an exchange of students, and the university also has strong partnerships with Seoul National University, Sungkyungkwan University and Ewha Womans University.
IU’s ties to Korea were further strengthened last year with the first-ever Asian tour by the IU Chamber Orchestra, which is part of IU’s renowned Jacobs School of Music. Last week, an orchestra of Jacobs School graduates living in Korea performed a special concert at the 30th anniversary celebration for IU’s Korean alumni chapter.
In addition to the alumni event in Seoul, McRobbie presided over large alumni gatherings in Beijing and Shanghai, two chapters that are becoming increasingly active as they add new members and as the university continues to strengthen its partnerships in China.
“The success of our alumni in both of these dynamic countries is a testimony to the power of an Indiana University education around the world and is a promise of the future for prospective students,” McRobbie said. “The warm welcome we receive from our alumni and our academic partners speaks to how highly they regard Indiana University.”
More than 4,600 IU alumni are affiliated with Korea, and more than 5,800 alumni are affiliated with China.
China ranks among the top five places where IU students study abroad. Consequently, IU has focused increasing attention on developing strong and meaningful institutional partnerships with the top universities there, which have resulted in the establishment of a number of successful student exchange programs and dual-degree programs.
A detailed report about the trip is available at a blog site, IU Goes to Korea and China [editors note: no longer active], and other highlights were shared through official IU social media channels on Facebook and Twitter
African-American college dancers engage Chinese students
An Indiana University African American dance group is on a one week cultural exchange with China University of Mining and Technology Beijing’s (CUMTB) School of Law and Humanities.
The visit came about after Yingli Zhou, a visiting scholar, saw the African American Dance Company and was so impressed she thought it would be a great idea to bring the group to China for a cultural exchange, said Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, chair of IU’s Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies.
This marks the first time the group has been to China, said Iris Rosa, the dance company's director since it’s founding in 1974.
“It’s incredible, the reality of being in a place like this and seeing our students in a place like this,” Rosa said. “We’re happy to be here.”
None of the company's student members is a dance major; their studies span the spectrum of IU’s academic disciplines, such as biochemistry, neuroscience, human biology and fashion design.
The program is a structured course for college credit and students attend three-hour classes twice a week, Rosa said. The course syllabus includes rehearsal and performance.
About 200 students from China University of Mining and Technology Beijing attend a lecture and demonstration by the visiting African American Dance Company at Indiana University, Dec 18, 2016.
Sunday’s lecture and demonstration included Rosa’s commentary, which was translated into Chinese, and demonstrations of dance techniques, including warm ups and locomotion exercises and a short piece the Indiana students choreographed.
During Sunday’s program, the demonstration became interactive, with Indiana dancers pulling volunteers from the audience to join them to perform a series of moving “statues” poses. They twisted and turned to coordinate their bodies with the dancers to create a range of scenes frozen for mere moments before moving into other variations. At one point, a group on the right side of the stage lifted a young Chinese woman into their air and held the pose, to her obvious delight.
Huge grins on their faces spoke to how much fun the young Chinese had up on stage; later, several, such as Liu Zimou, said they were thrilled to participate.
“It was GREAT! I felt different on the stage,” said Liu, who is studying environmental engineering.
For CUMTB industrial engineering student Vicky Yang, the experience was profound. “You taught me how to dance and you shared what's in your hearts,” Yang said.
Among this week’s cultural exchange activities are an African drum workshop for Chinese students and traditional Chinese dance instruction for the Indiana students.
The dance troupe will give a public performance on Dec 21 at 7:30 pm in the Technical Hall’s concert space on the fourth floor of the CUMTB Science Building.
Food safety, refugee integration among studies earning IU President’s International Research Fund grants
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie has awarded four faculty members with the inaugural round of funding from IU’s President’s International Research Fund. The new program sponsors international collaborative research projects that engage one or more of IU’s Global Gateways and the communities they serve.
The recipients of grants in the first round of program funding are:
- Kan Shao, assistant professor of environmental health in the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington, for a case study of inorganic arsenic in rice. This is a serious problem in China because rice is the most important staple food, and soil and water have been contaminated.
- Faridah Pawan, professor of literacy, culture and language education in the IU School of Education at Bloomington, for “English language education and teacher preparation among Chinese minority populations.” The project’s goal is to explore national and regional language education policies and how these are reflected in the preparation of in-service English language teachers.
- Alvin Rosenfeld, professor of Jewish studies and English, director of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and the Irving M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington, for a study to provide a basis for recommendations for policy-makers, educators, and local, regional and national agencies that make decisions about accepting and integrating refugees from Syria.
- Steven Mannheimer, professor of media arts and science in the School of Informatics and Computing at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, for a partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi. Mannheimer will work with teachers and students from two schools for the blind, one in India and one in Indiana, to develop and test new tactile and audio graphic strategies that better align with the ways that blind and visually impaired students experience the world, with the goal of enhancing their classroom learning.
“Indiana University’s ever-expanding Global Gateway Network, including its offices in China, Europe and India, is increasingly creating new opportunities for IU’s community of scholars to conduct top-flight research in the most politically, culturally and economically dynamic regions of the world,” McRobbie said. “Through the President’s International Research Fund, we aim to provide IU faculty with additional avenues to new and exciting partnerships and collaborations, as well as access to key resources they need to effectively pursue their research into important issues impacting our planet.”
IU’s three Global Gateways in China, Europe and India strengthen and broaden IU’s global engagement through support for research and teaching, conferences and workshops, study abroad opportunities, and engagement with alumni, businesses and nongovernmental organizations.
The President’s International Research Fund provides up to $50,000 per year for projects that make full use of one or more gateway to facilitate valuable research collaborations.
“This new research fund demonstrates IU and President McRobbie’s deep commitment to investing in innovative research collaborations, whether at home or abroad,” said Fred Cate, IU vice president for research.
Call for Papers - Sacred Journeys: Pilgrimage and Religious Tourism 4th Global Conference
Conference dates: October 26-27, 2017
Conference venue: IU China Gateway, Beijing
The latest research indicates that more than 400 million people embark annually on traditional pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia, India, Japan, and elsewhere, with the numbers steadily increasing. Pilgrimage is one of the most ancient practices of humankind and is associated with a great variety of religious and spiritual traditions, beliefs and sacred geographies. These include the small-scale ‘walkabout’ of Outback Australian Aborigines in search of their own and their country’s spiritual renewal, the Sufi journey to the Mausoleum of Sidi Shaykh in the Algerian West Sahara, or to Lourdes in France, which welcomes over five million Catholic pilgrims each year in search of healing or deliverance.
For some, pilgrimage is prescribed, as with the Hajj, one of the Five Pillars of Islam. In other settings, pilgrimage is more akin to religious or heritage tourism, as in China, where millions of people visit imperial mountains like Tai Shan or cultural sites such as Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain). Adoration by influential poets, painters, and philosophers over thousands of years has turned this latter site into a modern-day place of pilgrimage of international repute. One question that might be addressed at this conference is whether the overdevelopment of such significant places poses a threat to their sustainability.
Anthropologist Victor Turner once wrote that every tourist is part pilgrim, and every pilgrim is part tourist. Tourists and pilgrims are often described as being at either end of a continuum, with the former representing the leisure/pleasure seeker and the latter seeking communion with a deity. While Confucius described tourism as a fruitful practice that was good for the promotion of one’s virtues, the objective of pilgrims is often spiritual in nature. Some pilgrims will seek a vision of the deity, perform penance, obtain blessings, ask for children or cures, or pray for a long life or avert calamities, etc.
Today, apart from such religious motives, people will visit sacred sites out of curiosity or simply for peace of mind in their fast-paced existence. Some hope to validate their knowledge of ancient practices, while still others know something is missing in their lives, something not found in the materialism that the world offers as a cure-all. The religious tourism industry refers to the development of religious or spiritual sites as tourist destinations, attracting pilgrims for the purposes of worship, and also non-religious people, for sightseeing, heritage, and cultural practices. In this conference, speakers may address any aspect of this growing phenomenon.
This conference is the fourth in the series on sacred journeys, with the first two held at Oxford University’s Mansfield College and the third in Prague. As in previous gatherings, we will explore the practice of pilgrimage and religious tourism in global perspective from every conceivable angle, including the similarities and differences in the practice in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, and other traditions, and secular pilgrimage. The impact of the internet and globalization, pilgrimage as protest, and pilgrimage and peace building, etc. are potential topics, as is the concept of the internal pilgrimage and the journey of self-discovery. The experiential, practical, historical, and psychological aspects of the sacred journey are central to our exploration, and we encourage all those seeking to participate to consider their work in this larger frame. From the perspective of religious tourism, we seek papers discussing both theory and practice, motivations, media and technology, culture and heritage, the management of sacred sites, cultures as tourist products, tourism and commodification of culture, etc.
What to Send, What to Keep in Mind, and Who to Send to
Proposals in English should address the aforementioned themes, as well as related ones. Proposals with a maximum of 300 words in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) format should be submitted by email no later than June 1, 2017. They should include:
- Author(s)
- Affiliation
- Email address
- Title of Proposal
- Body of Proposal
- Keywords (up to 10)
Times New Roman 12 should be used for the entire proposal, without any footnotes, special formatting, characters, or emphasis. The subject line of the email should read:Sacred Journeys 4 Proposal Submission. Proposals (and correspondence) should be sent to Dr. Ian S McIntosh of Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis (imcintos@iupui.edu) and Prof Chadwick Co Sy Su of the University of the Philippines Manila (ccsysu@up.edu.ph). We acknowledge receipt and respond to all proposals submitted, which are then reviewed by at least two members of the conference committee. Upon approval of the proposal, a draft paper (maximum of 5000 words) is requested by September 15, 2017. Final papers will be considered for a special issue of the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage.
Registration fees are as follows: USD100 for international participants, USD50 for Chinese participants, USD50 for international students, and USD25 for Chinese students.
Conference sponsors: Indiana University; IUPUI School of Physical Education and Tourism Management; IUPUI Department of Religious Studies; University of the Philippines Manila Department of Arts and Communication.
Venue: Indiana University (IU) China Gateway – Beijing, China
Office B601D, 6th Floor, Block B CERNET Tower, Tsinghua Science Park, Building 8
No. 1 Zhongguancun East Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100084 P.R. China
Editors note: calls for submissions are closed.
IU Eskenazi Museum of Art visits Tsinghua University, discusses collaboration
David A. Brenneman, Director of the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art recently visited and gave a talk at the new Tsinghua University Art Museum. Future collaboration and exchange between the two museums was discussed. For more details follow this link to a Tsinghua University article.
Shanghai and Beijing Career Fairs 2017—registration now open!
Following the great success of our inaugural 2016 Career Fairs, the Indiana University China Gateway is partnering with 11 other American Universities to co-host career fairs in Shanghai and Beijing. Join us to meet with over 50 top global companies with operations in China and reputable domestic companies seeking high quality graduates from the US. Current IU students, class of 2017 graduates and alumni are welcome.
Faculty use trip to grow partnership with Beijing university
The School of Education continued its partnership with Beijing Normal University with a symposium on teacher education at the Third Global Teacher Education Summit in China this month.
The presentation was very well-received, with about 175 people in the audience, and many of the attendees—primarily from Chinese universities—spoke at length with faculty, which included Keith Barton, Alex Cuenca, Ana Maria Brannan and Sharon Daley.
“In addition to bringing greater familiarity with IU’s work to an international audience, this trip gave us a chance to make contact with a number of individual faculty in Beijing and pursue the possibility of further cooperation,” said Barton, associate dean for teacher education.
Barton and Cuenca also met with faculty in Moral Education, a subject similar to social studies education in the U.S., and began developing plans for cooperation in the education of doctoral students in that field. Faculty in teacher education also spoke with Barton about the possibility of collaborative institutional research involving BNU and the School of Education. This trip is thus part of the process of developing a variety of projects that will expand and strengthen ties with BNU.
While there, faculty also presented a workshop at the IU China Gateway office for doctoral students and faculty on the topic of publishing educational research in educational journals. Chinese scholars are expected to publish internationally, and this workshop helped familiarize them with the norms and standards of international journals. This workshop was thus of direct benefit to them, but also has the benefit of raising IU’s stature in the educational research community in China, and of further developing our ties with BNU and other universities there.
Gateway offices director talks international research funding for faculty
The call just went out for the second round of applications for the President’s International Research Awards. Inside IU caught up with international gateway offices director Ally Batten, who shared additional information about this funding program.
Q: What are the President’s International Research Awards, and how do they connect with Indiana University’s global engagement?
A: The PIRA program was created to support high-impact, collaborative projects, and successful applicants will receive up to $50,000 per year, renewable for up to three years. The idea is that the projects funded under this program will utilize the resources of one or more of IU’s Global Gateways and engage the communities that they serve.
Q: Tell us more about the gateways; what kind of resources do they provide in support of faculty research?
A: Really, the IU Global Gateway Network itself is a manifestation of the same commitment to innovative international engagement that the PIRA program demonstrates. We have offices in Beijing, Berlin and New Delhi—with new offices opening soon in Mexico City and Bangkok—that provide an infrastructure and a set of resources to help faculty develop and sustain collaborative research activities in the most politically, culturally and economically dynamic regions of the world.
Each gateway provides high-quality space for hosting workshops and meetings or to use as a base for research. Our resident staff directors share advice and connections and provide logistical support—and each gateway has a Bloomington- or IUPUI-based academic director to offer expert advice in developing and sustaining collaborative research initiatives.
Q: How do I apply?
A: Any tenure-track IU faculty member from any IU campus can apply via the IU Research Gateway (clinical professors and research scientists can serve as co-PIs). The deadline for submission is Jan. 12, 2018. All applicants should discuss their proposal with the appropriate gateway academic director before submitting an application.
Q: Are there any specific types of proposals or plans you'd like to receive for this second round of funding?
A: Last year’s inaugural round supported four projects: a case study of inorganic arsenic contamination in rice in Beijing and Hangzhou, China; English language education and teacher preparation among Chinese minority populations; Syrian refugee integration in Europe; and the development of new technologies for the blind and visually impaired in India.
While diverse in nature, the common theme—which we would like to see continue in the second round—is that all are high-impact projects that engage and potentially benefit local communities, and they involve significant collaboration with faculty at partner institutions in the gateway country or region.
Each project also utilizes the respective gateway in a number of different ways, including as a “home base” to conduct research, a venue to host conferences or closed workshops with colleagues from partner universities, and for public outreach events to discuss and promote the research.
Q: To what extent does a proposal need to utilize gateway resources to meet the criteria?
A: We expect proposals to include at least one activity—such as a workshop, symposium, public lecture or exhibit—at one or more gateways, or at a location within the relevant gateway region approved by the gateway academic director. The geographical focus or primary research “home” of a project could, however, be anywhere within the country or region served by the gateway.
If you have an idea for a project but are unsure how to incorporate using gateway resources, please contact me, at , or the relevant gateway academic director to discuss this further.
6Eskenazi Museum of Art at IU launches international partnership with exhibition in Beijing, China
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University has entered into a new multiyear partnership with the Tsinghua University Art Museum at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. The partnership features cooperation in the areas of exhibitions, programs, and staff and student exchanges over several years.
The partnership begins with the exhibition “Americans Abroad: Landscape and Artistic Exchange, 1800-1920,” opening at the Tsinghua University Art Museum in September. Curated by Jennifer McComas, the Eskenazi Museum of Art’s curator of European and American Art, the exhibition will feature 50 European and American paintings drawn primarily from the permanent collection of the Eskenazi Museum of Art. Other lenders to the exhibition are the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields and the Indiana University Campus Art Collection.
Works by Claude Monet, Gustave Caillebotte, Jasper F. Cropsey, Winslow Homer and Maurice Brazil Prendergast will be included. The exhibition catalog, produced collaboratively by the Tsinghua University Museum of Art and the Eskenazi Museum of Art, will be published in both Mandarin Chinese and English and will feature essays by McComas, Indiana University art history professor Michelle Facos and Xu Hong from the Tsinghua museum.
“Although several other American museums have sent exhibitions to China in recent years, this partnership is the first we know of between university art museums in the United States and China,” McComas said. “This project provides a unique opportunity for the Eskenazi Museum of Art to share its collections with a new member of the international academic museum community.”
“I am especially excited to highlight our collection of 19th-century American art, as this subject is still not very well known outside of the United States. With ‘Americans Abroad,’ we hope to foster increased scholarly interest in this topic among Chinese faculty and students.”
The partnership between the two museums was established following Eskenazi Museum of Art director David Brenneman’s visit to Tsinghua in spring 2017 to discuss possibilities for cooperation. “Americans Abroad,” the partnership's inaugural project, is made possible in part by a generous grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art, an organization whose mission is “dedicated to fostering exploration, understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts of the United States for national and international audiences.” Additional support comes from the IU China Gateway office in Beijing and the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs at IU.
A reciprocal exhibition of Chinese scroll paintings from the Tsinghua University Art Museum's permanent collection will travel to the Eskenazi Museum of Art after the current major renovation of the museum’s I.M. Pei designed building is completed.
“As part of one of China's most prestigious universities, Tsinghua University Art Museum aims to enhance the university’s humanities-oriented spirit and ensure its place as a world-class university with first-class disciplines,” said Yang Dongjiang, vice director of Tsinghua University Art Museum. “The museum’s mission is to ‘manifest humanistic spirit, gather artistic essence, exhibit quality collections, conduct academic research, facilitate domestic and foreign exchanges, communicate information, cultivate new cultural trends and spur the growth of new talent.’
“This exhibition interprets the development of European and American landscape paintings from multiple perspectives and will allow Chinese audiences to know more about how landscape painting works on the other side of the ocean. In the meanwhile, we hope that this opportunity will be used to enhance and deepen the understanding and cooperation between the two museums, and to promote cultural exchanges between China and the United States and co-establish a splendid vision of China and the United States.”
The exchange is the second such arrangement that the Eskenazi Museum of Art has initiated during the past year. A similar multiyear partnership and exchange with the Speed Art Museum in Louisville was announced in January.
“Through these partnerships we are able to share our magnificent collection with other parts of the world, and ensure that a steady flow of loaned works from our partners will be on view at our museum when we reopen,” Brenneman said. “These partnerships extend our reach beyond the museum walls, while providing a richer experience for museum visitors here in Bloomington.”
About the Eskenazi Museum of Art
Since its establishment in 1941, the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University has grown from a small university teaching collection into one of the foremost university art museums in the country. Today, the Eskenazi Museum of Art’s internationally acclaimed collection, ranging from ancient gold jewelry and African masks to paintings by Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso, includes more than 45,000 objects representing nearly every art-producing culture throughout history. The IU Eskenazi Museum of Art is currently undergoing an extensive renovation of its I.M. Pei designed building and is scheduled to reopen in the fall of 2019. To learn more about the renovation and stay current on all museum news, visit the museum's website at artmuseum.indiana.edu.
About the Tsinghua University Art Museum
Tsinghua University Art Museum officially opened to the public on Sept. 10, 2016, and became a new force among university museums in China. The museum building, divided into 14 exhibition halls, is designed by the internationally recognized Swiss architect Mario Botta. This four-story building has a central symmetrical layout and is equipped with up-to-date facilities. TAM’s collection includes more than 13,000 works in six major categories, namely, painting and calligraphy, embroidery, porcelain, furniture, bronze ware, and comprehensive artwork.
In addition to exhibitions, collection, research, and public education, TAM also conducts exhibition planning, quality collection presentation, various academic activities, public service and education platform building, playing an irreplaceable role in spreading historical, humanistic and artistic essences as well as modern technological innovation outcomes.
About the Terra Foundation for American Art
The Terra Foundation for American Art is dedicated to fostering exploration, understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts of the United States for national and international audiences. Recognizing the importance of experiencing original works of art, the foundation provides opportunities for interaction and study, beginning with the presentation and growth of its own art collection in Chicago. To further cross-cultural dialogue on American art, the foundation supports and collaborates on innovative exhibitions, research and educational programs.
IU president concludes successful trip to South Korea, China
SEOUL and BEIJING -- Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie led a university delegation last week to South Korea and China, where the university established new institutional partnerships and re-energized several others that will expand opportunities for student and faculty exchanges. The delegation also met with top leaders in education, culture, finance and government, and strengthened ties with IU’s international alumni in both countries.
During the trip, McRobbie signed new partnership agreements with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Renmin University, two of China’s elite universities for teaching, research and scholarly activity in the humanities and social sciences. He also participated in the IU Is Global 2018 Alumni Conference and Reunion. IU’s fourth international alumni conference and its first since 2015, IU Is Global included about 350 IU alumni from China and across the surrounding region -- the largest number of attendees at an IU global alumni conference and reunion.
IU has deep and extensive ties to East Asia, dating back many decades. Its strong programs in this area continue to enable vital exchanges of students and faculty and foster greater cultural understanding of and appreciation for the most culturally, economically, historically and politically important parts of the world.
“Our successful efforts this week -- stemming from a continuing commitment to strengthen our engagement in Korea, China and all across the Asia-Pacific region -- will enable more overseas study opportunities for Hoosier students, which are vitally important in preparing them for the increasingly complex and interconnected world they will enter when they graduate,” McRobbie said. “They will also enable new collaborative activities between IU faculty and other outstanding colleagues in these countries, greatly enhancing the international engagement of all of our campuses across the state.”
“We are also extremely proud of our international alumni, many of whom are serving as leaders, innovators and visionaries in their communities and in their home countries. Through their energy, enthusiasm and loyalty to the university, they continue to strengthen the reputation of IU -- and Indiana -- worldwide.”
IU Vice President for International Affairs Hannah Buxbaum joined McRobbie on the trip, which began Sept. 17 and included a series of meetings and other events in Seoul, South Korea, and in Beijing and Tianjin, China.
These included a working lunch with former IU faculty member Yi Gang, who was named governor of the People’s Bank of China earlier this year. People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank and the equivalent of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, is responsible for carrying out the monetary policy and regulation of financial institutions for the world’s second-largest economy. Yi served as assistant professor and associate professor of economics at IUPUI from 1986 to 1994 and received an honorary doctorate from IU in 2012.
The IU delegation also met with Tian Guoli, chairman of the China Construction Bank, the second-largest public company in the world. They discussed issues facing China's economy and the contributions IU’s students from China and across East Asia continue to make to enhance IU's educational environment.
While in Seoul, McRobbie and members of the IU delegation met with senior leaders and faculty from Yonsei University, one of IU’s longest-standing global partnerships. Among those leaders was Ban Ki-Moon, who served as secretary-general of the United Nations from 2007 to 2016. They also met with representatives of the Academy of Korean Studies, whose financial support helped IU recently establish a new Institute for Korean Studies at the School of Global and International Studies, one of the only such institutes of its kind in the U.S.
More than 8,000 international students are currently enrolled at IU. Of that number, over 700 students are from Korea, making it the third-leading country of origin for international students at IU. Additionally, over the past several years, IU has seen a substantial increase in the number of its students -- now totaling more than 50 -- choosing to study abroad in Korea. Many IU faculty members have extensive research collaborations with faculty members at institutions in Korea as well.
Upon arriving in China, the delegation met with leaders at Nankai University, in the coastal city of Tianjin, to re-establish ties with a historic partner. While there, McRobbie honored the late Binglin He and Ruyu Chen, two of the most distinguished Chinese alumni in IU’s history, with IU’s Thomas Hart Benton Medallion for their pioneering work in chemistry. The medallion is awarded for exceptional achievements, reflecting IU’s values and principles, in any field or area in any part of the world.
In Beijing, the IU delegation explored the potential for student exchanges and faculty collaborations with IU’s newest partners at the Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences and at Renmin University. Renmin also includes several scholars interested in the work of the late IU Distinguished Professor and first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, Elinor “Lin” Ostrom.
McRobbie also helped formally inaugurate a new multiyear partnership between the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art at IU and the Tsinghua University Art Museum, the first collaboration of its kind between university art museums in the U.S. and China. The partnership calls for cooperation in the areas of exhibitions, programs, and staff and student exchanges over several years.
The partnership began with an exhibition at the Tsinghua museum, “Americans Abroad: Landscape and Artistic Exchange, 1800-1920,” which features 50 European and American paintings drawn primarily from the permanent collection of the Eskenazi Museum of Art. A reciprocal exhibition of Chinese scroll paintings from the Tsinghua University Art Museum’s permanent collection will travel to the Eskenazi Museum of Art after the current major renovation of the museum’s building is completed. The building is designed by renowned Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei.
About 3,000 IU students are from China, making it the leading country of origin for international students at the university. China also now ranks in the top 10 countries where IU students choose to study abroad and is the leading overseas study destination for students from the IUPUI campus.
Throughout the week, McRobbie and Buxbaum led productive talks with leaders across business, culture, finance and government, acquiring important advice and insights as IU seeks to increase the number of its students who study abroad and continue to welcome the best international students.
They also met with alumni in both China and Korea, which are home to tens of thousands of IU graduates. Many of them attended the IU Is Global 2018 International Alumni Conference and Reunion, during which McRobbie delivered an update on recent progress at IU, including in the area of international engagement. The event, which was held in Beijing on Sept. 22, also featured several panel discussions, including IU alumni leaders from around the Asia-Pacific region who addressed such issues as the global economy, the environment and public health, and the changing global legal profession.
It is more important than ever to make local, personal connections with students amid the current difficult situation caused by the pandemic and tense U.S.-China bilateral relations.
IU’s China Gateway has engaged with prospective students and their parents through education fairs and school visits to ensure they have accurate and comprehensive information about IU’s opportunities and admissions processes.
With no travel possible, the university's international recruitment efforts had to be reimagined. This summer, the IU China Gateway office began actively supporting IU student recruitment efforts in China by co-organizing and attending multiple online information sessions for prospective students and their parents, attending virtual and in-person education fairs, arranging local school visits in the Beijing area, and traveling domestically to visit high schools in other parts of the country.
IU China Gateway Director, Steven Yin, recently joined colleagues from three other U.S. universities for a two-day student recruitment tour organized by the U.S. Embassy’s EducationUSA office. They visited four high schools with international programs in Xi’an, the capital city of Shaanxi Province in the western part of China and talked to over 500 students and parents in lectures and mini-fairs set up by the host schools. Guidance counselors across the region all agreed and emphasized that direct and in-person communication opportunities between students/parents and official representatives of U.S. universities created by this tour were enormously beneficial, particularly given the unprecedented circumstances of the moment. They thanked us for bringing objective, accurate, and comprehensive information about higher educational opportunities in the U.S. to prospective students and their parents, demystifying universities’ international recruitment policies, admission requirements, and processes, and easing people’s concerns about issues like visas and public health measures adopted by U.S. universities.
Owing to various concerns caused by both the Covid-19 pandemic and anticipations of continuing tensions between China and the U.S., many Chinese high school students indicated a plan to submit applications to both U.S. and UK universities, using the latter as a backup plan, or to apply exclusively to UK universities. According to most students and parents with whom Mr. Yin spoke, the U.S. remains the preferred destination due to the quality and reputation of its institutions of higher education. Many parents are anxiously awaiting positive signs of the end of the global pandemic and any improvements in U.S.-China relations as they decide where to send their children. At the same time, high schools’ international divisions across the country (which provide English-language instruction of international curricula) have reported challenges maintaining student enrolment numbers because many students have opted to return to the national curriculum and the domestic university admissions examination (gaokao) track, which is an equally viable pathway to overseas university admission.
6 IU Students Attend Tsinghua Global Summer School Focused on Sustainable Development Innovation
Six IU Bloomington students received full scholarships from Tsinghua University to participate in the Tsinghua Global Summer School (GSS) 2021 that focused on innovation for sustainable development. In June and July, they joined over 1,000 students from more than 150 universities worldwide for nine days of online educational programming designed to educate and inspire young innovators to take action on critical global issues.
Molly Donnell, an IU undergraduate studying environmental sustainability in IU’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, was excited to be offered the opportunity to participate in GSS. She noted, “Meeting new people from all over the world and becoming friends with them was probably the best part about this program. I had the opportunity to work in a group with 6 others who were undergraduate and graduate students from Macau, Malaysia, UK, China, South Korea, and Singapore.”
The mission of GSS is to bring world-wide talents together to inspire action on critical global issues by engaging in rich course content and interactive activities. The 2021 program included eight masterclasses with experts in the areas of economy, leadership, psychology, design, education, and environmental studies. They also hosted a new UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) hackathon, a youth forum, enterprise virtual visits in Huawei and Lenovo, virtual tours and Chinese cultural activities all designed around the themes of challenge, cooperation, and innovation.
Shijirtuya Munkhbat, a public affairs graduate student and teaching assistant at IU, had a great experience and was honored to participate. For her, “the best part of the program was themed Hackathons that required students to work with others to develop a project proposal. It was interesting to work with students from different countries and learning from their perspective and experience with the SDGs.”
Using an interdisciplinary approach and a concentration on social responsibility, the program explored emerging innovations like design thinking to tackle the most critical issues of our time. Sustainable approaches across the world are critical to face common challenges such as climate change, one of the many global issues the SDGs address.
A goal of GSS is to educate innovators who are passionate about making a difference in the world, with an emphasis on using technology to break down boundaries, share experiences, and learn from each other. Inspiring youth to address both local and global challenges is the most effective way to make the SDGs a reality.
Tsinghua University in Beijing and Indiana University have held a primary partnership agreement since 2006 and have developed strong collaborations through projects with multiple academic units over the years.
IU Students who received funding for GSS 2021
Olivia Campbell
Undergraduate, Geography & International Studies
Kevin Czachura
Graduate, Environmental Policy & Natural Resource Management
Molly Donnell
Undergraduate, Environmental Sustainability
Nino Lazariia
Undergraduate, Sustainable Urbanization and International Development
Shijirtuya Munkhbat
Graduate, Master of Public Affairs
Marria Peduto
Undergraduate, International Studies, East Asian Languages and Cultures and Sustainable Food & Marine Systems (Individualized Major Program)
Europe Gateway
IU President McRobbie traveling to Germany to open new IU Global Gateway office in Berlin
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—Beginning Nov. 2, Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie will lead a delegation on a five-day trip to Germany, where he will preside over the opening of the third IU Global Gateway office and renew a historically important relationship with a top German university.
Located in Berlin, the IU Europe Gateway is IU’s third such facility for international faculty and student activities, following the launch of similar offices in New Delhi and Beijing.
McRobbie also will renew an agreement of friendship and cooperation that is a half-century old, between IU and one of Germany’s finest educational institutions, Freie Universität (Free University Berlin).
Herman B Wells, IU’s 11th president, helped establish the Freie Universität after World War II. The formal partnership between the two universities dates back to the early 1960s and is IU’s longest-running graduate exchange program.
The IU delegation also will meet with leaders at other top German universities and with the German Research Foundation (DFG—Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), which supports and funds research at German universities and is the equivalent of the National Science Foundation in the United States.
“Part of Indiana University’s proud history of global engagement is our role in establishing the Free University of Berlin in 1948, which has grown to become one of Germany's and the world's great universities and which was a beacon of free and independent thinking and learning in darker times," McRobbie said. “Our long-standing partnership with the Free University and other university partnerships in many other countries, as well as our global gateway offices, confirms IU as a truly international university engaged with the world through research and scholarship and through the education of the next generation of global citizens.”
McRobbie will speak during the opening session of the annual conference of the Council on International Educational Exchange, the leading U.S. non-governmental international education organization. CIEE creates and administers close to 200 programs that allow more than 35,000 high school and university students and educators to study, work and teach abroad.
McRobbie will be part of a panel discussion at the Council on International Educational Exchange conference on the benefits of study abroad for minority-serving institutions. Martin McCrory, IU associate vice president for diversity, equity and multicultural affairs and IU Bloomington vice provost for diversity, also will be a conference presenter, speaking specifically about IU’s activities.
McRobbie also will meet with John Emerson, U.S. ambassador to Germany.
Among those joining McRobbie on the trip are IU Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret, IU Vice President for Research Fred Cate and IU first lady Laurie Burns McRobbie.
IU Europe Gateway’s first official event
The IU Europe Gateway office is within the new CIEE Global Institute, in the Kreuzberg District of East Berlin. As part of an agreement with its partner, the Council on International Educational Exchange, IU will have access to conference space and classrooms, along with dormitory rooms that may be available for IU students and faculty during the summer.
“Our new gateway office will provide IU with a physical presence in the center of Europe and a point of access to other countries of strategic interest within the region,” Zaret said. “This presence will assist IU in linking local institutional partners, alumni and students more closely with Indiana University, and in increasing the visibility and impact within the region of our academic and research activities.
“More broadly, it will facilitate opportunities for Indiana University faculty and students to deepen and expand their engagement with Germany and the larger European region,” Zaret added.
“We are pleased to welcome Indiana University’s gateway office to our Global Institute in Berlin and to continue our partnership of providing access to study abroad opportunities for all U.S. students,” said James P. Pellow, president and CEO of the Council on International Educational Exchange. “Studying abroad is one of the best ways for college students to develop the skills needed to excel in our competitive, interconnected world. As one of Europe’s most exciting and dynamic cities, a major business and science hub, and thriving cultural metropolis, Berlin is the ideal location for students to develop intercultural understanding and professional skills.”
Hannah Buxbaum, professor and the John E. Schiller Chair in Legal Ethics in the IU Maurer School of Law, is the new academic director of the IU Europe Gateway. Andrea Adam Moore, a Berlin native and previously the director of German University Alliance, is its new director.
On Monday, Nov. 2, the gateway office will have its inaugural academic event, a symposium, “The Data Dilemma: A Transatlantic Discussion on Privacy, Security, Innovation, Trade and Protection of Personal Data in the 21st Century.”
Speakers will include Julie Brill, a commissioner on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and Alexander Dix, Berlin’s commissioner for data protection and freedom of information.
On Thursday, Nov. 5, McRobbie will host a reception with alumni and friends to formally open the IU Europe Gateway office. The event will include a performance by two alumni of the Jacobs School of Music, mezzo-soprano Nadine Weissmann and pianist Andrew Crooks.
Like the other IU Global Gateway offices, the new facility will support scholarly research and teaching, conferences and workshops, study abroad programs, distance learning initiatives and alumni events.
“Berlin is a tremendously exciting city,” Buxbaum said. “The gateway will provide a wonderful base for IU faculty and students to expand their engagement in Germany and throughout Europe.”
The Importance of Global Literacy and The Role of the University as a Gateway to the World
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—In the fall of 1947, Indiana University President Herman B. Wells left the cozy confines of Bloomington, Indiana, for Berlin, a city devastated by the destruction of World War II.
Many of Germany’s greatest universities had been badly damaged or destroyed, physically and intellectually, during the catastrophic conflict, and Wells had been asked by the American government to contribute to the rebuilding process. Back home in Indiana not everyone was thrilled by the prospect of the president of the state’s flagship university taking on a mission halfway across the globe, especially with IU suddenly struggling to meet the sprouting demands of student veterans rushing to take advantage of the recently enacted GI Bill. After some negotiation among U.S. government officials, the Indiana governor and IU trustees, Wells was permitted a six-month leave. He used that time to assess the parlous condition of higher education in Germany and begin working on ways to rebuild the country's university system, once one of the greatest in the world.
Wells consulted and travelled widely in Germany and provided vital advice on how to rebuild and restructure higher education. But he also saw first-hand in Berlin the Iron Curtain begin to descend. Through meetings with student demonstrators, scholars and journalists, Wells became a champion for the establishment in late 1948 of the Freie Universität Berlin, or “Free University of Berlin,” a beacon of free and independent teaching and learning within Cold War Berlin and now one of Germany’s and the world's finest educational institutions.
Wells’ involvement in the creation of the Freie Universität marked a key moment in IU’s growth as a truly international university engaged with the world through research, scholarship and education of the next generation of global citizens. Shortly after its founding, Freie Universität and IU began an exchange of students that continues to this day and is IU’s longest-running graduate exchange program. Since that time, IU has also led institution building in widely differing circumstances in Europe, Asia, Africa and elsewhere around the globe.
IU was back in Berlin at the start of November to renew our partnership with Freie Universität, open a new central hub for the university's many educational activities in Europe and carry on the legacy of Wells, a true evangelist for greater globalization in higher education. That legacy is reflected in IU’s continuing efforts to build on a 100-year history of engagement in international activity and scholarship.
The world has not seemed this perilous for 70 years. We have never had greater need for individuals with global cultural understanding and experience and the ability to work productively with people from different cultures and traditions.
In response to an increasingly complex, interconnected and interdependent society, internationally focused universities are actively reshaping how we educate students to be responsible and engaged “global citizens.”
At IU, redefining and redeveloping our international curriculum has led to a renewed emphasis on enhancing our numerous area studies programs, which give students the knowledge they need to better understand and appreciate other countries and cultures; and marshaling the talents of our scholarly community toward solving the greatest challenges facing the world, such as climate change, nuclear proliferation and global health pandemics. It has also led to a concerted effort to substantially increase the number of IU students who serve and study abroad, thus providing future leaders in our country in business, government and education who are globally literate and ready to make a positive impact in the world.
Indeed, we believe it is our responsibility as a leading U.S. university to expand our students’ horizons, foster responsible global citizenship and address the world's most difficult challenges, and we pursue this mission with the support of a strong and loyal international alumni base, a network of established friends and partner institutions, and a commitment to strengthening our connections in key regions of the world.
We continue to focus our international engagement efforts on countries where we have large numbers of alumni, where large numbers of IU students study abroad, from where IU receives most of its international students and where we have numerous successful academic partnerships with outstanding foreign universities. We now have active chapters of the IU Alumni Association in all of these countries.
A key way we are facilitating and supporting all of these efforts at IU is by establishing international gateway offices. We opened the first of these last year in in China and India; fittingly, Berlin will serve as our European Gateway Office and we plan to open three or four more in other parts of the world by 2020, our bicentennial year.
These facilities are not global, degree-granting “campuses” like those some U.S. universities have struggled, not always successfully, to set up. Rather, they serve as IU’s front door in economically and culturally dynamic parts of the world. To this end, they provide central places for IU faculty, students and alumni to meet and work, and venues for international conferences, symposia, workshops and other educational events.
Herman Wells once explained that he wanted to bring “the world to Indiana and Indiana to the world.” He believed that the best university education instills an understanding of the world outside of the boundaries of the U.S.: of the history, cultures, religions, politics, economies, institutions, languages, art and literature of other countries. Such an understanding has never been more critical to humanity and to building a respectful, responsible and engaged global community.
Call for Proposals for the 2016-17 Indiana University—Freie Universität Berlin Joint Research Workshops and Short-term Research Stays
With the goal of facilitating research cooperation, Freie Universität Berlin and Indiana University have established a joint funding program to support annual joint research workshops and short-term research stays for the academic years 2016/17 and 2017/18. Each university will contribute € 30,000 / US$ 33,000 each year and commit to encouraging faculty and academic staff to seek support for joint projects from this fund.
FUB-IU joint research workshops and short-term research stays allow researchers to identify complementary research strengths and are intended to facilitate joint research collaborations. Proposals should have a clearly defined research focus and serve as a catalyst for the development of new research projects. The project format and duration is not pre-defined and workshops and research stays can take place in Berlin or in Indiana. Workshop participants should include both senior and junior researchers. Researchers can participate in more than one project provided that the projects are not submitted in the same cycle.
The scientific motivation for holding the workshop or planning a short-term research stay should be clearly explained, including how the involved FUB and IU institutes or departments can profit long term from this cooperation and what synergies will arise. Inclusion of German non-university research institutions such as Max Planck Institutes, Helmholtz Centers, and others, in the projects is encouraged; however, any additional costs must be covered by those partners themselves. The call is not limited to a specific academic field; projects can be either focused on one discipline or be of interdisciplinary character.
Submission of proposals
Proposals can only be submitted by permanent/tenured professors of Freie Universität Berlin and tenured or tenure-track faculty members of Indiana University. It is required that workshops involve at least two tenure-stream faculty members, as well as at least two junior researchers (PhD students or post-docs), at each university. Total project costs shall not exceed € 10,000 for short-term research stays and € 15,000 for joint workshops (including travel), of which FUB and IU will each cover 50% under this call.
Selection criteria
Funding for joint research workshops and short-term research stays is provided on a competitive basis. Projects will be selected by a joint IU-FUB committee, giving particular attention to the following criteria:
- Clearly formulated goals of the project
- Information on envisaged synergies
- Level of concreteness of future joint research, including timeframe and information on plans for seeking extramural funding and steps for developing a joint proposal
- Compatibility with the FUB/IU research profiles (e.g. interdisciplinary nature, excellence of project leaders, wide scope of the different fields/labs represented in the proposed project).
Submission and deadlines
Proposals for FUB-IU research workshops and short-term research stays should be submitted in English. They should not exceed 4 pages and have the following information attached:
- Timeframe/Date for the project (projects should be completed within 12 months of award)
- Budget calculation and budget justification
- Written statement of support from respective FUB/IU faculty/department.
- Information on project leaders on both sides and list of other FUB/IU participants
In 2016 and 2017, joint proposals can be submitted at the following dates:
15 September, 2016
15 May, 2017
15 September, 2017
[Submissions are closed]
IU’s African American Choral Ensemble embarking on tour of Germany
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—Indiana University’s African American Choral Ensemble will perform in Germany this month at an international festival of sacred music as part of the group's first European tour.
Raymond Wise, the ensemble’s director, and Charles E. Sykes, executive director of IU’s African American Arts Institute, will lead a group of 27 students on a tour of several cities that includes performances, cultural exchanges and visits to historic sites. The trip is co-sponsored by the IU Office of the Vice President for International Affairs and Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President.
“I am overjoyed that our students will have the opportunity to represent IU and share their musical talents with multiple and diverse audiences in Germany,” Sykes said. “For some students, this will be their first trip to Germany; for others, this will be their first trip outside of the U.S. But for all of our students, this will be an incredible learning experience.”
At Musica Sacra International 2016, more than 150 musicians from five different religious traditions and four continents will gather in the Allgäu region of southernmost Germany, united in song.
Wise has been selected to lead a “Voices for Peace” choir. This marks the first time the festival will assemble members from different groups in a common choral group. In a four-day workshop, Wise will share his expertise on African American gospel music with participants from around the world.
“Not only will the educational and cultural exchange enhance their growth as a choir and as individuals, but more importantly, the students will get to witness the impact of African American music around the world and play a part in its global expansion,” Wise said. “I am so excited that the members of the African American Choral Ensemble will have this opportunity to travel abroad.”
Other highlights of the trip include a concert by the African American Choral Ensemble at the American Church of Berlin, followed by a dinner with IU alumni and staff at the IU Europe Gateway office, which also is in the city.
The African American Choral Ensemble will perform in these public concerts:
- 7 p.m. May 9, St. Paulus Church in Hamburg-Heimfeld—The ensemble will join the Harburg Gospel Choir and SoulBridges vocal quartet.
- 7 p.m. May 11, American Church of Berlin—The African American Choral Ensemble will be the sole performance group in this concert.
- 11:30 a.m. May 13, St. Thomas Church in Leipzig—The choir will take part in the local tradition of performing an a cappella concert in front of the grave of composer J.S. Bach, who served as a teacher and choir director there.
- 8 p.m. May 14, St. Mang Abbey in Füssen—The Maulbronner Chamber Choir also will perform.
- 8 p.m. May 15, Kurhaus concert hall in Bad Hindelang—The ensemble Sama Damaszener, composed of musicians originally from Syria, also will perform Arabic songs on their traditional instruments.
The African American Choral Ensemble will perform privately for students at the Selma-Lagerlöf School in Ahrensburg. Members also will have a chance to interact with musicians from around the world during one of the festival gatherings at the Bavarian Music Academy.
In addition, the IU students will visit Neuschwanstein, the iconic castle home of King Ludwig II, and St. Mary’s Church in Berlin. Martin Luther King Jr. preached at St. Mary’s in 1964 at the height of the Cold War, when it was in the communist-controlled sector of the city. During their visit to St. Mary’s, the ensemble will briefly perform a capella as a musical offering to honor that history.
The African American Choral Ensemble has been celebrating its 40th anniversary during the 2015–16 academic year. The ensemble sings not only traditional and contemporary gospel music but a broad repertoire of spirituals, folk songs and formally composed choral works by African American composers. The group is one of three performance ensembles within the African American Arts Institute, a unit of the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs.
On tour, the African American Choral Ensemble will perform diverse musical selections, including Wise’s arrangement of “I’ll Stand” and his original composition “He’s Worthy,” which will be performed in multiple languages, including English, German, Hebrew and sign language.
They also will perform spirituals by Hall Johnson, which hold special significance to the group. Earlier this spring, the ensemble presented a local concert that recreated the all-Johnson repertoire from its first concert in 1976.
At a recent dinner honoring the group’s anniversary, IU President Michael A. McRobbie said the ensemble has been an important part of the university’s “glorious tradition in the arts” and called it one of the treasures of Indiana University and the Bloomington community as a whole.
“They have also helped IU students and others gain a deeper understanding of their own cultural heritage, and they have served as a powerful means of increasing intercultural understanding,” McRobbie said.
Indiana University delegation concludes historic trip to Italy and Poland
WARSAW, Poland—Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie and a delegation of IU representatives wrapped up a historic and productive trip to Europe that included the renewal of longstanding relationships with Italian and Polish universities and planning for future partnerships.
Highlights of the weeklong trip included Wednesday’s celebration of the 40-year anniversary of IU’s relationship with the University of Warsaw in the Polish capital and last week’s celebration in Bologna, Italy, of the 50th anniversary of IU's partnership with the University of Bologna, the oldest continuously operating university in the West.
The trip also included the announcement of an unprecedented agreement with the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, which will result in the 3-D digitization of the museum’s entire collection of irreplaceable Greek and Roman sculpture.
The trip was organized by the Office of IU Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret, who accompanied McRobbie on the trip.
“Indiana University’s collaborations with some of the leading educational and cultural institutions in Italy and Poland have brought and will bring enormous benefits to all of our institutions,” McRobbie said. “Through study abroad, our students have gained rich international experience that will serve them well in a global marketplace. Our faculty have developed strong personal bonds and expanded and widened important programs of research and scholarship.
“Rich international engagement of this kind is an essential element of Indiana University’s history. As we prepare to celebrate IU’s 200th anniversary in 2020, we look to the future with great confidence that these relationships will continue to thrive.”
For decades, IU’s engagement in Italy and Poland has played an important role in IU's global mission, described in the university’s Bicentennial Strategic Plan. This calls for IU to consolidate its position as a leading global university by increasing study-abroad opportunities for students, recruiting talented international scholars, building international research collaboration and strengthening connections with international alumni and institutions.
IU’s relationship with the University of Warsaw dates from 1976, when the institutions collaborated to establish the American Studies Center in Warsaw and the Polish Studies Center at IU Bloomington at a time when such formal partnerships were very rare because of the Cold War.
Wednesday afternoon, McRobbie renewed IU’s primary agreement with the University of Warsaw, which will observe its 200th anniversary in the fall, and participated in the 40th anniversary celebration of the partnership. To commemorate the occasion, the two universities launched the Krzysztof Michałek Memorial Lecture in American Studies. John Bodnar, IU Distinguished and Chancellor's Professor of History, delivered the inaugural lecture at the celebration on the topic of war and memory.
During the celebration, McRobbie presented the Thomas Hart Benton Medallion to University of Warsaw Rector Marcin Palys, in recognition of the landmark and successful partnership between the two universities. Palys bestowed upon McRobbie the prestigious Bicentenary Medal of the University, also in recognition of the 40 years of active partnership.
The visit to Italy and Poland began May 25 in Florence, with the announcement of the initiative with the Uffizi Gallery, one of the oldest and most respected art museums in Europe and home to some of the most admired classical antiquities in the history of art.
Under an agreement signed by McRobbie and Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt, IU’s Virtual World Heritage Laboratory will create 3-D digital models of 1,250 sculptures. The five-year project, led by Bernard Frischer, IU professor of informatics and one of the world’s leading virtual archaeologists, is expected to lead to further collaboration between the Uffizi and IU’s Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art.
In Florence, the IU delegation also toured the Italian headquarters of Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. The center employs about 1,100 people and is one of Italy’s largest facilities for biotech production.
While in Bologna, McRobbie helped celebrate 50 years of one of IU’s most successful Education Abroad programs. As part of the program, which now includes a consortium of 15 U.S. colleges and universities managed by IU, more than 1,600 IU students have studied in Italy and over 300 University of Bologna students have studied at IU. During the anniversary celebration, McRobbie presented the Benton Medallion to University of Bologna Rector Francesco Ubertini.
In Krakow, Poland, McRobbie signed a renewal agreement with Jagiellonian University, one of the world's oldest and one of Europe’s most highly respected universities, extending a partnership, involving faculty and student exchanges, that formally began almost 20 years ago. McRobbie and the IU delegation also met with officials of the university, including President Wojciech Nowak.
The IU president was joined in Poland by Lee A. Feinstein, former U.S. ambassador to Poland and founding dean of the IU School of Global and International Studies. While in Warsaw, McRobbie and Feinstein met with current U.S. Ambassador to Poland Paul W. Jones and with other top government and higher education leaders.
Also in Warsaw, an agreement was signed with the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews that will enable IU undergraduate students to intern at the museum, which earlier this year was named European Museum of the Year. The POLIN Museum also has an agreement with IU Press for a book series, titled “Jewish Lives in Poland.” The program director of the museum’s acclaimed Core Exhibition is an IU alumna, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, who took members of the IU delegation on a tour of the exhibition.
Others joining McRobbie on the trip included Hannah Buxbaum, academic director of the recently established IU Europe Gateway in Berlin and the John E. Schiller Chair in Legal Ethics in the IU Maurer School of Law, and Andrea Adam Moore, director of the IU Europe Gateway. The new office, established in Berlin in October, already is strengthening IU’s engagement in Europe by serving as a central hub for IU’s activities across the continent.
IU student expanding her worldview as intern for the IU Europe Gateway
Blog courtesy of Allison LeClere, a master’s student in higher education and student affairs who is serving a summer internship at the IU Europe Gateway in Berlin.
For Americans who have studied abroad or lived abroad for an extended period of time, I think we can all relate to the surprise we see when a native speaker finds out that we speak their language. My favorite question that Germans ask me is: “Wie bist du überhaupt auf Deutsch gekommen?” Roughly translated: Why on earth would you decide to study German, of all languages? I always smile, because the answer has been a decade in the making and brought me to working at the IU Europe Gateway this summer in Berlin.
My love affair with Germany began in high school, when I participated in two exchange programs to Germany. My Hoosier roots run deep; I grew up in Granger, Ind., and graduated from Penn High School in Mishawka. Even coming from a small Indiana town (cue Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), my high school hosted a direct exchange program every two years with a high school in Hagen, our small-town counterpart in Germany.
Before I left for my trip to Hagen the summer after my sophomore year, I had two years of high school German under my belt (which meant I could tell you my favorite color and that I was hungry all the time and that was about it). So even though it was a summer filled with miscommunication and awkward moments, this was the summer that I realized there was a world outside Indiana, and it was a world I wanted to be a part of for the rest of my life.
I was so enthralled with German language and culture that the following summer, I took part in the Indiana University Honors Program in Foreign Languages intensive language study for high school students living in Indiana. Each year, a handful of students from my high school would participate in the program and return their senior year having seemingly mastered their foreign language in two months. The success of this program stemmed from its “No English” and “No technology” rules. In this program, we were not allowed to speak English to our host families, friends, family, etc., nor were we allowed to go on the internet or call our parents for the summer.
While the internet rule has become lax over the years, I can honestly say that this program changed my life. I was committed to learning German, and when my parents picked me up from the airport eight weeks later, I found it difficult to speak English. From the program, I was introduced to my host family, who are now a huge part of my life; taught how to be a smart traveler; and returned to my senior year as a highly skilled German speaker.
After graduating from high school, I decided to attend IU Bloomington to continue my German studies. Bloomington is one of my favorite places on earth. I joined a sorority, raced with my Little 5 team and spent a summer in Bloomington, but I couldn’t wait to go back to Germany.
As part of my double major in international studies, I spent spring semester of my junior year abroad with IU’s German program in Freiburg, Germany. Freiburg is the Bloomington of Germany. It’s always sunny, it is surrounded by gorgeous mountains, and it is filled with young students who are eager to meet new people. This summer was unforgettable; it was filled with living in a flat with 11 other roommates, getting my purse stolen in Spain and writing my first (and last) 30-page paper in German — all events that were difficult at the time, but now are hilarious stories to tell in hindsight.
I returned to Bloomington for my senior year, even more independent, confident and fluent than ever, but I was itching to get back to Germany once again. After graduating in 2013, I moved to Frankfurt, Germany, where I worked as an English teaching assistant for two years through Fulbright U.S. Student Programs and Pädagogischer Austauschdienst, a German organization that promotes international exchange and cooperation in education. During the week, I taught students from fifth grade to 13th grade; on the weekend, I was a world traveler. I made it to Sweden, Spain, France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Austria and Morocco, to name a few. With each new visit to Germany, I realized there is a larger world outside my worldview.
After participating in three exchange programs from high school to college, working for IU Education Abroad, and teaching in Germany, I realized that I wanted to spend my life getting students excited to go abroad. I made my return to IU in August 2015 to begin my master’s program in Higher Education and Student Affairs, where I also now work as the graduate assistant in the Office of International Services. Through my work in the international student office, I became very familiar with the IU Global Gateways. Once I heard about the new Gateway opening in Berlin, I knew it was a sign. I sent the director of the office an email and very eagerly asked her if there were any internship opportunities available for the summer. And just like that, IU opened another amazing door for me in Germany.
The IU Europe Gateway office serves a number of purposes for IU. First and foremost, it provides a chance for scholars from IU and all over Europe to connect, share ideas and collaborate on research. As the intern in the office, I have helped organize lectures, workshops and conferences that are held at our office in Berlin. Our most recent events have included a lecture on Cold War journalism by an IU professor that took place at the Berlin Wall Museum and a workshop on current economic issues featuring IU and German scholars. For our summer events, I have worked on making and cultivating our professional brand, which has included learning how to use InDesign and Photoshop to create invitations and event material. Hear that future employers? I have skills.
In the short weeks I have been at the office, I also created and now manage the Gateway’s Facebook page. This is has been a really neat way to connect with IU students and the Berlin community and to keep them up to date on all of our Gateway events. In addition to event management, I am also conducting international comparative education research to learn more about higher education institutions throughout Europe and to learn how we can better serve our students. Working at the Gateway has helped me connect all of my passions: student affairs, German and traveling. I hope to become an international student recruiter after I graduate, so working at an American institution abroad is going to be unsurpassable experience in preparing me for a job within international admissions.
Berlin has also been an amazing city to live in and explore; it is a Pinterest board come to life. Everything is up-recycled, chic, and ultra hip. I have seen restaurants with lamps shades made out of coffee filters and it seems that almost every cafe has swapped its chairs for wooden crates and pillow tops. One fun fact about Berlin is that there are photo booths hiding all over the city. For two Euros, you can take really silly black-and-white pictures with as many friends as you can cram inside. Apparently you can’t call yourself a true ‘Berliner’ unless you have a sizable collection of printouts. Among my favorite, quirky experiences so far in Berlin, 90 percent have revolved around good food and people. So if you are a foodie with a bit of wanderlust, Berlin is the city for you!
After a decade of collected experiences abroad, consider this my thank you letter to you, IU Bloomington. You have given me so many amazing opportunities to study abroad in Germany from high school to college; you prepared me with the skills and tools to lead a life abroad; you introduced me to some of my lifelong friends and a number of German families who have adopted me as their own. And for that, I am forever grateful
IU experts helping Europe make sense of U.S. elections
Indiana University Bloomington political scientist Jean Robinson will discuss the 2016 election results Thursday as part of a panel discussion at the IU Europe Gateway in Berlin.
Robinson, professor in the Department of Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences, will join Christian Lammert of the Freie Universität Berlin for a discussion of The United States After the Elections: What’s Next for the U.S. and the World.” Sudha David-Wilp of the German Marshall Fund will moderate.
The program, part of a speaker series on International Governance in a Multipolar Age sponsored by the IU Europe Gateway and Freie Universität Berlin, starts 12:30 p.m. Thursday Eastern Standard Time (6:30 p.m. Central European Time). The discussion of the election and its potential impact on international politics and policy will be live streamed.
Robinson recently completed a term as executive associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Her research focuses on gender and inequality, including inequality in education, same-sex marriage policies cross-nationally and other topics. Her recent publications include the book chapter “In Search of Equality in School Finance Reform” and the article “Democracy, Discursive Frames and Same-Sex Unions.”
In another post-election discussion focused on Europe, IU political scientists Regina Smyth and William Bianco discussed the results via remote TV connection with staff at the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Nov. 9. Smyth is project director of the new Russian Studies Workshop at IU Bloomington.
IU President Michael A. McRobbie inaugurated the IU Europe Gateway in November 2015. Located in the Kreuzberg District of East Berlin, it is housed in the Global Institute of the Council on International Educational Exchange. Hannah Buxbaum, professor and John E. Schiller Chair in Legal Ethics in the IU Maurer School of Law, is the academic director. Andrea Adam Moore is its director.
The IU Europe Gateway is the university’s third facility for international faculty, student and alumni activities, following the launch of similar offices in New Delhi and Beijing.
IU president to lead delegation to Spain, France
MADRID and PARIS -- Indiana University is celebrating the golden anniversary of one of its most successful Education Abroad programs and globally focused collaborations. This program has made an important contribution to IU’s effort to increase the number of its students studying abroad and heighten its overall international engagement.
On Wednesday, May 17, in Madrid, IU President Michael A. McRobbie and other members of a university delegation will help mark 50 years of the Madrid Program and recognize the consortium of U.S. universities, known as the Universidades Reunidas, that has enabled thousands of students to study abroad in Spain’s capital and largest city.
A partnership initiated between IU and Purdue University in 1965-66 for advanced students of Spanish and joined by the University of Wisconsin in 1970, the Madrid Program, also known as the WIP (Wisconsin-Indiana-Purdue) Program, has proven to be an enduring effort for a half-century. Nearly 3,000 students have participated in the program during its 50-year history.
For the last two decades, IU has managed the wider university consortium that enlists students in the program, which is based at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain's most prestigious academic institution and one of the oldest universities in the world, dating back to the late 13th century.
The anniversary celebration is the centerpiece of a 10-day trip to Spain and France that will begin on Monday, May 15. McRobbie's visits to the two countries will be his first official visit to each since becoming IU’s president in 2007.
As with past official IU international trips, the delegation will look to strengthen the university’s connections with partner universities, government, business and cultural leaders, and alumni. It will also aim to enhance IU’s engagement in Europe and strengthen connections to the region, many of which are advanced through IU’s Global Gateway Network, including the IU Europe Gateway office in Berlin.
The trip is being organized by the IU Office of the Vice President for International Affairs.
“The remarkably successful and enduring Madrid study abroad program reflects the best of Indiana University’s longstanding tradition of international engagement and continuing key institutional emphasis on developing the global literacy of our students,” McRobbie said. “For a half-century now, this program has been a hallmark of our efforts to provide IU students with meaningful and immersive international experiences that can be life-changing and that, increasingly, our state's employers are seeking as they recruit new talent.”
Spain and France remain two of the most popular study abroad destinations for college and university students across the United States. Around 370 IU students study abroad in the two countries each year.
While in Madrid, McRobbie and fellow delegation members will meet with senior administrators and faculty of Complutense University, as well as with current students, alumni, staff and former resident directors of the Madrid Program. During the 50th-anniversary ceremony, McRobbie will present the Thomas Hart Benton Mural Medallion, awarded for meritorious international service to IU or exceptional achievements worldwide, to Complutense University President Carlos Andradas Heranz.
On May 17, an evening celebration of the Universidades Reunidas at the Complutense University of Madrid, featuring members of the IU delegation, program alumni, consortium partners and current students, will be livestreamed at http://ucm.es/directos.
While in France, McRobbie will meet with IU students studying abroad as part of the Aix-en-Provence Program, which IU shares with the University of Wisconsin. As part of the program, established in 1962 and joined by IU in 1997, students have the opportunity to deeply immerse themselves in, among other subjects, French language, civilization, culture, history and social science.
McRobbie will also meet with senior administrators and faculty of Aix-Marseille Université, France’s largest university with around 70,000 students. While at AMU, which was founded in the early 15th century as the University of Provence, IU Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret will renew an agreement between AMU and the School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis that has facilitated student exchanges between the two schools since 2002.
The trip will conclude in Paris, where McRobbie will meet with senior leaders of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie and Université Paris-Sorbonne, two of France’s most prestigious universities, which will merge in early 2018 to establish a new, comprehensive global university in the heart of Paris—Sorbonne Universités—that is expected to rival some of the best in the world.
The top-ranked university in France, UPMC is the country’s largest and most prestigious scientific and medical education center, with more than 3,750 researchers and professor-researchers in 100 laboratories and an additional 2,800 researchers working as partners from four major French national research organizations. Université Paris-Sorbonne is the largest institution in France dedicated to the study of literature, languages, civilizations, arts and humanities, and the social sciences.
Also in Paris, McRobbie will meet and discuss potential collaborative activities with top administrators at Université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas, France’s first and most prestigious law school, which has a longstanding relationship with the IU Maurer School of Law, and the IESEG School of Management, one of France's elite business schools and a member of the Université Catholique de Lille, the largest private university in France.
On May 21 in Paris, McRobbie will attend an event with IU alumni living in France and elsewhere in Western Europe, during which he will provide an update on IU activities in the U.S. and worldwide.
IU Europe Gateway offers a space for conversation about antisemitism and racism in the United States
After the presidential election in the United States, Noam Zadoff, assistant professor of Jewish studies and history at Indiana University, felt it was time to have a conversation.
From his perspective, Donald Trump’s surprise win made many people realize in one historic moment that the reality they believed to be true was far removed from the reality that other people were experiencing in the country.
The gap between the perceived reality and true reality offered a moment for reflection, and Zadoff recognized parallels between the current political landscape in the U.S. and periods in Germany and Israel’s history.
Zadoff and his wife, Mirjam Zadoff, associate professor of Jewish studies and history and the Alvin H. Rosenfeld Chair in Jewish Studies, wanted to explore those parallels and better understand what was happening in the U.S.
The Zadoffs connected with the IU Europe Gateway in Berlin and with colleagues Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, director at Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung, the Center for Research on Antisemitism at Technische Universität Berlin, Technical University Berlin; and Marcus Funck, a research associate and the center’s graduate program coordinator. Founded in 1982, the center is one of the world’s most important institutions of its kind. The core of its work is basic interdisciplinary research on antisemitism in all its various causes, manifestations and effects, past and present.
“Given our close ties, professor Noam Zadoff and I started talking about a workshop or conference on this topic when we met in December in Berlin,” Schüler-Springorum said. “Given the grave transatlantic impact of the election, its outcome, and antisemitic as well as racist incidents on both sides of the Atlantic, we saw the necessity to organize an event that not only takes a further look into the United States’ internal affairs but also on the transatlantic repercussions and reciprocities."
The Zadoffs and Schüler-Springorum planned a conference and called it “After the Election: Antisemitism and Racism in the United States” with support from the IU Europe Gateway, the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies program at IU, Technische Universität, Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung, IU's College Arts and Humanities Institute and the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs at IU.
“You could say that this conference originated in a shock that took place immediately after the election and was felt from both sides of the ocean,” Zadoff said. “Our role as universities and intellectuals and scholars is to try to act in this gap and understand it to help to reduce it.”
The IU Europe Gateway
The IU Europe Gateway in Berlin was the perfect venue for such reflection.
“It was important to get out geographically, so you can have a look back,” Zadoff said. “It’s in a sense an American-neutral space. You have the infrastructure, you have great help in organizing a conference, and you have a place where you can feel like you’re in the United States but still have enough distance to look back in a comparative way.”
The IU Europe Gateway office hosted nearly 100 speakers and attendees from London, Poland, Israel, Germany and all over the U.S. for the conference.
The gateway in Berlin is one of three in IU’s Global Gateway Network, which support IU faculty, staff, students, alumni and partners as they advance their academic and professional interests in the country or region. The gateway in Europe opened in 2015 and offers space for hosting academic events, study abroad programs or personal research. Its staff are also a resource providing advice, connections and logistical support as well as expert knowledge in the region.
Andrea Adam Moore, IU Europe Gateway director, worked with the Zadoffs to draw up a budget, organize conference meals and catering, and promote the event with specific interest groups and local media. While the gateway worked with Technische Universität Berlin, the Europe Gateway hosted the main part of the conference and was responsible for making sure the event ran smoothly.
“This encompassed everything from video recording the event and communication with local vendors to taking care of the special needs of some of our guests,” Moore said. “It was a great pleasure to work with Noam and Mirjam to plan and organize this event.”
Conversation, reflection and the future
The conference included more than a dozen speakers who shared their scholarship and engaged attendees in thoughtful discussions.
Among the speakers were Roger Cohen, IU Poynter Chair and internationally acclaimed journalist for The New York Times; Isabel V. Hull, the John Stambaugh Professor of History at Cornell University; and Khalil Muhammad, professor of history, race and public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
In Cohen’s keynote lecture, he referred to his experiences growing up and living outside the United States before becoming a naturalized American and taking an oath to uphold the Constitution.
“How we have fallen by electing a president who has not read the Constitution,” Cohen said. “In my view, Trump has parted company with the American idea.”
Cohen said the law, the press, popular protests and more are blocking what he believes are radical elements of Trump’s agenda, including efforts to implement travel restrictions against citizens of other countries.
“The press has been reborn,” he said. “The New York Times has 600,000 more digital subscribers in the last six months.”
While his perspective on the first few months of Trump’s presidency was not positive, Cohen felt the voters who elected Trump should be heard. “Many Americans think Trump is the most honest president,” he said. “However troubling, it's important to hear people out.”
Hull not only focused on Trump but looked at recent events in American history through the lens of German history, finding the most striking similarities between the two countries in civil society and the use of racism and antisemitism as a political tool.
“I’m speaking to a room of people who are experts,” Hull said before she gave the conference's opening lecture. “I’m hoping to throw out ways of looking at things that might spur conversation.”
Muhammad was also hoping to move the conversation forward, specifically as it relates to teaching history in the U.S.
He argued that America needs a “new origin story” and needs to do a better job of teaching the nation’s history and not ignore its chapters of racial domination.
“Our current origin story is mostly a story of heroic founding fathers who created a system of government that protected individual liberty,” he said in an interview before his talk. “They are men without contradiction, without flaws who created a government to empower individuals with the power to do whatever they please, even the right to oppress people.”
Throughout the conference, the discussion topics ranged widely and included analysis of the media, memorialization of past events, empathy’s influence on racism and antisemitism, and the role of scholars and academics. The conference speakers also examined antisemitism and racism beyond the U.S. and Germany.
Ultimately, they looked toward the future. In the closing panel discussion, Mirjam Zadoff suggested the younger generation was a place to find hope, a sentiment echoed by the panelists and audience.
"There's a growing politicization, even of students in the Midwest," Mirjam Zadoff said.
Sacred Journeys 5th Global Conference, Berlin, Germany, July 5-6, 2018
Indiana University (IU) Europe Gateway, Berlin, Germany
(https://global.iu.edu/global-gateways/europe/index.html)
Located in the Kreuzberg neighborhood in Berlin, the IU Europe Gateway is housed within the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) Global Institute.
Call for Papers
The latest research indicates that more than 400 million people embark annually on traditional pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia, India, Japan, and elsewhere, with the numbers steadily increasing. Pilgrimage is one of the most ancient practices of humankind and is associated with a great variety of religious and spiritual traditions, beliefs and sacred geographies. As a global phenomenon, pilgrimage facilitates interaction between and among diverse peoples from countless cultures, occupations, and walks of life. In the 5th Global Conference, we will continue to explore the many personal, interpersonal, intercultural, and international dimensions of these often profound events. This includes similarities and differences in the practice in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Taoism, and other traditions, as well as secular pilgrimage. The impact of the internet and globalization, pilgrimage as protest, and pilgrimage and peace building, among others, are all topics of interest, as are the concepts of the internal pilgrimage and the journey of self-discovery.
Among the key issues that emerged from earlier Sacred Journeys conferences were:
- Definition of Pilgrimage: ‘Travel for transformation’ embraces the sacred journey as a potential turning point in one’s life. Questions arise as to how and when a journey becomes ‘sacred’. Does tourism merely observe the authentic in others, whereas pilgrimage seeks it for oneself? When is a tourist a pilgrim and vice versa?
- Reinforcing a Vision of the Unity of Humanity: While many pilgrimages have a political dimension and political leaders often manipulate pilgrims in ways detrimental to peace, how can the concept of pilgrimage lend itself to envisioning a world united in difference?
- Pilgrimage and Globalization: Technology is impacting pilgrims in innumerable ways. Infrastructural and support services are also improving, and journeys once thought to be too difficult are now within reach of vast numbers of pilgrims. Will modern conveniences alter the traditional experience of pilgrimage or create entirely new experiences?
- The Challenge of Modernity: What does pilgrimage offer that is not found in the routines of modern daily life? In the search for meaning, belonging or identity, some pilgrims will cling to the familiar and reaffirm what is believed ‘true’ at local levels. What kinds of trends along these lines might we forecast for the future?
- Secular Pilgrimage: Each year, large numbers of pilgrims visit secular pilgrimage sites, like those of pop culture heroes. What are the similarities and differences between sacred and secular pilgrimages? What does it mean to be an ‘authentic’ pilgrim?
Many other related themes can be considered for presentation. Among these are (1) pilgrimage and the marketplace; (2) the metaphor of the journey as explored by writers, artists, performers, and singers, including humanists, agnostics, atheists, and musicians; (3) pilgrimage and ‘miracles’ and the related topic of thanksgiving; and (4) ‘dark’ pilgrimages to sites of remembrance and commemoration.
The following information must be in the body of the email:
- Author(s)
- Affiliation as you would like it to appear in the conference program
- Corresponding author email address
The following information must be in the Microsoft Word file:
- Title of proposal
- Body of proposal (maximum of 300 words)
- Keywords (maximum of ten)
Please keep the following in mind:
- All text must be in Times New Roman 12.
- No footnotes or special formatting (bold, underline, or italicization) must be used.
Evaluating Your Proposal
All abstracts will be double-blind peer reviewed and you will be notified of the Organizing Committee’s decision no later than Thursday, 15 March 2018. When a positive decision is made, you will be asked to promptly register online. The conference registration fee is $150 US. You will be asked to submit a draft paper of no more than 3000 words by Friday, 01 June 2018. Please note that we are not in a position to provide funding to facilitate your participation.
Publishing Your Work
Part of the conference’s ethos is to provide an opportunity for sound work to be published in reputable academic journals. As such, we have established linkages with the University of the Philippines Manila’s The Reflective Practitioner, BePress’ International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, and MDPI AG’s /Religions/. You will have the opportunity to expand your draft paper for submission to one of these three journals.
Call for Papers: Slavery Past, Present & Future: 3rd Global Meeting
Conference date: July 10, 2018
Submission deadline: March 2, 2018
Throughout history, slavery (the purchase and sale of human beings as chattel), enslavement (through conquest, and exploitation of indebtedness, among other vulnerabilities), and similar extreme forms of exploitation and control have been an intrinsic part of human societies.
Is slavery an inevitable part of the human condition?
Controversial estimates indicate that up to 35 million people worldwide are enslaved today. This modern re-emergence of slavery, following legal abolition over two hundred years ago, is said to be linked to the deepening interconnectedness of countries in the global economy, overpopulation, and the economic and other vulnerabilities of the individual victims and communities.
This conference will explore slavery in all its dimensions and, in particular, the ways in which individual humans and societies understand and attempt to respond to it.
The varieties of contemporary forms of exploitation appear to be endless. Consider, for example, enslavement or mere “exploitation” among:
- fishermen in Thailand’s booming shrimping industry,
- children on Ghana’s cocoa plantations,
- immigrant farmworkers on U.S. farms,
- truck drivers in the port of Los Angeles.
- prostituted women and girls on the streets and in the brothels of Las Vegas,
- the dancing boys (bacha bazi) of Afghanistan,
- the sex workers of The Netherlands’ Red Light Districts and in Italian cities,
- Eritrean and other sub-Saharan Africans fleeing to Israel and trafficked and exploited in the Sinai,
- Syrian refugees in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon, and
- migrant workers from Southeast Asia and other countries who flock to the oil rich Gulf States for work.
Does the persistence and mutations of different forms of extreme human-of-human exploitation mean that the world may not have changed as much as contemporary societies would like to believe since worldwide abolition and the recognition of universal individual and collective human rights? Like the ‘consumers’ of past eras, such as early industrialization, are we dependent on the abhorrent exploitation of others?
Potential themes and sub-themes of the conference include but are not limited to:
- Defining Slavery:
- What do we mean when we talk about “slavery”
- Using “slavery” to obscure other endemic forms of exploitation
- Teaching and learning about historic slavery and contemporary forms of exploitation
- Slaveries of the Past
- Classical (Egyptian, Greco-Roman, etc.) slavery
- Conquests and colonizations – Aboriginal Australians, indigenous peoples of the New World, dividing and colonizing Africa and Asia
- Slaveries in Europe before the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Industrialization, such as villeinage and serfdom
- Trans-Atlantic Slavery and the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
- Systems of slavery in tribal and traditional societies
- WWII and post-WWII forced labor camps
- Human Trafficking and other Forms of Contemporary Exploitation
- Definitions
- Types of human trafficking
- Organ trafficking
- The focus on sex trafficking: reasons, purpose, effects
- Can nation states enslave?
- Is human trafficking “slavery”
- Contemporary usage and depictions of slavery
- Civil society anti-trafficking activism:
- Methodologies
- Effectiveness
- Anti-trafficking policies and legislation
- Assessing contemporary anti-trafficking and/or anti-“slavery” Initiatives
- Systems and Structures of Enslavement and Subordination (historic and contemporary)
- Role of slavery in national and global economies
- Economic, political, legal structures – their role in enslavement and exploitation
- Slavery’s impact on culture
- Cultural impacts of historic slavery
- Voices of the Enslaved
- Slave narratives of the past and present
- Descendants’ interpretation of their enslaved and slave-holding ancestors
- Legacies of slavery
- Identifying and mapping contemporary legacies – economic, social, cultural, psychological
- Assessment of slavery’s impact – economic, political, other
- Commemorations of enslavers and/or the enslaved
- Debating reparations
- Anti-slavery movements:
- Reparations
- Economic compensation
- Restorative justice
- Teaching and learning about slavery
- Relationship to the global racial hierarchy
- Abolitionism and law: effects and (in)effectiveness
- The role of media and social media
Submissions to this conference are sought from people from all genders and walks of life, including academics (from multiple disciplines, such as art, anthropology, sociology, history, ethnic studies, politics, social work, economics) and non-academics; social workers, activists, and health care professionals; government representatives and policy makers; former slaves and indentured laborers; members of at-risk populations such as migrant and guest workers, non—regularized immigrants, and refugees.
Conference Committee:
Karen E. Bravo (Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, IN, USA)
David Bulla (Augusta University, GA, USA)
Sheetal Shah (Webster University, Leiden, The Netherlands)
Polina Smiragina (University of Sydney, Australia)
Submitting Your Proposal
Proposals should be submitted no later than Friday, March 2, 2018 to:
Karen E. Bravo, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, Indianapolis: kbravo@iupui.edu
E-Mail Subject Line: Slavery Past Present & Future 3 Proposal Submission
File Format: Microsoft Word (DOC or DOCX)
The following information must be included in the body of the email:
- Author(s)
- Affiliation as you would like it to appear in the conference program
- Corresponding author email address
The following information must be in the Microsoft Word file:
- Title of proposal
- Body of proposal (maximum of 300 words)
- Keywords (maximum of ten)
Please keep the following in mind:
- All text must be in Times New Roman 12.
- No footnotes or special formatting (bold, underline, or italicization) must be used.
Evaluating Your Proposal
All abstracts will be double-blind peer reviewed and you will be notified of the Organizing Committee’s decision no later than Friday, 16 March 2018. If a positive decision is made, you will be asked to promptly register online. You will be asked to submit a draft paper of no more than 3000 words by Friday, 01 June 2018.
The conference registration fee is Euro (€) 200. Please note that we are not in a position to provide funding to facilitate your participation.
Publication:
A selection of papers will be published in an edited volume, to be submitted to Brill’s ‘Studies in Global Slavery’ book series.
Spring 2020
As we start the new year, we want to take the opportunity to thank you for your engagement with the IU Europe Gateway in 2019. We opened our doors to guests from near and afar for twenty-three events, including fifteen academic conferences and workshops and three events for the general public. Our collaboration spans various IU schools and departments, multiple countries and numerous organizations and institutions world-wide. We also welcomed a record number of IU students (66) for study-abroad activities in Berlin. Throughout the year, we reconnected with dozens of IU alumni and supported their endeavors in Europe.
In 2020, Indiana University is looking back at 200 years of providing high-quality public education, and we are excited to join in the Bicentennial celebrations here in Europe as well.
Best wishes for the new year – and let us know how we can help you realize your global engagement plans in 2020 and beyond.
One of our primary goals is to support IU faculty in expanding their scholarly networks across Europe and provide them with opportunities to present their latest research to an international audience. In June, we hosted a large academic conference on Poetic Critique, which was co-sponsored by the Einstein Foundation Berlin and organized together with the Philological Laboratory at Freie Universität Berlin’s Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Literary Studies.
The conference co-organizer Michel Chaouli is Professor at IU’s Germanic Studies Department and current Einstein Foundation Visiting Fellow.In the fall, two recipients of the Indiana University President’s International Research Awards (PIRA) used the Gateway’s space and resources to bring together diverse groups of scholars and discuss their respective research projects. After an initial event at the India Gateway, 2018 PIRA recipient Ron Sela from the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies convened researchers in October in Berlin to investigate the fragmentation of religious authority in Islam. Later that month, Elizabeth Dunn from IU’s Geography Department kicked-off her 2019 PIRA-supported project "Infrastructures of Refugee Arrival: Spaces, Politics and Negotiations of Asylum" with a workshop at the Europe Gateway. In the new year, we will be supporting yet another PIRA recipient, Carmen Luca Sugawara from IUPUI’s School of Social Work, who studies the role of higher-education institutions in fostering local capacity development in post-communist countries and who will be organizing a project-related workshop at the Gateway in early May 2020.
The President’s International Research Awards support high-impact international collaborative research projects that engage one or more of IU's Global Gateways and the communities they serve.
Strengthening Academic Partnerships
Taking advantage of the Gateway's proximity to Eastern Europe, IU researchers have organized events intended to strengthen ties with IU’s Polish and Russian partner institutions.
In collaboration with Jagiellonian University, Michael Brose, Director of IU’s Pan Asia Institute and the East Asian Studies Center, gathered a group of scholars for a workshop in November that explored the evolution of Sinology – “China Studies” – in the Cold War period. It was Brose’s second event hosted at the Gateway in 2019 after his international workshop on “Halal Economies in non-Muslim Countries” in May, which was co-sponsored by the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.
Further east, in June, the Gateway Director participated in the International Partners' Week of one of our closest Russian partner institutions, the Higher School of Economics Moscow, to further strengthen the bonds while exchanging ideas and best practices in international education and planning joint future events. Having hosted a series of workshops involving scholars from HSE at the Gateway in the past, we are looking forward to organizing more events in the upcoming years: the Russian Studies Workshop at the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies is currently planning an academic workshop on Siberian studies in 2020 and a joint HSE-IU summer school in 2021.
Whenever necessary and possible, the IU Europe Gateway supports global partnerships and collaborations that could otherwise not be realized. In August, Michael Kowolik, Executive Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and of Global Engagement at the IU School of Dentistry (IUPUI), met with colleagues from Tehran University of Medical Sciences at the Gateway to plan joint research projects and discuss a possible future workshop in Berlin.
Engaging students
This past year, we welcomed a record number of study abroad students – from IUPUI’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, IU Bloomington’s Kelley School of Business and the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. We also hosted the first ANU-IU joint summer school in collaboration with the Australian National University and five other partner institutions of an ERASMUS+ Jean Monnet Network, which will take place again in the summer of 2020.
For 2020, we are particularly looking forward to welcoming our first student group from the Dwyer College of Health Sciences at IU South Bend in March.
Please get in touch if we can be of assistance as you plan your student programs for 2021 and beyond. For groups visiting Berlin, we offer facilities and logistical support as well as an introductory module presented by our Gateway Director. For programs taking place in and outside of Berlin, we help connect faculty leaders with local speakers and contacts at various visit sites, and provide advice on extra-curricular activities.
Upcoming events and funding deadlines
Plans for 2020 include a reception with IU President Michael A. McRobbie and IU students, alumni and local partners as part of IU’s Bicentennial celebrations, academic events in a variety of disciplines, including social work, entrepreneurship, Chinese language studies and higher education assessment, as well as several study abroad programs. Please visit our events calendar for further information as it becomes available.
OVPIA will match $5,000 in commitments from other IU units (e.g., departments, schools, campuses) for activities that take place at one of IU's Global Gateways.
For faculty members within the College of Arts & Sciences at IUB whose primary area of research or creative activity is in the arts and humanities, please consider our CAHI Global Gateway Grant funding, administered jointly by the College Arts & Humanities Institute and OVPIA.
Inaugural European Law Alumni Networking Conference Connects Graduates with Law Schools at IU Bloomington and IUPUI
Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law, the IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law at IUPUI, the IU Alumni Association, and the IU Europe Gateway hosted the first IU Law Alumni Conference for former Hoosiers who live and work in Europe. The event brought together more than seventy law and business professionals with the goal of fostering the university’s existing networks and forging new ties with overseas alumni.
The keynote speaker was Professor Dr. Bostjan Zupancic, a distinguished scholar, renowned author, former Judge and President of the Third Chamber at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and former Vice-Chair of the U.N. Committee Against Torture. His remarks centered around his recent publication, On the European Court of Human Rights: An Insider’s Retrospective (1998–2016). He shared his views on the structure, function, and credibility of the ECHR in Strasbourg including its successes, defeats, interrelations.
At the core of the event were its interactive breakout panels with faculty experts from both law schools as well as IU McKinney Dean Karen E. Bravo and IU Maurer Dean Austen Parrish. These smaller sessions allowed alumni to connect with each other, exchange experiences and resources, and discuss some of the pressing issues for European legal professionals.
“It was great to connect with our law alumni from both campuses for this event,” said Hannah Buxbaum, Indiana University Vice President for International Affairs. “Though COVID has interrupted our ability to gather in person, I have been encouraged by our alumni’s continuing desire to stay engaged with the university and with each other. Even as the world gradually returns to travel, online outreach will continue to be a powerful way to connect individuals and catalyze community within IU’s global network.”
Vice President Buxbaum teamed up with her colleague Lukasz Lasek of Poland, exchange student at IU Maurer in 2012 who also served on the steering committee, to lead a breakout session addressing the emerging challenges of cross-border taking of evidence in a digital age.
“The idea of the IU Law European alumni meeting has been seeded before the pandemic and aimed at bringing like-minded people together,” said Lukasz Lasek. “Although the pandemic pushed us [to do so in a virtual space], the objective of creating a community has been achieved. The great thing about the meeting is that it created opportunities to get to know new people from outside of “our year’s bubbles,” yet with the same “IU experience” and interesting life stories. A big turnout demonstrates that there is a need to stay in touch with our foreign alma mater and participate in its life. I truly look forward to our future meetings and discussions.”
Achim Förster, LL.M. ’06 (IU McKinney), of Germany was one of the six IU law alumni who spearheaded the effort. “When I was asked to be on the steering committee, I was immediately excited,” Förster said. “IU has a strong alumni network in Europe, and the IU Gateway in Berlin is a great hub for activities. The conference was a fantastic experience and a wonderful opportunity to interact with alumni from both schools and to share ideas for future collaboration. I am proud to be part of IU's worldwide network of lawyers and am very much looking forward to future events.”
Förster joined colleagues from Indianapolis and France to lead a breakout session diving into the history and current status of the US-European Dialogue of Legal Systems, ultimately leading to a discussion of how IU alumni can shape the future and drive the dialogue between the United States, European Union, and beyond.
The group plans to reconvene on a regular basis to continue utilizing university experts, pooling resources, strengthening networks, and growing global connections.
While many of the IU Europe Gateway’s regular activities came to a full stop in the spring, multiple new forms of virtual programs – from the IU Global Classrooms to Gateway Webinar Series – have led to significant expansion in engagement with IU’s longtime partner institution Universität Hamburg.
With a robust faculty research exchange as its foundation, Indiana University and Universität Hamburg (UHH) have been successfully working together for more than 40 years.
Since 2012, Universität Hamburg's internationalization strategy has included the development of a sustainable, strategic network of partnerships with higher education institutions around the world. They are forging strategic research partnerships with institutions that promise excellent opportunities for cooperation in key research areas and active participation of several UHH faculties. In 2019, UHH designated IU a strategic partner, resulting in a range of new funding opportunities for a variety of partnership activities with IU. In 2020, UHH received the Indiana University Bicentennial Medal.
IU Global staff in Bloomington and at the IU Europe Gateway have stayed closely connected with their counterparts in Hamburg through virtual meetings, occurring on a near-weekly basis, and have led to a myriad of ideas for collaboration.
IU and UHH are currently working on several other joint projects, including a joint academic panel discussion on Negative Emissions Technologies for the spring 2021 at the German Center for Research and Innovation in New York City.
Please contact the IU Europe Gateway or the International Partnerships team with your own ideas for collaborative projects with UHH and other institutions in the region.
India Gateway
Indiana University Gateway opens in Gurgaon, India, as portal for international activities
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—Indiana University has announced the creation of its first international gateway office. Located in Gurgaon, India—a suburb of New Delhi—the Indiana University Gateway-India will serve as a home base for IU activities in the country.
The office will support scholarly research and teaching, international study and distance learning, business partnerships and alumni events.
“Indiana University has a long history of engagement in India, which offers tremendous potential for our students and faculty,” IU President Michael A. McRobbie said. “At the same time, IU is an attractive destination and partner for talented students and scholars in India. Appropriately, the IU Gateway-India is a portal that will function in both directions, facilitating excellent access to opportunities in the country for IU faculty and students while at the same time allowing our India-based students, alumni and partners to connect directly with the university.
“This office—which will be the first of many such international gateways—will enable us to accelerate academic activities and partnerships in this increasingly important area of the world,” McRobbie added.
Located within the industrial and financial center of the North Indian state of Haryana, the IU Gateway-India will occupy one floor of an attractive, modern building on the Gurgaon campus of the American Institute of Indian Studies, an NGO run by a consortium of U.S. colleges and universities that includes IU.
“The American Institute of Indian Studies, now celebrating its 50th year of advancing scholarship on India, is delighted to welcome the new Indiana University Gateway-India office to its Gurgaon campus,” American Institute of Indian Studies President Philip Lutgendorf said. “Our administrators and the research staff of the two extraordinary archives that the building also houses—devoted to India's architectural and performed heritage—look forward to the collegial presence of IU faculty and students as the university's role in India expands.”
A kickoff reception marking the official opening of the IU Gateway-India will begin in Gurgaon at 5 p.m. IST Feb. 27.
“Our co-location with AIIS not only provides a beautiful, well-equipped facility but also a direct link to the institute’s vast network of resources,” said David Zaret, vice president for international affairs. “We couldn’t ask for a better setup for building on what is already a robust IU presence in India.”
The IU Gateway India is a joint initiative of the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs, the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President at IU Bloomington and the Office of the IU Executive Vice President and Chancellor of IUPUI, with additional support from the IU Foundation and the Kelley School of Business. Zaret and Provost Lauren Robel will be among the attendees at the kickoff ceremony.
“The opportunities available through the IU Gateway support our vital commitment to a global academic environment,” Robel said. “We have already developed strong institutional partnerships and academic exchanges in India, particularly through our Kelley School of Business, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, College of Arts and Sciences, Maurer School of Law and School of Optometry.”
Indian institutions with which IU is currently affiliated include:
- O.P. Jindal Global University
- University of Hyderabad
- Indian Institute of Management Lucknow
- Indian Institute of Management Rohtak
- Administrative Staff College of India
- University of Pune
- Confederation of Indian Industry
- Elite School of Optometry
- SHODH: Institute for Research and Development
“We have also attracted a large number of international students from India, with nearly 1,000 Indian students currently studying at IU,” Robel added. “The physical presence established through the IU Gateway enables us to better serve these students, deepen and expand our institutional partnerships, and create a platform for further research, study abroad and international collaboration.”
“India has consistently been among the top three countries from which IUPUI recruits international students and is the leading source for international students in our graduate programs,” IUPUI Chancellor Charles Bantz said. “Having the IU Gateway-India facility will allow us to provide a focal point where prospective students can be in touch with current students and alumni about opportunities for academic study and exchange programs.”
IU is working on plans to open additional facilities in key areas of global significance.
Event details:
- WHAT: Opening reception for the Indiana University Gateway-India
- WHERE: 5 to 8 p.m. IST Wednesday, Feb. 27
- WHERE: American Institute of Indian Studies 22, Sector-32, Institutional Area Gurgaon-122 001 Haryana, India.
IU and Internet2 presidents lead U.S. delegation to establish partnership with leaders in India
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie and Internet2 President and CEO H. David Lambert will lead a delegation of U.S. college presidents, chief information officers and researchers to New Delhi, India, on March 20 and 21 to establish a major partnership with the National Knowledge Network, the leading National Research and Education Network in India.
The U.S. and Indian leaders are partnering to improve research, education, and economic and social developments regarding education, technology, Internet freedoms, agriculture, public health, fine arts, culture and business.
“Nearly all areas of science and research today rely essentially on digital technology and are digitally enabled,” said McRobbie, who is chair of the Internet2 board. “And the Internet means that science and research are no longer limited to the borders of one country but are truly international no matter what the areas. Vital to international collaborative digital science and research are the high-speed national research and education networks and the essential connections between them.
“The advanced networking partnership between Internet2 and the NKN will enable American and Indian scientists to collaborate in major new ways and use it to drive new growth and research innovations for generations to come. Indeed, it promises to have an enormous impact in a wide range of areas that enhanced the quality of life for people in both of our countries and around the world.”
Lambert said, “U.S. higher education leaders are forming a partnership with India’s major academic and government institutions to enable the Internet2 Network and India’s National Knowledge Network to provide major transformation through innovation and support for globally shared research, education and communications.”
During the trip, Lambert, on behalf of the entire Internet2 community, will sign a memorandum of understanding with the National Knowledge Network to establish the partnership between the two organizations. Rajagopala Chidambaram, principal scientific adviser to the Indian government, will lead a presentation on NKN’s role in India. In addition, Sam Pitroda, adviser to the prime minister of India, will chair a panel discussion featuring U.S. and Indian university leaders.
U.S. delegation members scheduled to participate include:
- Michael A. McRobbie, president, Indiana University
- Satish K. Tripathi, president, University at Buffalo
- H. David Lambert, president and CEO, Internet2
- Tom Delaney, vice president for global technology and chief global technology officer, New York University
- Heather Stewart, associate vice president for global technology, New York University
- Elias G. Eldayrie, vice president and chief information officer, University of Florida
- Klara Jelinkova, vice president and CIO, University of Chicago
- Tripti Sinha, assistant vice president and deputy CIO, Division of Information Technology, executive director of Mid-Atlantic Crossroads, University of Maryland
- Scott Studham, vice president and CIO, University of Minnesota
- Brad Wheeler, vice president for information technology and CIO, Indiana University
- Shawn Reynolds, associate vice president for international partnerships at Indiana University
- Michael Dodson, director, Dhar India Studies Program, Indiana University
- Gordon Wishon, CIO, Arizona State University
- Patton Fast, chief technology officer, University of Minnesota
- Himadri B. Pakrasi, director, International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability, Washington University
- Jacqui Montgomery, research associate, Pennsylvania State University
- Pankaj Shah, executive director, OARnet
- Stephen Wolff, chief technology officer, Internet2
- Rob Vietzke, vice president, network services, Internet2
- Ashok Kolaskar, consultant, Internet2
- Edward Moynihan, global program manager, Internet2
About Internet2
Internet2 is a member-owned advanced technology community founded by the nation’s leading higher education institutions in 1996. Internet2 provides a collaborative environment for U.S. research and education organizations to solve common technology challenges, and to develop innovative solutions in support of their educational, research and community service missions.
Internet2 also operates the nation’s largest and fastest, coast-to-coast research and education network, in which the Network Operating Center is powered by Indiana University. Internet2 serves more than 90,000 community anchor institutions, 250 U.S. universities, 70 government agencies, 38 regional and state education networks, 80 leading corporations working with our community and more than 65 national research and education networking partners representing more than 100 countries.
Internet2 offices are located in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Denver, Colo.; Emeryville, Calif.; Washington, D.C; and West Hartford, Conn. For more information, visit www.internet2.edu or follow @Internet2 on Twitter.
Associate Professor SP Srinivas receives 2014 Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative Award
In continuation of the educational partnership between India and the United States, the State Department announced that IU School of Optometry was the recipient of one of the eight institutional partnership projects in the third round of Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative awards. The initiative aims to strengthen collaboration and build partnerships between American and Indian institutions of higher education, with the aim of encouraging mutual understanding, educational reform, and economic growth, as well as the development of junior faculty at Indian and American institutions of higher learning.
Specifically, Associate Professor SP Srinivas, in collaboration with other colleagues from the School of Optometry (Sarita Soni, Joseph Bonanno, Carolyn Begley, and Pete Kollbaum) and doctors at the Vision Research Foundation (Chennai, India; the research wing of Sankara Nethralaya) have received a 3-year grant focusing on the prevention of corneal blindness through enhanced professional education and clinical research projects on Fuchs dystrophy and Keratoconus.
Indiana University achieves new international engagement milestones in India, Saudi Arabia
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, and GURGAON, India—Achieving new milestones in its strategic effort to be among the nation’s most internationally focused universities, Indiana University has dramatically strengthened its engagement in two nations, India and Saudi Arabia, where the university’s ties are among its deepest in the world.
In the span of 72 hours, beginning Oct. 28, IU formalized a university-wide partnership in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with King Saud University and dedicated its IU India Office, a home base for university activities across the country and the first established of its two global gateway facilities.
While in Riyadh, IU President Michael A. McRobbie also presented Sami Baroum, a 1992 Ph.D. graduate of the IU Kelley School of Business and one of the Middle East’s leading business executives and entrepreneurs, with the Thomas Hart Benton Medallion. The medallion is given to individuals who have achieved a level of distinction in public office or service and have exemplified the values of IU.
India and Saudi Arabia rank second and fourth, respectively, in the number of international students who study at IU campuses across Indiana. More than 8,500 international students are enrolled at IU this fall, including nearly 1,200 Indian students and nearly 600 students from Saudi Arabia.
Additionally, IU boasts longstanding partnerships with leading institutions of academia, business and government in both countries.
Below is more information about the university’s activities in each country:
Saudi Arabia
McRobbie is the first IU president to visit Saudi Arabia in more than 30 years; the last was John Ryan in 1983.
On Oct. 28, McRobbie and King Saud University President Badran Al Omar signed a university-wide partnership agreement between their respective institutions. The agreement is expected to build upon a longstanding collaboration between both universities’ schools of dentistry.
Over a number of years, 26 King Saud University students have earned advanced degrees in dentistry from IU. Currently, nine of the 90 master’s students at the IU School of Dentistry are from King Saud University. The two schools of dentistry have been formal partners since May 2013.
In signing the new university-wide agreement, IU and King Saud University— the top-ranked university in the Arab world—will seek to expand upon their productive relationship in dentistry and explore collaborative activities in other areas of teaching and research.
While in Riyadh, McRobbie met with several prominent IU Saudi alums in government and business. They included Benton Medallion recipient Baroum, who serves as chair of the Madinah Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship, an organization at the forefront of executive education in the Middle East. He is also chair of the Al Khomasiah Group, a commercial development organization that works to transfer knowledge and develop expertise in Saudi Arabia.
“Sami Baroum’s professional accomplishments have brought great distinction to Indiana University,” McRobbie said. “We are extremely pleased to award him with one of IU’s highest honors, in recognition of his distinguished career as a business executive and entrepreneur.”
McRobbie also met with Bandar Al-Hajjar, the Minister of Hajj, responsible for the provision of facilities for the annual visit of 2.5 million pilgrims to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, one of the largest mass movements of human beings in the world. Al-Hajjar, who earned a master’s degree from IU in economics in 1981, was appointed Minister of Hajj in 2011, becoming the first IU graduate to hold such a high position in the king of Saudi Arabia’s cabinet.
McRobbie also met with representatives of the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education, which oversees the nation’s 28 public universities, as well as with the leadership and staff of the National Center of Assessment in Higher Education, a self-funded government institution that has been measuring the quality, efficiency and equity of Saudi Arabia’s higher education system since 2001.
McRobbie concluded his trip to Saudi Arabia by attending a special reception in downtown Riyadh hosted by 70 IU Saudi alums.
IU first lady Laurie Burns McRobbie, who had a separate itinerary from President McRobbie, paid an official visit to Princess Nora University, a public women’s university in the Saudi capital and the largest university for women in the world, to explore opportunities for collaboration with IU. She also met with distinguished Saudi IU alumnae and other women in senior positions in Saudi Arabia, including members of the Shura Council that advises the Saudi king, at two dinners held in her honor.
In addition she met with Lubna Olayan, who received her master’s degree from the IU Kelley School of Business in 1979. She is now CEO of the Olayan Financing Co., which is the Middle East arm of The Olayan Group, one of the region's leading commercial and investment operations.
India and IU India Office
With music and other fanfare, Indiana University dedicated its IU India Office during a ceremony Oct. 30 that marked the latest chapter in IU’s lengthy history of engagement in India.
Raj Kumar, vice chancellor at O.P. Jindal Global University, and the Honorable Deepender Hooda, a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament, and an alumnus of the IU Kelley School of Business, joined IU President McRobbie at the ceremony. Michael Pelletier, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, was a special guest at the ceremony.
Acclaimed Indian classical musician and sarod virtuoso Ayaan Ali Khan concluded the dedication ceremony with a moving musical performance.
“The IU India Office, first and foremost, is symbolic of Indiana University’s desire to work in a spirit of mutually beneficial cooperation with Indian universities, business and other institutions, as well as India's social and cultural leaders,” McRobbie said. “IU’s presence in India is indicative of our desire to learn about India on its own terms and to begin an exchange that will benefit both India and Indiana and strengthen the connections between India and the United States.”
“It is clear this office will serve as a thriving hub for American students, researchers and faculty members to partner with the brightest minds in India,” Pelletier said. “President Obama and Prime Minister Modi agreed during their recent summit in Washington, D.C., to provide new opportunities for advancing U.S.-India relations, specifically in the area of academic exchange. Indiana University’s India Office can play an important role in this effort and put into action the U.S.-India vision statement of ‘Chalein Saath Saath: Forward, Together We Go.’”
Earlier this year, IU dedicated a second gateway office in Beijing, and it is exploring the possibility of opening similar facilities in the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia.
“IU’s gateway office in India will make resources available to our faculty and students and also to these colleagues and friends abroad,” said David Zaret, IU vice president for international affairs. “The gateways will ensure that the connections that the IU delegation develops will remain active and productive.”
Before the ceremony, IU hosted a daylong symposium at the IU India Office on “Safeguarding India’s Documentary and Cultural Heritage.” Led by Ron Sela, IU associate professor of Central Eurasian studies and international studies at IU Bloomington, participants from several Indian universities and institutions identified key challenges that scholars and researchers face in the use and preservation of manuscript sources, as well as the physical remains of India’s cultural history.
“This activity reflects the spirit of mutually beneficial cooperation that we hope the new IU India Office will foster,” McRobbie said.
Located in the city of Gurgaon near the Indian capital New Delhi, the IU India Office is a 3,700-square-foot suite within the headquarters of the American Institute of Indian Studies, an NGO run by a consortium of U.S. colleges and universities, including IU.
The facility, which opened in cooperation with the institute, enables IU to accelerate its academic partnerships throughout India. It also supports a wide variety of activities, including scholarly research and teaching, conferences and workshops, study abroad programs, distance learning initiatives, student recruitment activities, executive and corporate programs, and alumni engagement events.
In addition to O.P. Jindal Global University, IU has relationships with the University of Hyderabad, Symbiosis International University, Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, Elite School of Optometry and SHODH: Institute for Research and Development.
In recent years, IU has engaged in exchanges and collaborations in optometry and ophthalmology with leading Indian eye care institutions.
Late last month, it was announced that the IU School of Optometry received one of eight Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative awards, which are aimed at strengthening collaboration and building partnerships between American and Indian institutions of higher education. The three-year grant will support collaborative research on the prevention of corneal blindness. The research will be led by S.P. Srinivas, an associate professor at the School of Optometry, working with colleagues at the Vision Research Foundation, the research wing of Sankara Nethralaya, a leading specialty eye hospital based in Chennai, India.
IU Bloomington also is home to the Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program, one of only a handful of such programs in the United States. Its faculty members are engaged in research and teaching about India’s history and culture, including contemporary politics, law, literature and business. It is within the IU School of Global and International Studies.
U.S.-India Partnership for Sexual Health Promotion Members Convened at the Indiana University Gateway Office in Delhi, India
Following the development of the U.S.-India Partnership for Sexual Health Promotion, Drs. Brian Dodge and Swagata Banik, and doctoral student Jessamyn Bowling, from the Center for Sexual Health Promotion traveled to Delhi, India, to meet with academic and community partners from The Humsafar Trust (the oldest and largest agency on the Indian subcontinent serving the health needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, hijra, and other gender and sexual minority communities). The meeting was convened at the newly-opened Indiana University Gateway Office in Gurgaon, a lovely tree-lined technologically-oriented suburb of Delhi. In fact, the delegation's visit marked the first meeting at the IU India Office since the facility was opened by Indiana University President Michael McRobbie on October 30, 2014!
The primary goal of the partnership is to facilitate new opportunities for advancing the field of sexual health through collaborative and community-based research, education and training initiatives among colleagues on both continents. With institutional and core financial support from the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs and the Institute for Advanced Study at Indiana University, the members of this unique initiative are hoping to expand their efforts to work with a wide range of sexual health issues and priority populations in geographical areas and contexts throughout India.
One of the primary aims of the meeting was to review progress on two ongoing exploratory studies that focus on: sexual health among bisexual men in Mumbai (PIs: Brian Dodge & Swagata Banik), and 2. sexual health needs and priorities among sexual minority women in India (PIs: Jessamyn Bowling & Shruta Mengle). Both projects have reached the phase of data analysis and interpretation; preliminary findings are currently in preparation for publication and the production of subsequent funding proposals. In addition, plans are underway for exploring opportunities for future sexual health promotion education, training, and exchange activities for both IU students and Humsafar Trust affiliates, beginning with an online sexual health research methods course. A copy of the agenda from the December 15–17, 2014, meeting may be found here.
With careful preliminary guidance from the IU India Office academic director in Bloomington, Dr. Michael Dodson, as well as meticulous attention on the ground in Delhi from the IU India Office Manager, Ms. Shalini Choubey, the partnership meeting was not only delightful but a smashing success. The exceptional facilities and idyllic setting make the IU India Office a jewel in the crown of the global Indiana University system. We are grateful to the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs for their investment in our initiative and look forward to using the Gateway Office for a wide range of sexual health research, education, and training activities in the future.
Informatics and Computing organizes Indo-US Workshop on Emerging Accessibility Technologies for the Blind and Visually Impaired
The Indiana University School of Informatics & Computing at IUPUI organized an Indo-US Workshop on Emerging Accessibility Technologies for the Blind and Visually Impaired, on Sept.21, 2015, at the Indiana University India Gateway in Gurgaon, Delhi, India.
The Workshop brought together participants from academia, industry, and NGOs representing the BVI community in India. Mr. A. K. Mittal, President of the All India Federation of Blind, inaugurated the Workshop and delivered the opening remarks. This was followed by a keynote presentation by Professor M. Balakrishnan, a distinguished researcher from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Delhi). Further presentations were given by Dr. Ed Cutrell, a senior researcher from Microsoft Research, Bangalore, Dr. Abhay Jere from Persistent Systems in Pune, and Professor Steven Mannheimer, School of Informatics & Computing, IUPUI. Various short presentations were also given by researchers from Assistech, Indian Institute of Technology – Delhi.
The Workshop concluded with a panel session and discussion about the organization of a two-day follow-up workshop in Spring 2016 with the focus on:
- Education in STEM-related areas;
- Employment and career opportunities for the BVI;
- Development of communication networks and outreach information services to enable and empower BVI; and
- Open dialogue with user groups and other stakeholders in the broader BVI community, including, employers, educators, families, social agencies and NGOs, and other researchers.
The goal of the second workshop will be primarily to establish a list of research projects that have international scope, are innovative, valuable to the user community, and will be viable for Indo-US collaborative grant opportunities.
Dr. Mathew Palakal, School of Informatics & Computing at IUPUI, spearheaded this workshop with support from IU Office of the Vice President for International Affairs, “This workshop provided a forum for a small group of people from all key sectors to come together to discuss improving the basic quality of life for the BVI. The passion and excitement at the workshop was unparalleled and we are very hopeful that this collaborative effort will lead to fulfilling some of the basic unmet needs of the BVI through technological innovations.”
Call for Presentations for an International Interdisciplinary Conference
Call for Presentations for an International Interdisciplinary Conference
March 3 & 4, 2016
Pilgrimages in India: Celebrating Journeys of Plurality and Sacredness
Venue: Indiana University Gateway, Gurgaon, India
Conference Organizing Committee: Ian McIntosh (IUPUI), Vinod Verma (University of Delhi), Sonika Jain PhD (Independent Scholar), and Varada Sambhus (PhD Scholar, JNU)
In a classic definition of Indian pilgrimage, a physical journey to a sacred place is made for purification and the redemption of sins. There is an opportunity to detach oneself from the worries of daily life and to devote time to prayer, chanting, dancing, contemplation, reading scriptures and listening to the spiritual discourses of the holy ones. This culture of pilgrimage is deeply embedded in Indian society. In the latter of the four age-based stages of the ideally conducted life (ashrams) - namely student, householder, retirement, and asceticism - one is expected to undertake regular pilgrimages (thirths) to overcome the never-ending birth-life-death cycles.
Contemporary India
Pilgrimage involves, on the one hand, Indians undertaking thirths (a form of pilgrimage) and seeking emancipation, liberation or moksha (release from the world) and, on the other hand, non-Indian visitors from across the globe seeking heightened awareness, wisdom and even enlightenment. The very word ‘India’ is synonymous with this spiritual quest, as exemplified in the visits of Chinese monks in the seventh century seeking the Buddhist sutras. Today, in many cases, pilgrimage might involve finding a teacher or guru, visiting one of the great yogic sites of learning such as a BKS Iyenger’s school, or adopting Indian religious, cultural and spiritual practices. For some Indians, religious pilgrimage is focused upon the major and institutionalized sites of Hinduism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity, or interfaith sites like Ajmer. For others, pilgrimage is also linked to the idea of tourism, an annual outing and/or religious journey.
Lately, pilgrimages have acquired newer forms and contents. Many pilgrims find home and others reconnect with their roots by coming to learn classical Indian music and dance at the major centers of learning and also to perform. Indophiles and Indians in Diaspora, likewise, visit famous sporting, architectural, artistic and other contemporary sites of significance including Bollywood. They may also undertake pilgrimages to various shrines for healing and blessings, or to conduct rites of passage associated with childbirth, puberty, marriage and death. Indeed, in recent years secular journeys have also found new force among urban Indians. Old forms of socialization and identity-formation relating to caste, religion, gender and region are being reshaped and re-institutionalised due to migration and other factors leading to the emergence of more space for sharing culture and life narratives. Special interest groups, particularly in cities, with their own unique forms of pilgrimage, are proliferating at an unimaginable pace. These are being facilitated by accessible new technologies and various social media applications like WhatsAPP.
Politics and Pilgrimage
Pilgrimages were used politically in the independence struggle, for example when Mahatma Gandhi used the concept to mobilize Indians against colonial rule in the famous ‘salt march’. At the same time Dr. Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian constitution, emphasized in his march to fresh water sources how political freedom had no value for the lower castes if they were to be socially discriminated against and treated as ‘untouchables’.
Post-independence India inherited plurality as the cornerstone of its national identity. As a federal structure, India has many Indias within it. Plurality of languages, religious identities, sects, sub-sects and secular traditions of pilgrimages are, in fact, situated in histories quite differently experienced across time and space. While on the one hand, pilgrimage may deal with the philosophy of 'being your own light', on the other, the study of pilgrimage necessarily interrogates religious orthodoxy, intolerance, caste system as social order, gendered identity in binary terms and other modes of discrimination and disparity. In India, some gods and goddesses are worshipped by low caste pilgrims and some gods and goddesses attract high caste pilgrims. The division is sharper when a Dalit desires to have darshan (a view) of a god in a citadel of spirituality. For the low caste cobbler and poet Ravidas, his wooden pot of water was the holy Ganga itself. He would say if your heart is pure, then your pilgrimage is in the wooden bowl itself because it is a site of creation.
These and other topics as suggested below, are welcomed at our conference:
- History and Historicity of Pilgrimages
- Secular Pilgrimage, Insular Pilgrimage and the Modern State
- Gender and Pilgrimage
- Pilgrimage, Travel and Communication
- Philosophies and Traditions of Dominant and Subversive Pilgrimages in India
- Sacred Journeys and Global Marketing
- Pious v/s Holy in Sacred Journeys
- Social Dimensions of Selfhood and the Sacred Dimensions of Pilgrimage
- Pilgrimage and Human Rights
- Consumerism, Individuality and Pilgrimage
- Unsustainable Pilgrimages & Ecology
- Experiencing the Foretold: Pilgrimage as Imagined Site
We also encourage auto-ethnographical and experiential accounts, case studies, works of art, and works-in-progress.
The conference organizing committee invite abstracts from academics, independent researchers and writers, communicators or pilgrimage/travel story tellers who use one medium or several media for text, image, audio and video projection. Abstracts having an interdisciplinary approach are encouraged and we welcome researchers and academics whose voice needs social mobility e.g. Dalits, women and other marginalized sections of the population.
Abstracts may be in Word, RTF or Notepad formats with the following information and in this sequence:
a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) e-mail address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords. E-mail should be entitled: Indian Pilgrimages Abstract Submission
If your abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your contribution might be requested for publication purposes. The details of the word-limit, deadline, formatting requirements, and mode of publication will be communicated to the selected participants.
Participants will be informed about information related to travel, accommodation, and hospitality provided by Indiana University in follow-up communications. There are no registration fees.
In order to ensure a creative and focused conference with ample opportunity for discussion and reflection, delegates are expected to attend for the duration of the event. A certificate of participation will be provided upon request.
The conference will feature a plenary presentation by Prof. David Haberman of Indiana University (Author of ‘Journey Through the Twelve Forests’) and an Exhibition on Sacred Indian Architecture (from the American Institute for Indian Studies) at the Gateway premises.
Sponsored by: Indiana University, the IU Alumni Association, and the IUPUI Department of Religious Studies. Address for correspondence: Ian McIntosh 902 W New York Street, ES2129, Indianapolis IN 46202-5140 USA.
Top Indian government official commends IU’s strategic initiatives in his nation
For the last 20 years, Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business has welcomed nearly a dozen highly successful leaders to campus as a Poling Chair of Business and Government.
Like the late Harold “Red” Poling, who as chief executive of Ford Motor Co. established the leader-in-resident program in 1993, many of them have been proud IU and Kelley alumni.
This past week, Deepender S. Hooda, a 2003 Kelley graduate and a member of India’s parliament since 2005, joined that select group.
During his visit, he lectured to classes at Kelley and the IU Maurer School of Law. He dined with undergraduate and graduate students from across the university, including many from India.
IU President Michael McRobbie, IU Bloomington Provost Lauren Robel and deans and administrators this week have sought his input about IU’s growing efforts in the world’s fastest growing society.
Hooda also did things most IU alumni do. He attended an exciting IU-Michigan football game and introduced his wife Sweta to the beauty and vibrancy of the IU Bloomington campus and nearby Brown County.
“I just love being here,” said Hooda, who represents Rohtak, a city in the state of Haryana, and serves as party whip of the Indian National Congress in the lower house of India’s parliament. “I’m really happy to see how the campus has changed over the last 13 years.
“I really like the direction in which the university leadership is taking the university,” he said, citing the new School of Global and International Studies and several infrastructure projects on campus, including Hodge Hall. “That is going to provide a great competitive advantage for IU in days to come.”
Among the “marvelous initiatives” that Hooda said IU has undertaken in India is its Gateway Office in Gurgaon, a suburb about 20 miles southwest of New Delhi and in the legislative district that Hooda represents.
“The IU Gateway is the facility that all the programs and all the schools within the university are using to establish their relationships with their counterparts in India,” he said. “IU is ahead of the curve as far as its India strategy is concerned and compared to most universities in the U.S.”
He cited the Kelley School’s partnerships with the Indian Institute of Management campuses at Lucknow and Rohtak and O.P. Jindal Global University’s collaborations with Kelley, Maurer and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
“From a business school point of view, my estimate is there are just five top business schools in the U.S. that have laid out their own India strategy. These five include the Harvard Business School, MIT, Stanford, Duke and Kelley,” he said.
IU has also formed strong and productive partnerships with several other top Indian universities, including the University of Hyderabad, Symbiosis International University, Elite School of Optometry and SHODH: Institute for Research and Development.
Hooda was among those on the crest of a wave of international students who are studying at U.S. colleges and universities. According to a recent report from the Institute of International Education, about 975,000 people today come from other nations to study at American institutions and Indiana University is one of the top 20 places they attend.
Indian students are big reason for this trend and today more than 1,100 are enrolled at IU. There also are about 4,300 IU alumni affiliated with India, who, along with the hundreds of scholars, dignitaries and students who have visited IU campuses, comprise IU’s ever-growing global community.
Hooda also is an example of the many international students who return home and provide important contributions in their countries after earning an IU degree, and then loyally work with the university to provide similar opportunities to others.
In addition to IU’s educational quality, Hooda acknowledges other benefits for Indian and American students alike, namely increased awareness and understanding.
“One of the profound experiences that I had on campus, when I was a student, was 9/11,” he said. “I was about one month into my stay in the U.S., one month into my student life, when 9/11 shocked all of us.
“The reactions that event invoked in all of us helped me understand the diverse perspectives that each person can have … based on where that person is coming from,” he added.
This is profoundly clear, in light of recent world events in Paris, Beirut, Egypt and elsewhere.
“The global events we’ve seen recently also tell us that the world is becoming increasingly integrated,” Hooda said. “On many levels, that’s a good thing, but at the same time the problems of the world will also be shared. The world has to come together to address these problems … in ways that we have not been able to do in this century.
“An experience in Bloomington prepares you for something like that.”
Over the years, Hooda has worked to facilitate many opportunities for IU and Kelley students, arranging for them to meet top government officials and business executives in Delhi and elsewhere in the country.
In 2007, students met with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, who at the time was the country’s minister for external affairs and a member of the cabinet.
“Those were wonderful visits,” he said. “There is no replacement for that. You cannot learn about a culture or a country by television or by reading books … That’s what I’ve noticed with all of the groups that I’ve hosted over the years in Delhi.
“I can see, from the kinds of questions that these students begin asking, while they are there, that their level of understanding expands in the matter of a week or 10 days,” he added. “
Previous Poling Chairs have included alumni such as Randall Tobias, a former top executive at Eli Lilly and AT&T and the current chair of the IU Board of Trustees; Elizabeth Acton, retired chief financial officer of Comerica and a former vice president and treasurer of Ford Motor Co.; Frank Popoff, former CEO and chairman of Dow Chemical Co.; and Dale Pollak, chairman and founder of vAuto, Inc.
Hooda will return in the spring, when again he’ll be given the charge to stimulate discussion in critical areas of leadership, policy, competitiveness and economic growth.
Pilgrimages in India Conference Brings International Experts and Dignitaries to IU India Gateway
An international conference ‘Pilgrimages in India: Celebrating Journeys of Plurality and Sacredness’ was held on March 3 and 4, 2016 at the IU India Gateway office.
Organized by Dr. Ian McIntosh of IUPUI and a committee of faculty and students from the University of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University, this international conference and accompanying exhibition of sacred architecture brought together distinguished faculty, graduate students, independent scholars, and also alumni from IU’s Indianapolis and Bloomington campuses.
The classic definition of Indian pilgrimage is a physical journey to a sacred place made for purification and redemption. This culture of pilgrimage is deeply embedded in Indian society and 25 conference participants explored all dimensions of this ancient and contemporary practice.
Distinguished speakers included Prof. David Haberman of Indiana University, Prof. Raj Kumar of the University of Delhi, and Prof. Rana P.B. Singh from Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi. An exhibition on sacred Indian architecture opened at the conference in partnership with the American Institute for Indian Studies and the IU India Gateway.
The final session of the conference was recorded by Indian National Public Television. Conference organizers are also planning to publish the preceedings in the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage.
Conference sponsors include the Indiana University Office of the Vice President of International Affairs and Dhar India Studies, the IUPUI Office of International Affairs, the IUPUI Department of Religious Studies, and the IU Alumni Association.
IU2U introduces Indiana University to students, families in Thailand, South Korea, China and India
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—Indiana University Bloomington will again offer a program overseas to introduce life at IU to incoming international students, with a new stop this year in Thailand. Program teams will return to South Korea, China and India to offer informational sessions to new students and their families.
The program, called IU2U, fosters student success by offering international students the opportunity to prepare for the academics, culture and engagement opportunities they will find at IU Bloomington. More than 30 percent of all incoming international IU Bloomington students are expected to participate in IU2U this summer.
While students attend workshops to learn about student culture, setting academic and personal goals, curricular planning and course selection, their parents are invited to attend workshops on education in the United States and helping from home. IU staff and current undergraduate students will lead sessions.
“IU2U is the launching point for the successful collegiate careers of these international IU freshmen,” said Dennis Groth, vice provost for undergraduate education at IU Bloomington. “The program also strengthens global understanding of the undergraduates, faculty and staff who lead these sessions. We are deepening our awareness and connections to our world and, in turn, are better prepared to serve all students.”
The freshmen who participated in IU2U will be invited to join the Start Strong program, where they will participate in a two-week intensive freshmen experience to help prepare them for their studies in the fall. Students who participated in the 2014 IU2U were all retained at IU. Figures for the 2015 cohort retention will be available this fall.
Workshops will take place in Seoul on June 7 and 8, Gurgaon at the IU India Gateway office on June 9 to 11, Beijing on June 12 and 13, Bangkok on June 15 and Shanghai on June 16 and 17. Alumni who live in China, South Korea and Thailand will join those IU2U sessions to share how their experiences at IU have helped shape their career path and preparedness.
IU2U is a collaboration between the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Inclusion and Diversity, the Office of International Services, the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education, the Office of the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, the IU Alumni Association and the IU Foundation.
The Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education oversees programs and initiatives in support of outstanding academic experiences for all IU Bloomington undergraduate students. It provides advising, testing, and enrichment resources for students at all stages and leads efforts that assess, support, and improve undergraduate teaching and learning.
IU Maurer School of Law names 22 Milton Stewart Fellows for international externships
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—The Indiana University Maurer School of Law has selected 22 students for its 2016 Stewart Fellows Overseas Externship Program. The fellows are spending the summer working around the globe, from Argentina to Vietnam, as part of a unique program offered through the school’s Center on the Global Legal Profession.
The fellows have the opportunity to work in a variety of international settings, including corporations, nongovernmental organizations and respected law firms. The final wave of program participants left this week for India, China and Japan. This year’s class is the largest in the program’s history.
The program is named in honor of Milton Stewart, who graduated from the law school in 1971. He and his wife, Judi, were in Bloomington recently to congratulate the students on their appointments. An internship at an Indian NGO has also been made possible through a strong partnership with the Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Program, its director, Derek Mitchell, and its director emerita, Kathy Sreedhar.
Professor Jayanth Krishnan, who directs the Center on the Global Legal Profession, said this year’s class brings the total number of students who have participated in the program to 100. He thanked the Stewarts for their loyalty to the law school and their commitment to educating the next generation of lawyers interested in globalization.
“The Center on the Global Legal Profession was founded on the idea that an increasingly global economy demands better-trained and better-prepared attorneys,” he said. “For the past seven years, the Stewart Fellows have had the opportunity to prepare for the future by experiencing the legal profession throughout the world.”
“We have seen continued growth in interest, applications and placements through this incredible program,” said Christiana Ochoa, professor of law and Charles L. Whistler Faculty Fellow; IU Bloomington associate vice provost for faculty and academic affairs; and associate director of the IU Center for Documentary Research and Practice. “This year we are pleased to add Vietnam to the list of participating countries.”
The 2016 Stewart Fellows and the countries and organizations where they will be completing internships are:
Argentina
- Meghan McCabe—the law firm of Wiener Soto Caparros, Buenos Aires
- Molly Morgan and Alexander Spindler—the law firm of Marval, O’Farrell & Mairal, Buenos Aires
Brazil
- Vladimir Arrieta—the law firm of Demarest & Almeida Advogados and Votorantim Group, a São Paulo-based diversified industrial conglomerate with interests in finance, energy, steel and paper.
China
- Xiao Ma and Elizabeth Tao—the law firm of SheppardMullin, Beijing
India
- Austin Andreas—the law firm of S&R Associates, Delhi office
- Alison Jacobs—the law firm of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co., Delhi office
- Corey Kadash and Shondella Peten—Novus Law LLC, a legal processing firm, and Koura & Co., a law firm in Delhi
- Lisa La Fornara and Samantha von Ende—a nongovernmental organization with Vrinda Grover based in New Delhi (also designated as Holdeen Fellows)
- Chase Stoddard—Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, an NGO supporting human rights based in New Delhi
- Alexander Thibodeau—the Gaurav Pachnand, senior Supreme Court advocate, Delhi
- Erika Tribuzi—the law firm of Nishith Desai Associates, Delhi office
- Michael Witczak—v the law firm of Luthra & Luthra, New Delhi office
Japan
- Kaitlin Sheets—L&J Law Office LPC, Tokyo
- Nia Yarborough—Keiwa Sogo Law Offices, Tokyo
South Korea
- Ja Ryong Ku—the legal department of Kyoba AXA, an international investment management firm, Seoul
Thailand
- Keshav Jha and Remy Snead—the law firm of Tilleke & Gibbins, Bangkok
Vietnam
- Ryan McDonnell—the law firm of Tilleke & Gibbins, Hanoi
The Center on the Global Legal Profession was established in 2009 by professor William Henderson. The center has a three-part focus: advancing academic research and practical knowledge about the global legal profession; providing students with opportunities for hands-on learning about the law in other countries; and building global partnerships with other law schools to enhance educational opportunities.
Founded in 1842, the IU Maurer School of Law is ranked No. 8 in the nation among public law schools by U.S. News and World Report and No. 25 overall, with top-25 programs in international, tax and intellectual property law. The school has more than 11,000 alumni in 55 countries throughout the world and more than 20 academic partnerships with distinguished global universities on four continents.
IU to sign agreement with Ambedkar University, foster other relationships across India
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—Indiana University Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel is traveling to India to enhance relationships with key university partners and alumni and announce an agreement with one of the country’s most dynamic institutions, Ambedkar University Delhi.
Robel’s visit also will include meetings in Delhi at O.P. Jindal Global University, where IU already has a strong and productive partnership, and at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, a national research university. She also will visit FLAME University, an emerging liberal arts institution near Pune.
Her trip is a follow-up to her past activities as well as those of IU President Michael A. McRobbie. In November 2014, McRobbie dedicated the IU India Gateway office in Gurgaon, a suburb of New Delhi. The facility serves as the hub for the university's activities across the country.
Robel will meet with FLAME University Vice Chancellor Devi Singh, who previously led Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow, which already has a successful agreement with the IU Kelley School of Business. In 2013, Robel welcomed Singh and a delegation of 14 high-level leaders at Indian universities and technical institutions for a week of leadership and institution building.
She also will meet with Narendra Jadhav, an IU alumnus, economist, writer and educator who also serves in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India’s parliament. In 2011, McRobbie presented Jadhav with its Thomas Hart Benton Medallion, which is given to individuals who have achieved a level of distinction in public office or service and have exemplified the values of IU.
“It is always an honor to represent Indiana University abroad,” Robel said. “I am delighted to be returning to India, a dynamic country with wonderful university and industry partners. I look forward to renewing our relationships with some of India’s pre-eminent universities.”
Ties between IU and the world’s largest democracy are extensive. More than 1,100 Indian students are enrolled at IU campuses across Indiana. This figure represents a nearly 50 percent increase in the number of Indian students enrolled at IU over the past five years.
More than 4,300 IU alumni are affiliated with India, who, along with the hundreds of scholars, dignitaries and students who have visited IU campuses, comprise IU’s ever-growing global community. India also is a leading destination for IU students pursuing a study abroad opportunity, with more than 100 students currently studying abroad in the country.
The Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program, within the School of Global and International Studies at IU Bloomington, is one of a handful of U.S. centers for the study of Indian history, languages and cultures.
On Oct. 17, Robel will sign an agreement of friendship and cooperation between IU and Ambedkar University Delhi. She also will sign a sub-agreement that calls for a joint research symposium in the first year, followed by undergraduate and graduate student exchanges and faculty and administrative exchanges.
Robel noted that Ambedkar University complements IU’s academic expertise and interests in South Asia. Among its innovating offerings are programs in social entrepreneurship, human ecology with an interdisciplinary emphasis and development studies.
The university is principally devoted to furthering the mission of Bhimrao Ambedkar, one of India’s “founding fathers,” an Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer. He was a key author of India’s constitution and throughout his life campaigned against social discrimination.
“Our new partnership with Ambedkar University offers exciting opportunities for our students, faculty and staff to deeply engage with Indian culture and the Indian educational system,” she said. “We envision many innovative exchanges in the near future focused on our mutual commitments to social equality and social justice.”
Today, Robel held a series of meetings with Singh, other administrators and deans at FLAME University, which was established in Pune as an accredited private institution in 2014. Located on a 53-acre campus, it offers degrees in liberal education, business, communications, fine arts and performing arts, as well as an MBA degree.
On Thursday, Robel will deliver a public lecture at O.P. Jindal Global University on the topic, “Liberal Arts in Global Environment.” During a previous official visit to India in 2013, Robel gave the keynote address at a three-day international conference about the future of higher education there.
IU has a formal agreement with O.P. Jindal that includes programs for student exchanges with its Maurer School of Law and general activities with its School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
“I feel a strong affinity for O.P. Jindal, having first visited the university at the time of its founding,” Robel said. “Their focus on the importance of liberal arts education in a globalized world is closely aligned with our own mission as a public university.”
On Friday, Robel will visit the U.S. embassy to India in Delhi and visit IIT Delhi, before attending an alumni reception that evening.
Joining Robel on the trip will be M.A. “Venkat” Venkataramanan, IU Bloomington vice provost for finance and strategy; Michael Dodson, director of the Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program and academic director of the IU India Gateway office; Rita Koryan, IU assistant vice president of international affairs; Shalini Choubey, manager of the IU India Gateway office; Fred Perry, executive director for international advancement at IU Foundation; and Catherine Dyar, the provost’s chief of staff.
Reports as the trip progresses will be available through official social media channels for the IU Bloomington Provost on Facebook and Twitter.
Indian educator, writer and parliamentarian presenting O’Meara Lecture at Indiana University
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—Narendra Jadhav, an IU alumnus, economist, writer and educator and a member of India’s parliament, will present the sixth annual Patrick O'Meara International Lecture at Indiana University Bloomington.
His lecture, “India and the United States: Caste, Race and Economic Growth,” will take place at 4 p.m. Nov. 14 in Presidents Hall in Franklin Hall, 601 E. Kirkwood Ave.
The lecture, presented by the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs, is free and open to the public. No tickets or advance registration is needed. A reception will follow. The lecture also will be streamed live at broadcast.iu.edu, where archived video also will be available later.
Jadhav, who earned a doctorate in economics from IU in 1986, served the Reserve Bank of India for 31 years, retiring in 2008 from the position of principal advisor and chief economist. From 2006 to 2009, he was vice chancellor of the University of Pune, the largest traditional university in the world with 650,000 students. He also worked for four years at the International Monetary Fund.
A prolific writer with 100 research papers and more than three dozen books in English, Marathi and Hindi, he served from 2009 to 2014 as a member of the National Planning Commission, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and a member of the National Advisory Council. He serves in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India’s parliament.
In 2011, McRobbie presented Jadhav with its Thomas Hart Benton Medallion, which is given to individuals who have achieved a level of distinction in public office or service and have exemplified the values of IU. Last month, he met with IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel during her visit to India on behalf of the university.
Jadhav is known to millions of Indians, particularly many of its 165 million Dalits, for his 2003 book “Outcaste—Life and Triumphs of an Untouchable Family in India” and a follow-up book in 2005, “Untouchables: My Family’s Triumphant Journey Out of the Caste System in Modern India.”
“Outcaste” was an expanded and rewritten English version of Jadhav’s book in the Marathi language, “Amcha Baap Aan Amhi (Our Father and Us),” published 10 years earlier. Both books are based on family stories and diaries written by his father. It concludes with an epilogue contributed by his then 16-year-old daughter, Apoorva, who was born in Indiana.
“Untouchables: My Family’s Triumphant Journey Out of the Caste System in Modern India” was published by Simon & Schuster in 2005 and has been translated into 15 languages.
An authority on B.R. Ambedkar, Jadhav has written 21 books about the social reformer and architect of the Indian constitution. He also has published a trilogy on Bengali poet, writer and artist Rabindranath Tagore and several books on economics and monetary policy.
“Narendra Jadhav has been a good friend and advisor to IU for many years,” said David Zaret, IU vice president for international affairs. “Faculty members and students alike have benefitted from his expertise in the politics and culture of India. I am delighted that he will join the ranks of distinguished scholars and statesmen that the O’Meara Lecture has brought to Bloomington.”
In addition to presenting the O'Meara Lecture, Jadhav will participate in a series of activities with faculty and students at the IU School of Global and International Studies, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Kelley School of Business and the Hutton Honors College over a three-day visit to campus.
The O’Meara Lecture was established in 2011 to
For more than four decades, O’Meara served as IU’s ambassador to the world. A faculty member in the Department of Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, he directed IU’s African Studies Program, was dean of international programs and was IU’s first vice president for international affairs.
For decades, IU has been a leader in international studies, teaching more foreign languages than almost any other American institution of higher education. Today, it is home to area studies centers for every continent of the world other than Antarctica. Last year, classes began in a new building serving as the home of the interdisciplinary School of Global and International Studies.
For more information about the lecture, contact the IU Office of the Vice President for International Affairs at ovpia@iu.edu or 812-855-5021.
Beyond Borders: A Workshop on Filmmaking Across the Punjab Region
With support from the U.S. Embassy, “Beyond Borders: A Workshop of Filmmaking across the Punjab Region” will bring together 30 participants, 15 each from India and Pakistan Punjab region, to work together on conceptualizing, writing, and producing short films during a three-week visit May 12th-June 4th, 2017 to Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.A. Participants will be engaged in American life through field trips and visit communities around the state of Indiana, learning about the diversity within America but also learning about each other in the process. The workshop is designed to develop filmmaking skills (camera and editing) and engage participants in making their own short films in small mixed groups of Indian/Pakistani members. In this collaborative exploration, there is the potential for participants to discover common ground to bridge a cultural and political foundation of understanding that will have lasting impact in the Punjab region upon their return.
Eligibility:To participate in the “Beyond Borders: A workshop on Filmmaking across the Punjab Region” applicants must be:
- 22-30 years of age as of May 1, 2017.
- Proficient in the English language in all categories: written, spoken, and listening comprehension.
- Resident of the Punjab region in India or Pakistan.
- Interested in making a commitment to public service and volunteerism (activities related to community and societal issues).
- Interested in storytelling, filmmaking or other social media to influence society and advance multicultural dialogue. Experience with filmmaking not required.
- Able to demonstrate leadership experience and self-motivation, with a willingness to learn new methods for leading a project for an impact in their communities.
- Able to express commitment to return to the Punjab region and contribute to cross-cultural understanding and the stability and growth of the region.
Application requirements: Candidates are required to complete the Online Application form and attach the following documents with their application. All entries must be in English. Application deadline is December 10th, 2016.
- Two reference letters (in English) that can address the applicant’s suitability for the project – from a teacher, employer or professional colleague.
- Curriculum Vitae/Resume – no more than 2 pages.
- Upload a ONE MINUTE short video to any online format available (youtube.com, vimeo.com, etc.) introducing yourself. The video should be produced through any means available (cell phone, camera, etc.). Videos that exceed 60 seconds will be disqualified. Please make a video on ONLY ONE of the following themes/topics.
- Please describe, in a 60-second story format, the single most important experience that motivates your interest in this program.
- Please convince someone, in a 60-second story format, to move to your hometown.
- Please share, in a 60-second story format, something about your role in the community as a young leader.
- Submit TWO short essay statements addressing TWO of the following themes/topics:
- Please tell us where you hope to be, and what you hope to be doing, in three to five years.
- Please explain how you would contribute toward promoting mutual understanding and collaboration between peoples of the Punjab region, both in India and Pakistan.
- Please briefly describe why you are interested in learning more about film and/or media.
[editor's note: applications closed]
Mannheimer receives grant for India collaboration with schools for the blind
Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie awarded one of the first four grants from IU’s President’s International Research Awards to Professor Steven Mannheimer, associate dean of faculty affairs and professor in the Media Arts and Science program at the IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI.
The new program sponsors international collaborative research projects that engage one or more of IU’s Global Gateways and the communities they serve. Mannheimer received the grant for his partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi.
“This grant from the P.I.R.A. program is a great
Mannheimer will work with teachers and students from two schools for the blind—one in India and one in Indiana—to develop and test new tactile and audio graphic strategies that better align with the ways that blind and visually impaired students experience the world, with the goal of enhancing their classroom learning.
Mannheimer’s teacher and student workshops incorporate his original concept of “
The work is part of the Accessible Careers through Technology (ACT) initiative in the School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI, which presents new avenues for workforce development for the blind and visually impaired that include educational enhancement and assistive technologies in the workplace.
“Over the past year, thanks to the support of the IU India Gateway, we have established collegial partnerships with researchers in India, and are working with them to develop an exciting exploration of innovative design strategies for tactile graphics, which are used internationally in schools for the blind,” said Mannheimer. “This has been a team effort here at the School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI, involving several faculty and grad students over the years.”
“We are grateful for the chance to expand the scope of our research and service.”
IU Bloomington announces new partnership with FLAME University in India
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—A new Indiana University Bloomington Kelley School of Business partnership with FLAME University in Pune, India, will launch reciprocal study abroad programs for students on both campuses.
FLAME University is modeled on traditional liberal arts colleges in the U.S.—a rarity in India, where the majority of the more than 800 universities focus on science and technology. The partnership will provide a base for Kelley undergraduates interested in short-term study abroad in a city that is known as a hub for information technology and manufacturing. Pune is 75 miles from Mumbai, the financial center of India.
“It has been wonderful to see FLAME University move from concept to a thriving center for inquiry and research,” said IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel. “I’m thrilled to know that IU students will have the chance to immerse themselves in the culture in Pune and to learn firsthand about the global marketplace. I also look forward to welcoming FLAME students to our campus and know that our students and our Office of International Services will offer support and friendship.”
FLAME has four schools with undergraduate and graduate programs: the School of Liberal Education, School of Business, School of Communication and School of Fine and Performing Arts. The university recently signed an agreement with Nuffield College, University of Oxford, Centre for Experimental Social Sciences, to create a collaborative Centre for Experimental Sciences in Pune—a testament to FLAME's interest in supporting a research culture with its faculty.
The new agreement fosters short-term exchange programs and study abroad in India and Bloomington. It also includes collaborative research, curriculum development, joint programs, faculty exchange and executive education.
In addition to the Kelley agreement, IU and FLAME signed a general partnership agreement; Robel plans to expand short-term exchange opportunities with FLAME to other programs and schools. IU Bloomington's College of Arts and Sciences is looking into providing a summer study abroad program in Bloomington to FLAME undergraduate students. Students in Bloomington and India will be encouraged to make use of the India Global Gateway in Gurgaon, near the Indian capital of New Delhi, for programming.
Vice Chancellor Devi Singh came to FLAME University after 10 years as director of the Indian Institute of Management at Lucknow.
“FLAME University is uniquely positioned in India in its efforts to provide a global and interdisciplinary education,” Singh said. “We consider this collaboration with Indiana University Bloomington as a big boost to our internationalization efforts. We look forward to taking these collaborative efforts in many fruitful directions that will be mutually beneficial to FLAME and Indiana University Bloomington. We are confident that students and faculty in both the institutions will be enriched through this collaboration.”
IU’s relationship with FLAME began when Singh invited Ash Soni, executive associate dean for academic programs at the Kelley School, to visit the campus.
“I was pleasantly surprised by the school, its philosophy, their liberal arts model and the facilities they had,” Soni said. “Their liberal arts model is very unique in India, and this is one of the first such institutions of its kind there. They also have some international faculty, which is very different for an Indian institution.”
Soni said FLAME is trying to combine the best of India with the best in the U.S. He said many Kelley students have expressed interest in India programs, and he expects great interest in FLAME study abroad and exchange opportunities.
Kelley School Dean Idalene “Idie” Kesner said the partnership will provide a remarkable opportunity for IU students to see their areas of study through a global lens.
“The IU students selected for this program will learn about living and working abroad while also understanding how American business is perceived in India,” Kesner said. “FLAME University’s strong business programming and corporate outreach make it an ideal partner for us.”
The partnership is expected to officially kick off in early 2018.
Indiana University India Gateway moves to new office in central New Delhi
The Indiana University India Gateway has moved its operations to a new centrally located office in Defence Colony, New Delhi, to support IU faculty research and student-focused activities in India. With a prominent location on the south ring-road, the new office provides a highly visible and accessible presence for IU in India.
“This new location in the heart of Delhi will allow IU to significantly expand its outreach and recruitment efforts and participate more fully in the intellectual and cultural life of India’s capital city,“ said Michael Dodson, academic director of the IU India Gateway.
The new purpose-built facility provides 5,000 square feet of office space including a 30-seat conference/seminar room, a 22-seat video conference room, a commons area, two meeting/study rooms and a shaded terrace.
Since opening in 2014, the IU India Gateway has hosted over 60 events including academic conferences, workshops, public outreach and education abroad programs.
A reception to dedicate the new IU India Gateway office space will be hosted by the IU Office of the Vice President for International Affairs on April 7, for members of the IU academic community, alumni and friends of the university.
The IU India Gateway is one of four offices in IU’s Global Gateway Network, which serve to connect IU faculty, students, staff and alumni with resources to help further their academic and professional interests around the globe. IU’s other gateways are in Beijing, China, and Berlin, Germany, and its newest gateway in Mexico City will be formally dedicated by IU President Michael A. McRobbie on May 28.
On December 10, 2020, the IU School of Medicine’s Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering (ICRME) and the IU India Gateway hosted an online workshop on Regenerative Medicine and Nanotechnology in partnership with the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) that showcased the latest regenerative medicine technologies and how these could positively impact patient treatment in India.
Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS; and Dr. Chandan Sen, Distinguished Professor and Director, ICRME, gave the keynote talk to an audience of over 100 researchers and students from over fifty higher education and research institutes across India. The program included presentations on the nanobiotechnology and regenerative medicine interface by Dr Amit Dinda, Emeritus Scientist, ICMRE; and tissue engineering by Dr. Sujata Mohanty, Professor Stem Cell Facility, AIIMS. A poster competition in which five early career scientists were invited to present their research work and get feedback from an expert panel, and a session dedicated to research and careers in the field were also part of the program.
Please provide a transcript for the video to make it more accessible.
Speaking after the event, Dr Sen said “Beyond medical drugs and devices, the future of affordable health care relies on our ability to unlock the curing and healing powers of our own body. In addition, the intersection of engineering, technology, and medicine will provide next generation healthcare solutions. Taken together, these represent the emergent discipline of Regenerative Medicine. Regenerative Medicine is on its way to emerge as a new cornerstone of affordable and scalable healthcare with a business model strikingly different from what we have today. Simply put, the body itself becomes your source of medicine. Technologies such as in vivo tissue reprogramming can be inexpensive and dispensed at remote locations with little infrastructure.”
“Drawing talented students to this new future of medicine is a critically important step as we plan for this exciting future. The workshop was highly effective in showcasing the extraordinary training opportunities at AIIMS and Indiana University, including our recently-launched Regenerative Medicine and Technologies PhD program, and has initiated new scientific collaborations including those with both public and private sectors in India. In co-operation with AIIMS, our center is co-developing the Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT) technology for tissue reprogramming for human applications with funding from the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF). We are also co-developing a new Regenerative Medicine curriculum for Presidency University, Kolkata.”
Mexico Gateway
Making new music, connections and lasting memories in Mexico
An IU delegation visits Mexico City to formally open the IU Mexico Gateway office, make new connections and renew international ties.
Mexico Meetups are interesting and intellectual weekly conversations around a specific topic of interest that take place virtually between IU faculty and their peers in Mexico, and beyond.
The Mexico Gateway handles all the logistics, allowing IU faculty to focus on meeting a new peer in Latin America, bringing an expert into their classroom, or catching up with a past colleague. Contact us for more information and to set up your Meetup!
The series was created to maintain and build connections and relationships between IU faculty and universities, nonprofits, government representatives, and/or researchers. While the concept was designed for a time of no travel, we are confident that Mexico Meetups will continue to be useful in a post pandemic world.
The setting is informal and comfortable, like meeting a colleague for coffee. It mimics the time when faculty would travel internationally to explore new research opportunities, connect with experts on the ground in their area of interest, or meet a past colleague to catch up and discuss common interests. Now we can also welcome the audience to be a part of the conversation and give everyone the opportunity to offer their questions and comments.
To date, eight fruitful conversations have taken place between faculty from IU Bloomington, IUPUI, and IU Southeast, and their counterparts in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. Several topics have been discussed, such as the Day of the Dead, with the participation of César Félix Brasdefer, Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at IU College of Arts & Sciences, and Ruben Ruíz, Director of the Research Center on Latin America and the Caribbean (CIALC) at UNAM. In another Meetup, “A Writer’s Journey,” we talked about the challenges of writing in a language other than your native tongue, with Samrat Upadhyay, professor in the English Department at IU Bloomington, and Pablo Piñero Stillmann, his former student, and now author, living in Mexico. They discussed how they both faced those challenges and their current work; a conversation that was attended by their students, colleagues, peers, and friends.
Mexico Meetups have provided an avenue for the gateway to connect, or reconnect, with diverse entities such as México Evalúa, a respected thinktank, the IU Mexico Alumni Chapter, the University of Costa Rica, and many departments at UNAM including the Center for Regional and Multidisciplinary Studies, the Research Center on Latin America and the Caribbean (CIALC) and the Law School.
The Mexico Gateway is looking forward to expanding their network and increasing the diversity of topics in future sessions. Please email iumexico@iu.edu if you would like to have a Mexico Meetup next semester.
