IU Global – Page 6 – Passport to the World

Growing up with the SDGs: a mentor shares her experience

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Gie Wilson

This post was written by Gie Wilson, a junior at IU Bloomington and current Global SDG Ambassador for IU Global.

On a Tuesday night in March, Dr. Elisheva (Elly) Cohen led a call-out meeting for IU students interested in mentoring elementary school students in Indiana. The fifth graders were participating in a class project centered on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a framework created by the United Nations to guide development across the world. Through 17 comprehensive goals that address the world’s most pressing issues the UN created an ambitious action plan for our planet designed to be completed by 2030.

*The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals*

I am one of the students who attended the callout and volunteered to be a mentor. I’m a junior at IU Bloomington studying environmental and sustainability studies with a concentration in environmental ethics and justice. I am primarily focused on how global and local development, especially sustainable development, affects not only humans, but their surrounding environment, in the present and future. I did not choose to be a mentor because I want to be an educator, but my passion for the SDGs compels me to do as much as I can to champion efforts that further the fight to make a difference in our world. That also explains why I became the Global SDG Ambassador for IU’s Office of the Vice President for International Affairs. Also, I was interested in how teachers integrate the SDGs into classrooms and hoped to gain more understanding about how similar techniques can be used to reach college students.

One of the things I am always driven to emphasize the most in my work is the interdisciplinary and intersectional nature of the SDGs. Many people hear the word, “sustainability” and associate it with recycling or paper straws, or other forms of environmentally focused sustainability. While the concept does promote those ideas, I have found that sustainability as a term and the SDGs as a framework encompass much more. From theatre, to journalism, to business, to music there is always a connection. Sustainable development is for all, not just some. If you are a human on planet earth, you have the credibility and the stakes to get involved.

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President Whitten travels to Japan, Korea affirming strategic partnerships, student success

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Brittaney Hartzer

While summer may be a quieter time on Indiana University’s campuses, President Pamela Whitten was able to see first-hand the excitement of international engagement and education abroad as part of a week-long trip to Japan and South Korea. The visit was Whitten’s first experience in Asia as IU’s 19^th President and included a wide-ranging itinerary that celebrated the diversity of IU’s expertise and experience in the region.

IU President Whitten and Ewha University President Kim Eun-mee re-sign university agreement

Japan

The visit began in Japan, where President Whitten and Vice President for International Affairs Hannah Buxbaum met with Waseda University President Aiji Tanaka. Waseda is a global university, ranking first in Japan for the number of international students and students studying abroad, and is regarded as one of the most selective and prestigious universities in the country. The discussion centered on the active faculty and student exchanges between the universities and opportunities for further expansion of the partnership, including on the IU Indianapolis campus.

Next, the team met with President Umemoto Kazuyoshi at the Japan Foundation, a fifty-year old institution dedicated to comprehensive and effective development of the country’s international cultural exchange programs. The Japan Foundation has played a critical role in supporting IU’s 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. The meeting was an opportunity for President Whitten to thank the foundation for its generous support and discuss future priorities and opportunities for collaboration.

The visit ended with an alumni dinner hosted by the president of IU’s alumni chapter in Japan, Toru Hanakawa, class of 1969. It included McKinney School of Law alum Paul Roland, director of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s international office in Japan, highlighting the close connections and ongoing impact that IU has in the state, nation, and beyond.

President Whitten, right, at the Japan Foundation

Shaping a sustainable future: Winners of the 2023 UN SDG research competition

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Lexi Baker

For the past four years, students from around the world have come together to share their research in a global forum. The subject matter, collaborators, and methods change each semester, but one thing unites them all: the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Each year, Indiana University and a group of its primary partner institutions select a single goal to focus on, delving into its intricacies and potential solutions.

This year’s chosen goal was Sustainable Development Goal 16, which aims to promote peace, justice, and strong institutions. By placing a focus on reducing violence, ensuring access to justice, promoting effective and accountable governance, and fostering inclusive decision-making, SDG 16 seeks to create a foundation for sustainable development and a more equitable world for all.

In response to this call, the competition received an impressive total of 13 project submissions, showcasing the students’ innovative ideas and dedication. The projects encompassed four distinct presentation types: podcasts, research posters, policy briefs, and videos. Reflecting the diverse academic interests and perspectives of participants, these projects covered subject areas ranging from international relations, education, art and design, sociology, economics, public health, environmental science, to criminal justice. Through this vibrant amalgamation of ideas and contributions, the competition offered a holistic understanding of what it truly means to embrace sustainability in its many dimensions.

Undergraduate winner Nora West collaborated with her faculty mentor to explore gender disparities within the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) conditional lending program. Her motivation to enter the competition stemmed from her belief in the power of the SDGs.

“I wanted to participate in a project to work toward global solutions and have my work featured alongside others who have similar goals,” she says. “The SDGs are deeply intersectional, and it’s places like the research forum where I can demonstrate how we can address gender disparities through not just one, but several of the development goals.”

The topic stemmed from her interest in international development and concerns about the ethical and implementation challenges faced by such projects – recognizing the significant role of the IMF as a financial provider to states in need, Nora set out to investigate the effectiveness of their programs across different groups.

“Unfortunately, marginalized groups are disadvantaged in many other arenas, so I started there and found lots of data of the disproportionate effects the policies have on women and girls,” explains Nora. “In the future, I hope this type of research drives a social change to IMF policies that will better consider the gendered effects of their financial moves.”

Being selected as a winner of the competition was a proud moment for Nora: “It validated the effort and dedication I had invested in conducting the research and communicating its significance. It was a reassuring moment for me to realize that not only do I think these gender disparities issues in the IMF are highly problematic, but other people must feel strongly about this too.”

Despite the troubling findings, Nora remains optimistic about the future of international organizations, recognizing the need for improvement but believing in their positive role. This research reinforced her desire to work for a global organization, where she could address internal issues and strive for a better future.

Read about all the winners

IU Global’s International Advancement Initiative nationally recognized

Posted on May 12, 2023 by Brittaney Hartzer

iie heiskell awards for innovation in international education

Multiple rows of alumni in Mumbai hold an IU flag

Indiana University has been awarded the 2023 IIE Heiskell Award for Models of International Education Financial Support in recognition of its International Advancement Initiative. This award from the Institute of International Education (IIE) recognizes the most innovative and successful models for developing and expanding international education in practice today. Indiana University joins three other awardees this year in the categories of widening access for international education, student mobility and exchange, and strategic partnerships.

Since 2015, the IU Global International Advancement Initiative has been an intentional and strategic partnership among the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs, the IU Foundation, and the IU Alumni Association. The collaboration boasts a successful $20 million endowment campaign for study abroad scholarships that sends an additional 400 students abroad each year. It also includes the creation of a first of its kind annual fund that has provided over $5 million in financial assistance to international students in need.

“IU has a long, rich history of global engagement, with pioneers in the field of international education like Herman B Wells and Patrick O’Meara. Alumni involvement and philanthropy play a strong supporting role in achieving our global mission,” Maarten Bout, director of international advancement and development, shared. “Bringing our advancement colleagues together in a concerted effort has had an exponential effect on our impact. We have created an increasing number of meaningful ways for our international community to remain connected which drives the success of our efforts.”

Through this initiative, IU ensures that global academic mobility is a priority within the university’s comprehensive advancement plan, while at the same time building capacity and establishing effective practices for international fundraising. It prioritizes meaningful engagement with IU’s community of over 70,000 international alumni, with 45 chapters across the world, as well as over 50,000 alumni who studied abroad.

“The International Advancement Initiative reflects the strong partnership among the groups at IU that seek to develop global philanthropy in support of our students,” said Hannah Buxbaum, IU vice president for international affairs. “It allows us to advance our mission in innovative and effective ways, including by connecting globally engaged alumni with current students at our five Global Gateway offices around the world.”

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Innovation in Action: How IU Supports Higher Education in sub-Saharan Africa

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Sarah Schmitt

In April, more than eighty-five university leaders and researchers gathered in Kampala, Uganda to support higher education institutions across sub-Saharan Africa. The “University Research Engagement Capacity Strengthening Workshop” brought together key stakeholders from eleven countries including Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, Somalia, and South Sudan.

The workshop participants and coordinators, Kampala, Uganda

IU’s Office of International Development sent Dr. Teshome Alemneh and Dr. Theresa Kang to oversee and facilitate this event. “Being able to coordinate capacity building workshops in Africa is a rewarding experience,” Kang said. “We are able to connect the world-class research and administration of Indiana University with emerging leaders throughout the continent. Workshops like this enhance both the abilities of partner universities and affirm IU’s place as an international innovator.”

This two-day event was organized through the Long-term Assistance and Services for Research: Partners for University-Led Solutions Engine (LASER PULSE) and marked an important milestone in this grant-supported initiative. The LASER PULSE program is funded by United States Agency for International Development’s Innovation’s Technology and Research (ITR) Hub and led by Purdue University in collaboration with Indiana University, University of Notre Dame, Makerere University, and Catholic Relief Services. Indiana University’s Office of International Development (OID) is responsible for funding over $4 million dollars in grants for LASER PULSE to connect IU expertise with local, evidence-based solutions to development challenges spanning all USAID technical sectors.

Program facilitators stand on an orange carpet

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Global Classrooms initiative brings the multinational music industry to Indiana

Posted on May 1, 2023 by Lexi Baker

Music is a universal language. Despite differences in styles, cultures, rhythms, etiquette and ideals, the powerful connections music fosters bring people together the world over…and what better example of that transcendence than the melting pot of jazz in the classical music mecca of Vienna! Once home to Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn, Vienna’s musical scene has long since opened up to the soulful melodies of jazz, allowing musicians from all over the world to come together and create a unique blend of genres, rhythms, and cultures.

*A treble clef in the grass of a Vienna park*

In today’s interconnected world, international collaboration has become more important than ever, and not just for genre-bending musicians. Cross-cultural education is just one challenge in the crucial journey to prepare students for navigating a diverse world with confidence and respect. It’s a challenge that IU has embraced wholeheartedly. One initiative to ensure every IU graduate is prepared to compete in the international labor market is the Global Classroom Fellowship, which gives instructors the opportunity to add an international dimension to their course by partnering with a partner university abroad. With the support of IU Global leaders, a cohort of their peers, and funding, faculty collaborate with an international colleague to create meaningful collaborative projects with students from around the globe—without leaving their IU campus.

Enter Monika Herzig, accomplished jazz pianist, composer and senior lecturer at IU. Herzig’s passion for music and experience in the industry led her to apply to be a Global Classroom Fellow with the proposal for Music Industry II, a course that gives students a breadth of career options across the musical landscape.

“I had done four overseas courses before,” Herzig explains, thinking back to how she originally envisioned the Global Classrooms class. “I taught one [IU] course – Comparative Music Industry – that I took 3 times to Austria as an overseas experience, where students were immersed in Austrian culture to explore the differences between the industry there and in America. Then, just before the pandemic, in 2019, we went to Berlin and Weimar with the class. I always see how eye-opening it is for the students to do these overseas adventures, and with the last class and grad in 2018 we actually visited the JAM lab.” The challenge for Global Classrooms? How to bring these eye-opening experiences to students who don’t travel to Vienna.

Advancing IU Global’s engagement on the ground in India

Posted on April 21, 2023 by Minu Thomas

With spring revitalizing Indiana University’s campuses across the state, opportunities are in bloom. This April, the Vice President for International Affairs Hannah Buxbaum traveled with colleagues to India to renew the partnerships and connections with the country that more international students call home than any other. As part of the university’s efforts to strengthen its international connections, the IU India Gateway organized a series of events that brought together IU’s partners, alumni, and incoming students.

The India Gateway in Delhi helps to connect with IU’s partner institutions in India, supports IU faculty research, and student-focused activities, and assists in widening the alumni network globally. The IU delegation’s visit reaffirmed all of these goals, reinforcing the important role of the Gateway in India. It creates new avenues for research, university partnerships, conferences, workshops, and overseas study, building opportunities for faculty, students, companies, and the state of Indiana in India’s rapidly growing market.

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Displaced students find support and hope through IU’s Refugee Task Force

Posted on April 4, 2023 by Marielle Michael Petranoff

A yellow daffodil in the foreground with the Sample Gates in soft focus in the background.

Bringing students from around the world to Bloomington to study, research, and engage in IU’s community is a core function of the Office of International Services (OIS) at Indiana University, and one that it has spent decades developing expertise in. Guiding students and scholars through the complex, often changing network of requirements to maintain their visas; translating credits from wildly different academic systems while ensuring applicants are prepared for the rigor of IU’s coursework; helping students from over 140 different countries adjust to a new culture, language, and community: this is what OIS does.

But what happens when there are no academic transcripts because the issuing institution has crumbled under missile strikes? When diplomas were left behind in a hasty journey across borders to protect lives? When the networks of support a student relies on are scattered around the world at the whims of geopolitical negotiations?

This is the reality of bringing students to Indiana University who are displaced from their home countries, and where the IU Refugee Task Force comes in.

Understanding the challenges

The terms “refugee” and “asylee” refer to the legal status of a person who, for safety or political reasons, cannot return to their home, but that designation is only recorded by border officials. The reality of quantifying forcibly displaced populations is much more complex. With high-profile wars and political turmoil breaking out in places like Ukraine and Afghanistan, natural disasters making entire regions unsafe, and ongoing conflicts not abating, the UN Human Rights Campaign estimates the total global population of forcibly displaced people to be over 103 million, the highest ever recorded.

Among those millions are intelligent, talented individuals seeking to advance their educations in ways their home countries no longer provide. Their stories and experiences are unique, both individually and as a group, and their paths to Indiana University do not follow any single prescribed trail. Potential students may hold passports from other countries, but because of their displacement may not be classified as international students. Often, they lack the ability to prove their credentials in traditional ways, have experienced tremendous trauma, and may not have access to any financial backing.

The challenges of hosting displaced students at IU is nothing new to OIS. For decades, staff within International Services have been building connections between departments, local agencies, and government officials to assist potential students who don’t yet have the more common student visas needed to attend IU, on an individual, ad hoc basis. The intercultural competency and global engagement inherent to their work made them an essential part of the network of support for students, even before a committee was put together.

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IU India Gateway celebrates women’s history month, alumni

Posted on March 31, 2023 by Minu Thomas

Throughout the month of March, Women’s History Month, the IU India Gateway has been collecting profiles of successful alumni in the region and sharing them on LinkedIn. Read on for a summary of all seven profiles, then follow the Gateway on LinkedIn to see the full details.

As a part of Women’s History Month, IU India Gateway is excited to share this year’s IU Women Of The World feature showcasing Indian women who have an Indiana University degree. These women were invited to reflect on their academic and career achievements since graduation. In case you missed their individual profiles throughout the month on our social media platforms, we’ve collated the details in this feature to inspire women to step out to shape their world.

Whether they are on this short list or simply out in the world making a difference, we would like to cheer on all women who walk the unknown roads and continue to rise and raise opportunities and hopes for future generations. IU India Gateway is grateful to the featured IU alumnae for sharing their achievements and thoughts. Want to be featured next year? We will be searching for next year’s cohort in January 2024. If you know of an outstanding IU alum who you think should be featured, let us know!

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Exploring connections across Latin America, President Whitten visits the IU Mexico Gateway

Posted on March 24, 2023 by Molly Fisher

While classes paused on campus for spring break, IU President Pamela Whitten and our Global Gateway Network staff were hard at work affirming connections throughout Latin America. IU Mexico Gateway Director Molly Fisher shares the story.

The IU Mexico Gateway, located in Mexico City, allows IU faculty and students to immerse themselves in academic activities and partnerships across Latin America and the Caribbean. Our small but mighty Gateway team, part of IU Global, is passionate about higher education and providing opportunities for our constituents at IU and abroad. We are dedicated to helping link students, faculty, staff, local institutional partners, and alumni with Indiana University. We are uniquely positioned to increase the visibility and impact of IU’s academic and research activities throughout the region from our home base on the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) campus in central Mexico City.

*President Whitten, third from left, stands in front of one of UNAM’s famous murals with the IU delegation*

We were honored to receive President Pamela Whitten this spring break as part of our first delegation since the pandemic. She was accompanied by a few of our colleagues at IU Global, including Vice President for International Affairs Hannah Buxbaum, Associate Vice President for International Affairs Shawn Reynolds, and College of Arts + Sciences Professor and Mexico Gateway Academic Director J. César Félix-Brasdefer. Their visit was President Whitten’s first chance to meet with our local staff and alumni along with many key stakeholders and partners in Mexico. She was able to experience the vital relationships our Global Gateway office cultivates first-hand and see how they affect greater student success, research, and collaboration between our neighboring countries.

click here to read the details of the full trip