REFLECTING BACK AND SPRINGING FORWARD

The 2016-2017 academic year has been marked with exciting international events at Chatham. Here are a few highlights of events and programs that the Office of International Affairs (co)-organized.International activities and programming Students and staff played the Fruit Basket game in Spring 2017 Global Mixer. There was so much fun and laughter. The event also kicked off the newly-created International Student Ambassador Program.Fall 2016 Global Mixer featured students’ poster presentations about their countries, some of which included India, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Britain.International Student Ambassadors, Arief, Bandar, Xinran (Echo), Issareeyaporn (Eve), Laura, Bholika, and Jing (Katherine) posed for a picture in front of the Chatham Pond. The #YouAreWelcomeHere video created by students reached thousands of people on Facebook. It was a timely message during the time of heightened anxiety among international students and parents after the election.The Conversation Partner Program paired or grouped close to 100 students of different backgrounds in fall 2016 and spring 2017 for conversations and cultural exchanges. Many friendships were formed. In this picture are students participating in one of the Conversation Hours, organized by the English Language Program.In this picture were students from the English Language Program and Chatham Semester during the Spring 2017 International End-of-Term Celebration. In the coming year, the OIA will capitalize on the English Language Program and Pittsburgh Pathways to attract more international students to Chatham and Pittsburgh. Also, congratulations to our 15 international students from 8 countries who graduate this term! Good luck to you all and please stay in touch with us!Global FocusThe Global Focus Year of Canada culminated on Tuesday April 18 with the International Higher Education Summit, co-organized by the President’s Office and Global Focus. The Summit brought together university presidents, scientists, and leaders from Canada, Europe, and the U.S. In this picture, Chatham President David Finegold introduced the first panel discussion on the future of research and innovation with Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, President of the European Research Council; Subra Suresh, CMU President; Patrick Gallagher, Pitt Chancellor; and Chris Howard, Robert Morris University President.Following the first panel, Professor Justine Cassell from CMU delivered an intriguing keynote speech, discussing some of the challenges and opportunities presented by the rapid development of artificial intelligence.Another highlight of the summit was when Chatham students Indigo Baloch, Diarra Clarke, Maria Duarte, and Maria Taylor spoke about their passionate involvements in civil society.Emerging from the summit, a “Declaration of Cooperation” signed by all institutions promised to build partnerships likely to augment the education offered to students at Chatham. The upcoming Global Focus Year of Indonesia (2017-2018) will continue to offer a robust program to enhance students’ global understanding and deepen relations with Indonesian nationals in our region and Indonesian universities. Professor Greg Galford will be the new Global Focus Coordinator. Many thanks to Professor Jean-Jacques Sène for his wonderful contributions to Global Focus in the past years!Study abroad76 students will have studied abroad by the end of Maymester. Especially, 6 students will have studied abroad for a semester and 34 students will study abroad this summer. With the current momentum, Chatham is on the right track to achieve its goal of having 42% of undergraduate students study abroad by the time of they graduate in 2020.On April 5, Chatham welcomed Jennifer Connor from the Institute for International Education (IIE) and Shayak Sengupta, a Fulbright grant alumnus, to present information on the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.  Students interested in applying for a 2017-18 Fulbright Research/Study grant or English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) should contact the Office of International Affairs, internationalaffairs@chatham.edu for support.International partnershipsVisitors from Kansai University, which plans to send 15 students to the English Language Program, starting in Spring 2018. These students will study at Chatham for 2.5 semesters as part of their degree requirements.The University is also focusing on building strategic partnerships with universities overseas to allow students to study abroad for a longer term (one or several semesters) and create opportunities for joint research and joint degree offerings. Strategic partners will be identified among existing ones as well as new potential partners. These opportunities will provide students with rich international experiences and a comparative edge in the job market upon graduation.