Author: Rosalie Richards

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Ceramic Brahman bull wins Best of Show at Student Art Exhibit


“Rage” by Alaska Gilmour

Artist Alaska Gilmour let friend Natalie Greenshields name her entry in Stetson’s 29th Annual Undergraduate Juried Exhibition “because I honestly didn’t think it would win anything,” Gilmour said of her quasi-anthropomorphic ceramic bust of a Brahman bull. Gilmour’s ceramic, named “Rage,” won the Ann West Hall Best of Show Award.

The exhibition runs through Dec. 7 at the Hand Art Center on Stetson’s DeLand campus. Sixty-two student artists submitted 129 works to be considered for the show.

Stetson art faculty chose 77 pieces from 36 artists to be exhibited. Gisela Carbonell, Ph.D., curator of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College and exhibition judge, chose the winners of six awards. Stetson students voted on the Student Choice Award.

All Stetson students regardless of major were eligible to participate in the exhibition. This year’s show includes works by 16 non-art majors.

Gilmour, a junior with a double major in psychology and studio, currently is in Thailand as part of an exchange program.


Alaska Gilmour
Photo/Stuart Gilmour

By email, she said she “just thought it would be cool” if Greenshields titled the ceramic “because she went to the effort of entering it for me on my behalf. When Nat told me what she had called it, I burst out laughing. I told her it definitely wouldn’t win anything now with a name like that, but I guess I was wrong.”

A fifth-generation native of Zimbabwe, Gilmour noted her family, who still lives there, breeds Brahman bulls. “I’ve grown up around these floppy-eared cows my whole life, so I guess that was my inspiration for the piece,” she said.

Gilmour said there “are not a lot of higher education options in Zimbabwe” and she chose Stetson because of Florida’s warm climate “and I liked how small Stetson is and how much history it has.”

Her main mediums are oils and ceramics, but she had never worked in the latter until she took a class under Professor Dan Gunderson in her first year.

“I had to beg them to let me into the class because it was already full, and I took the class without much intention of pursuing ceramics,” Gilmour said. “But I fell in love with the medium and loved working with Dan.”

Gilmour is uncertain which of her degrees she will pursue as a career path.

“I get bored easily so I’m sure I’ll chop and change careers,” she said. “It’s good I have two very different degrees to follow. I’ll definitely carry on making art throughout my life – I’m just not sure if it will be professionally or just as a hobby. Life is too fleeting to have a set plan, things change all the time and therefore so will I.”

If you Go:
The 29th Annual Undergraduate Juried Exhibition runs through Dec. 7 at the Hand Art Center on Stetson’s Palm Court/Quad, 139 E. Michigan Ave., DeLand. Admission is free and open to the public. Designated parking is available in the lots at East Arizona Avenue.

Center hours are 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and Friday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday and noon-4 p.m. Saturday. Closed on national holidays, holiday weekends and fall, Thanksgiving and winter breaks. Information: 386-822-7270.

Story is an adapted excerpt from an article originally posted on November 28, 2018  at Stetson Today

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Classroom Cuenca

Cuenca, Ecuador

Cuenca, the capital of the Azuay province and third largest city in Ecuador, is the economic center of the southern Sierra. With its 8,000-foot elevation, cobblestone streets, cathedrals and colonial parks, Cuenca is perhaps the country’s most charming city. And, not coincidentally, Cuenca recently has enjoyed resurgence as a safe, low-cost and generally pleasant locale for expatriates to rediscover and for retirees to live.

At Stetson, Cuenca also represents an opportunity for students to travel abroad, using this natural wonderland, believed to have been founded around 500 A.D., as their own classroom.

The next lessons are scheduled for June 1-30, 2019, when up to 10 students will gain a “total immersion experience,” according to Bill Nylen, Ph.D., professor of political science, who will serve as faculty mentor.

“That part of the world is absolutely fascinating,” Nylen said. “I live for cultural immersion. … I’m really excited about this trip for all kinds of reasons.”

Among the planned sites to visit with the students are churches, parks and museums, along with indigenous communities and the picturesque countryside, where all four of southern Ecuador’s distinct cultures (Hispanic, Cañari, Saraguro and Cholo) will be on full display.

Students on last summer’s Cuenca study abroad (L-R): Merida Mikell, Jessica Chamberlin, Emma Logue, Noah Katz and Abby Ault

For students, also included in the trip is a mandatory Spanish class plus optional instruction, with the study falling under a four-credit course. Each student will be hosted by a family. The cost, excluding airfare, is roughly $3,000 (including meals and room/board).

The response from students who traveled to Cuenca last summer?

Noah Katz, a senior history major, went on and on about his experience, which even entailed attending a church mass with his host family (all in Spanish) and a wedding — both “unofficial” adventures. He concluded that the trip “exceeded expectations” before exclaiming, “I had a wonderful time!” For good measure, Katz added that he remains in touch with his host family.

Beyond Cuenca

On the upcoming trip, Nylen will replace Bob Sitler, Ph.D., Latin American and Latino Studies Program director and professor of world languages and cultures. One of the reasons is that Sitler is planning 12 days in Yucatan, Mexico, Dec. 28-Jan. 8, with four students.

There, subjects will range from seven ancient ruins and eight natural landscapes to nine Mayan villages. In preparation, this fall the four students are taking a classroom course — mostly taught at Sitler’s home — then returning for a post-trip spring course that will encompass project and presentation work.

“This is about seeing, feeling, smelling. And most students respond very well to that,” Sitler commented.

Their study abroad is part of a concerted effort by faculty, as well as a curriculum requirement, through Stetson’s Latin American and Latino Studies, a multidisciplinary and experientially oriented program that encompasses social, cultural, political and economic systems of regions. Students, who receive a minor, must complete at least one experientially oriented credit-bearing course as part of their academic requirements. This may include a Mentored Field Experience, study abroad in Latin America and/or approved internships.

In the past, students have studied in Guatemala, Peru, Mexico, Belize, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Ecuador and Puerto Rico.

And, with Spanish being the most studied language on campus, the program is especially popular across a campus that clearly is bullish on study abroad. In all, 24 study abroad trips, the most ever at Stetson, have been proposed for 2018-2019, according to Wendy Viggiano, program coordinator of International Learning.

Notably, the Mentored Field Experience is a program sponsored by the Latin American and Latino Studies department that began in 1995, fully funded by alumnus Mark Hollis ’56, a university former trustee. The program covers the expenses of up to four students each summer on professor-led trips to South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. Before visiting a country, the students must spend the spring semester in the classroom, preparing for the trip by learning the history, politics and culture of the nation, as well as submitting a research proposal. During the trip, the students collect data for those projects, culminating with a fall-semester, post-travel evaluation course and presentation of their research at Stetson.

Essentially, students travel the world and learn by doing, one real lesson at a time.

Said Sitler: “This is the opposite of staying in an envelope.”

-Published at Stetson Today on November 26, 2018 by Michael Candelaria

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How Study Abroad contributes to Career Readiness: 8 Studies

International experience used to be a “nice-to-have” criterion in a graduate’s resume. Today, it has become one of the most important components of a 21st century education. Many new studies show a direct impact of study abroad on creativity, cognitive ability, and student success. In addition, studies show that study abroad plays an important role in developing a global mindset and skills necessary to succeed in the workforce. Below are studies showing the value employers place on international experience and whether a graduate’s career prospects actually improve as a result of this experience.

Career Success

The Erasmus Impact Study: Effects of Mobility on the Skills and Employability of Students and the Internationalisation of Higher Education Institutions
This independent study prepared for the European Commission finds that internationally mobile students have better chances of finding a job after graduation. Their unemployment rate five years after graduation is lower than non-mobile students. Results show that around 65 percent of employers consider international experience important for recruitment, and over 90 percent are looking for transversal skills enhanced by study abroad, such as openness and curiosity about new challenges, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.

Gone International: Mobile Students and Their Outcomes; Report on the 2012/13 Graduating Cohort
This UK Higher Education International Unit report finds that graduates who had studied, worked, or volunteered abroad were more likely to be employed within six months of graduation. The data also shows a significantly lower proportion of graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds who were mobile were unemployed compared with those from the same backgrounds who were not mobile. Graduates with international study experience earned more, on average, than other graduates.

Recent Graduates Survey: The Impact of Studying Abroad on Recent College Graduates’ Careers
The IES Abroad Recent Graduate Study shows that study abroad alumni find jobs sooner after graduation, related to their majors, and at a higher starting salary. Study abroad students also have better graduate and professional school acceptance rates. Ninety-seven percent of alumni secured a job within one year after graduation, compared to 49 percent in the general college graduate population.

Career Readiness

Expanding Opportunity by Opening Your Mind: Multicultural Engagement Predicts Job Offers Through Longitudinal Increases in Integrative Complexity. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(5), 608-615
This study by Maddux et al. shows that the extent to which students adapted to and learned about new cultures (multicultural engagement) during a highly international 10-month master of business administration program predicted the number of job offers students received after the program, even when controlling for important personality and demographic variables.

GLOSSARI – Georgia Learning Outcomes of Students Studying Abroad Research
An assessment by the University System of Georgia found that students who studied abroad had a 17.8-percent higher 4-year graduation rate than those who did not study abroad, particularly among underrepresented minority and low income students.

Employer Perspective

The Outcomes of Outbound Student Mobility
This summary of academic literature over a 50-year period by AIM Overseas shows that over 60 percent of employers agree that an overseas study experience is a positive on a résumé. Additionally, 72 percent of employers agree that knowing a second language adds to the appeal of a prospective employee.

How Employers Value an International Study Experience
Based on responses from 10,000 recruiters worldwide, this QS Global Employer Report found that employers are looking for the skills and experience gained through the overseas study experience when hiring graduates.

Faktaa – Facts and Figures: Hidden Competencies
Prior studies mention that employers value international experience. This study by CIMO and Demos Helsinki concludes that employers recognize only those skills that are traditionally linked to international experience like tolerance, language skills and cultural knowledge. A substantial number of skills that are also linked to mobility were not visible to employers. The study concludes that young people need more guidance in making competencies such as productivity, resilience and curiosity gained from their international experiences more visible.

Posted at IIE.org.

This post was originally published in the fall 2015 edition of IIENetworker magazine, “The Impact of International Education.” This issue analyzes distinct aims of international education and discusses ways to improve how we measure its success.

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Stetson celebrates International Education Week during November 5-9

WORLD: Rinker Center for International Learning joins thousands of universities, colleges and organizations to recognize international learning and global mindset. During November 5-9, 2018, Stetson will celebrate its global footprint with a week of cultural activities, research showcases, sporting events, and more.

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11/12/2018
11/16/2018
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Stetson University celebrates International Education Week with a showcase of cultural activities, research highlights, sporting events, and more.
International Education Week
various locations.

International Education Week is November 12-16, 2018. IEW is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Education “to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences”.

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Pumpkin Carving Fever


The Pumpkin Carving event on Friday, October 26 was a total success! Despite anticipating only a few people, more than 15 people stopped by throughout the two hours we had programmed for the event.

We started out by carving pumpkins outside of WORLD, but had to adapt to the situation due to rain. So, we moved the table to the roofed area outside of the main entrance. Students got to interact with one another while performing this American tradition while enjoying a slice of pizza, a caramelized apple, candy and apple spiced cider.

I believe the only issue was that the weather was not so much on our side, but we managed to adapt to the situation and make the best out of it!

WORLD’s Social Committee

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Zoe Weaver wins Stetson Student Employee of the Month

Zoe Weaver, ‘19, one of WORLD’s outstanding student employees, is winner of the October 2018 Student of the Month Competition at Stetson University.

Our Student Employment office hosts the monthly competition. The office seeks meritorious nominations from employers for student employees who exemplify Stetson’s Professional and Career Readiness Competency themes. This month’s theme is Professionalism and Productivity.

Stetson’s Professional and Career Readiness Competencies are the basis of each month’s theme and represent skills most sought by employers: critical thinking and problem solving, professionalism and productivity, teamwork and collaboration, communication, digital literacy, leadership, global and intercultural engagement, and career navigation. Our student workers practice and master these competencies in their campus work roles. Stetson employers are encouraged to help student employees recognize and build competencies to enable better articulation of transferable skills when students interview for internships, jobs, and post-baccalaureate educational opportunities.

Wendy Viggiano, who serves as Stetson’s international learning program coordinator and Weaver’s supervisor, offered praise as part of the nomination application.

“From the first day of work, Zoe has gone above and beyond, exceeding expectations. She has been instrumental in helping acclimate all of our international students during orientation. She led several orientation sessions, assisting in any small or large task asked of her, and always offered to do even more than asked.

Recently, Zoe organized with her WORLD Ambassador Team a panel on Immigration. She coordinated faculty, staff, and students from around campus to speak about their experience immigrating to the United States. Zoe was the main coordinator for the entire event and was the moderator for the panel. As a student employee, Zoe has anticipated the needs of our center, solving problems before we even ask for help. “

Zoe Weaver, a global development major, envisions her work experience at WORLD as critical to her future endeavors.

“Working at WORLD has not only connected me with students from all over the world and taught me how I can best support them, but has also introduced me to an environment in which all workers truly care about the job they do. The WORLD center and its staff have been an important part of my experience at Stetson, and although I am graduating soon, I am sure they will continue to serve the international community in ways unmatched by any other office on campus.”

Article written by Ally Topliff,’ 19 (political science) and Roxanne Lewis, international student and scholars coordinator at Stetson University

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Hao Jin Named ASUN Defensive Player of the Week

Stetson University’s international students continue to prove themselves the cream of the crop.  Included among their accomplishments Stetson University senior middle blocker Hao Jin, from China, has been named the ASUN Conference Defensive Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday.

Jin and Varga 2018  Jin helped lead Stetson to a 3-0 upset win over ASUN leader Kennesaw State on Saturday, posting eight kills and six blocks while hitting .438 for the match. Her solo block in the third set broke a 23-23 tie and was followed by Julie Varga’s game-winning kill.

Hao Jin 2018 Head ShotsOverall, Jin registered 10 blocks for the week and surpassed the 200-block mark for her Stetson career. She has 90 blocks on the season, sixth-most in the ASUN, including 20 solo blocks.

Jin said “Playing volleyball at Stetson has contributed to my international learning experience in a way not many schools could. It’s a great experience since Stetson is such a diverse and inclusive school! Even on the volleyball team we have six international students and each of them affects my experience here differently. The courses at Stetson are very challenging academically. However, with the support of my teammates I manage to stay on top of everything.”

An Economics major, Jin earned her second weekly  conference honor this season. She was named ASUN Player of the Week back on Sept. 10.

 

Article originally published in part on Stetson Today, October 30, 2018.

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 International Student Receives Global Citizenship Scholarship, Stetson Access Grant

Congratulations to Henry Semaganda, international student from Kampala, Uganda, who received one of Stetson’s prestigious Global Citizenship Scholarships. Semaganda has long demonstrated interest in Stetson University, applying twice before receiving the scholarship.

“As a recipient of the prestigious Global Citizen Full Tuition Scholarship, I have an immense opportunity to live my dream at Stetson University, Florida. A dream that has come to pass despite the fact that the competition was indeed stiff, with only one slot available for a student from sub-Saharan Africa.“

Henry Semaganda, ‘20 (biology), proudly displays his Global Citizenship Scholarship certificate of award. Semaganda is the second recipient of the Global Citizenship Scholarship, a new scholarship program at Stetson University aimed at attracting outstanding international students.

The full tuition scholarship is awarded to incoming international students with top academic potential who exhibit Stetson’s value of global citizenship. Three students are chosen annually, each from different regions of the world. The scholarship enables recipients opportunity to deepen their practice of global citizenship as Semeganda describes in his application essay.

“For a substantial part of my life, I have always held a firm belief in the promise of humanity. This belief has persisted despite the wrongs and misfortunes that have befallen our societies. I have never given up hope in believing that there is potential to do good in all of us and that deep within us lies the solution to the problems that torment the world today ranging from war, terrorism, disease among others. I believe everyone has a place on the team in this journey to make the world a better place for posterity”.

Semaganda has also received the Stetson Access Grant Scholarship (now discontinued) to cover the remaining costs of attending university. He believes that the small class sizes and student-to-teacher ratio at Stetson  will afford him the “rare opportunity of an up-close learning experience and mentorship between the professors and me…”

Today, I rejoice in an improbable success. That as a student who began his academic journey at Masajja Bridge nursery and primary school, a school that is on the verge of demolition currently, I will be obtaining my undergraduate education at Stetson University, one of the top institutions in U.S. Both my parents dropped out of school during the 1979 Iddi-Amin civil war but held a firm belief that education would be the ultimate gift they would ever give me. It is their unwavering hope that even pushed me to limits they had never envisioned.

The biology major has participated in the EducationUSA program at the U.S. Embassy in Kampala and has volunteered to work with them to spread the benefits of an American education.

I want to share in the diversity, to bask in the depth, richness and flexibility of an American education. My story is one of hard work, tenacity and unflagging faith that I can be among the best. If one wants to achieve greatness, the door to opportunity is always open. My story has just begun. I urge students from Uganda, and from around the world to never give up on their dreams because they seem too big. Let us strive to push ourselves to limits we have never imagined before.

Semaganda’s future plans include a career as a medical doctor to help improve Uganda’s health system.

“I envision that after my time at Stetson, I will be an ambassador of hope, well equipped with knowledge, exposure and skills to contribute to sensitization and improvement of basic health care in Uganda but more especially in eradicating preventable diseases like HIV/AIDS, cholera and ebola that plague millions of Africans.

”Today, as a global citizen, I long to see African societies that are not held hostage to negative traditional beliefs and senseless stereotypes. This will boost our education, health, infrastructure, relationships, politics and leadership.”

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4th Annual Open House Welcomes Faculty and Staff

WORLD welcomed faculty and staff to its 4th annual Open House on October 18, 2018.