As UNO celebrates its 100-year
anniversary, International Studies and Programs (IS&P) celebrates the more
than 100 nationalities represented on campus.
For the
past 35 years, students, faculty, scholars, business professionals and
government officials from all over the world have participated in IS&P
programming. IS&P attributes its comprehensive global outreach to the
synergy created through the extraordinary community collaborations it has
established and sustained at home and abroad. IS&P partners with other
campus departments, local and statewide communities, national organizations and
companies, as well as universities, organizations, and institutions worldwide.
Its broad
network of partnerships supports research, international exchanges, study
abroad, host family programs, and instructional enhancement specializations
within the International Studies major. IS&P's goal is to continue to
create and develop relationships locally and globally to bring educational
opportunities to as many students, faculty and staff as possible while
enriching the Omaha metro area and university community.
Bringing the world to Nebraska
In 2005,
IS&P received the UNO Strategic Planning Award for Community Engagement for
its excellence in developing and maintaining community connections throughout
Omaha and the state of Nebraska. Following are descriptions of just a few of
these ongoing IS&P community partnerships.
Nebraska Neighbors
For more
than 30 years, UNO's linkages with neighboring communities and rural western
Nebraska communities have facilitated home stays, tours and opportunities for
guests to interact with small-town Nebraska. IS&P's Nebraska Neighbors
program has introduced international students and scholars to rural Nebraska
and has given Nebraskans the opportunity to meet international participants
from around the world. During these "friendly invasions," various groups of
international participants throughout the year visit small towns in Nebraska
such as Lyons, Gering, Uehling, Oakland, Chadron, Scottsbluff, West Point and
Columbus.
Students
often stay with host families and learn about the farming industry, school
systems, hospitals and various aspects of rural America. The West Point Chamber
of Commerce, for example, for 18 years has hosted groups of Austrian Exchange
Students from UNO's sister university, Vienna School of Business and Economics.
In addition, IS&P's Center for Afghanistan Studies has provided rural
visits to Gering and Scottsbluff for Afghan women teachers and administrators
participating in ongoing education programs. These exchanges have created close
relationships, and international participants 
and host
families often maintain contact with one another long after the programs have
ended.
Presidents
Reagan and Bush, local community groups and newspapers, and national
organizations such as Fulbright and NAFSA have recognized Nebraska Neighbors
for contributing to international education and mutual understanding.
Adopt-a-School Partnerships
IS&P
has adopted Crestridge Elementary and Beveridge Middle School, two
international/global studies magnet schools in Omaha, through the Omaha Public
Schools Adopt-a-School Program. The school staff has developed a curriculum
that reflects many countries representing a variety of cultures, governments,
history, geographic locations and levels of economic development.
International
participants visit IS&P's adopted schools several times a year, especially
during international week at Crestridge. UNO's international community has the
opportunity to see how local school systems work and share their culture with
young students. IS&P often receives requests from schools across Omaha and
sends small groups of students to speak in classrooms about their cultures.
Omaha World Affairs Council
IS&P
is home to the Omaha World Affairs Council, which has convened for 36 years to
share and discuss contemporary global affairs. The 85-member group gathers 10
times a year to provide a forum for members to listen and learn.
Members
come from Omaha's academic, business, professional and community leaders and
from NATO representatives headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base.
Top photo: IS&P
students Kaori Tomoyose (Japan) and Ali Al Khamis (Saudi Arabia) enjoy a lunch
with students in West Point, Neb., during a Nebraska Neighbors trip.
Bottom photo:
Afghan women educators visited rural Nebraska as part of the Nebraska Neighbors
Community Connections program
Harnessing a powerful force
for change — volunteers
Volunteering
is a powerful force for change — for those who volunteer and for the wider
community. The spirit of volunteerism that is alive in the United States today,
however, does not exist in many nations. IS&P works closely with UNO's
Service Learning Academy, where students address community needs and enrich
their education by experiencing the real-world application of academic subjects
and by developing the habit of active citizenship.
The
Academy collaborates with more than 200 community agencies throughout Omaha and
has provided an array of service-learning opportunities for UNO's international
students. Volunteers from Habitat for Humanity, for example, have trained and
worked together with international students to help build and repair homes for
low-income families.
Students
have worked directly with volunteers at Girls and Boys Club, where they have
learned the meaning of caring for and educating underprivileged children. Also,
many international participants have visited the Lydia House, which serves
homeless single mothers and their children, many of whom have fled from abusive
domestic situations.
Lulu
Ferdous, an aviation major at UNO from Bangladesh, worked on a home for Habitat
for Humanity and says, "I enjoyed working when I knew how happy it would make
the new family to move into this house. It taught me a greater sense of purpose
and dignity."
Through
this vital initiative, IS&P's international students learn to apply their
academic energies in collaboration with charitable partners outside of the
university, to enhance the quality of life within their communities, and to
experience the personal fulfillment realized from helping those who are less
fortunate.
Pictured above:
Lulu Ferdous, an IS&P student from Bangladesh, works on a project for Girls
Inc. She's also participated in a Service-Learning project for Habitat for
Humanity.
IS&P's
commitment to building a global community includes supporting 31 sister
university linkages worldwide that promote study abroad; foster collaborative
research; enhance curricular offerings; expand international partnerships; and
support the exchange of students, faculty, and staff.
Because
of the close collaboration between IS&P and the Omaha Sister Cities
Association, UNO has established sister universities in four of Omaha's five
sister cities. UNO and Shizuoka University, for example, have maintained an
active sibling-university relationship for nearly 30 years. More than 1,000
Shizuoka students have studied at UNO and more than 100 UNO faculty and staff
have engaged in research, language, cultural and educational exchanges at
Shizuoka.
IS&P
has collaborated with several departments across campus to facilitate programs
with sister universities. The College of Business Admin-istration offers a
joint MBA program with the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany; the
Aviation Institute publishes a scholarly journal that is co-sponsored by UNO's sister
university in Riga, Latvia; and the College of Communication, Fine Arts and
Media has sent performing groups to sister universities in Austria, China, the
Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway and Romania.
Also, UNO
students from all colleges on campus have been selected to receive Nene Field
Scholarships, an all-expenses paid opportunity to study at sister universities
in Brazil, China, Japan, Lithuania and Nicaragua.
