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UD hosts Middle Eastern, North African students
1:55 p.m., July 11, 2006--The University of Delaware is one of five colleges selected by the U.S. Department of State to host a diplomatic initiative with Middle Eastern and North African students from July 2-Aug. 22. UD is hosting the program for the third year--longer than any other U.S. university. A student who visited campus for last year's program wrote: “America is unexpectedly diverse, encompassing people from different backgrounds and races. As an Arab, I did not feel as though I were a misfit or an outsider in a foreign country. Instead, I felt more like a thread in a web made out of many interwoven and interconnected peoples.” Twenty-two undergraduates arrived on campus July 2 to join this year's Undergraduate Institute on American Studies and Leadership, funded by a $418,000 grant from the State Department. Daniel M. Green, associate professor of political science and international relations, is the academic director for the program, which will teach students public speaking and grant writing and introduce them to American culture by taking them on study tours to Philadelphia, New York, Memphis, Washington, D.C., and the Southwest. In Washington, the group will meet with government and private sector leaders. Audrey L. Helfman, associate professor of urban affairs and a staff member for UD's Leadership Program, is helping students develop leadership skills. The program will be completed in August, but the participants will meet UD faculty at a follow-up workshop in the Middle East or in North Africa early next year. “The quality of the program is evident in the outcomes we see in the students and in the follow-up activities once they return home to their countries and universities,'' according to Lesa G. Griffiths, director of UD's Center for International Studies, which arranges the summer program. “The center could not put together such an outstanding program without the help of so many faculty from departments across campus.” The other host institutions for the program this year are Dickinson College, Montana State University, Georgetown University and Benedictine University. The program is sponsored by the U.S. State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative, administered through its Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Article by Kathy Canavan |
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