Hear from Dr. Elizabeth Plantan and Dr. Martin Blackwell as they explain the goal of the Ukraine Initiative!
Away From Home, Ukrainians Find Peace At Stetson
Ukrainian Professor Selected To Teach At Stetson This Year
https://www2.stetson.edu/today/2022/08/ukrainian-professor-selected-to-teach-at-stetson-this-year/
Go Beyond! Scenes from Study Abroad Fair Fall 2021
FOCUS Orientation CommUnity Fair Fall 2021
Placing Care at the Center of Internationalization
The transition between spring, summer, and fall 2020 semesters drew on the unshakable resilience of our international students and deep care by Stetson. The chronology below offers evidence to this end and showcases obstacles and wins experienced by students in order to successfully rejoin Stetson this fall.
March 2020
With the declared need to place health first, students were encouraged to leave campus. Our international population response was different to domestic students. For many, leaving campus to travel outside of the U.S. created fear of not being able to return to complete their studies. Students who could or desired to go left rapidly, but this represented only 21% of the population. Most students stayed on campus while others left to reside off-campus with friends and family.
April 2020
International students overwhelmingly communicated feeling safest at Stetson housing until the end of the term. This was especially true for our graduating seniors, many of whom were applying to participate in Optional Practical Training (OPT), a post-baccalaureate employment training program. Our student-athletes were also interested in completing the season in the event that they could play. Some students were concerned about the impact leaving might have on scholarships and academic progress. A smaller group wanted to simply prolong their time away from home. Several students had to stay because of airports closures worldwide. By the end of April, a growing number of students began requesting financial help for accommodations to reside in the U.S. during the summer or assistance with departure from the U.S. Unfortunately, the federal CARES Act had no provisions for international students.
May/June 2020
U.S. immigration laws prohibit the employment of international students. Without financial recourse, homelessness was certain. Recognizing the dire need, staff at WORLD: Rinker Center for International Learning initiated a collaboration with offices across the Deland campus to seek summer funding to support international students affected by the pandemic. For example, Financial Aid, Development and Alumni Engagement, and Grants, Sponsored Research and Strategic Initiatives worked aggressively with WORLD to offer students $250 mini grants from the Stetson Student Support Foundation to offset the cost of first week of food and housing. Friends of Stetson also stepped up to offer just-in-time financial help.
96.2% students return fall 2020 180 total enrolled
Then, a significant win arrived in the form of a $35,000 grant from the Jessie Ball duPont Foundation to assist 19 students with housing, food, toiletries, and travel.
By the end of summer, almost $50,000 raised in grants and donations for 2020 summer housing & meal support. As a result, students from Armenia, Bulgaria, Egypt, Kenya, Latvia, Mexico, Pakistan, Taiwan, and Uganda were supported. And, no international student at Stetson fell out of federal compliance for a pandemic-related reason.
Students communicated deep gratitude for the care they experienced. An International Student Emergency Endowment Fund was created to aid students with emergencies. The fund is in need of additional resources to reach the $25,000 minimum required for endowment status.
July 2020
On July 6, federal regulation changes threw the entire international learning community into upheaval. The ICE guidelines required international students to leave the country if universities offered required courses online. In addition, enrolled students were required to be physically present in the U.S. to complete studies online and maintain international student status. Our students indicated being afraid, angry, confused, uncertain, depressed, losing hope, and downright frantic over the possible loss of traction in continuing their studies. Frequent communication from Stetson to students and parents via webinars, emails and WhatsApp messaging became an imperative, as was translating how the ICE guidelines would impact each unique situation. Fortunately, the guidelines were overturned and returned to previous status quo.
August 2020
Students began arriving on campus early to complete the required 14-day quarantine. Several had to quarantine in another country before arriving at Stetson. Their willingness to self-isolate for as many as 28 days indicates students’ grit and a strong sense of connectedness and belonging to Stetson.
Today, our international students are thriving and taking courses while residing on-campus, off-campus, and abroad (above). In sum, students’ resilience and Stetson’s community of care created brighter futures and a powerful win for our students.
International Student Activities during Lockdown
—International Tax session April 6, 2020 2:30 PM EST. Use the link below to sign up by noon April 3rd to be included in a chat during which Albert Aguirre and Roxanne Lewis will be available to talk you through the process of filing your taxes for 2019. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5GJf7i_mhsPmR7nU-PRlPq3q4QfIFDEurC7fvdN6-rGZwag/viewform
Other University Events
–March 23, 2020 from Travis Potter of Stetson’s Wellness and Recreation office [email protected]. Contact him to express interest in joining. “It goes without saying that we are not scheduling any intramural games for the remainder of the semester, but what if we can explore an alternative for your fun and entertainment. The first step is to gauge your initial interest and hopefully there are some commonalities among everyone. I have brainstormed the following activities:
Madden Tournament (PS4; Xbox)Call of Duty Warzone (top finishes; Xbox, PS4, Computer)
8 Ball Pool Competitions (App on Google Play)
FIFA 2020 Tournament (PS4; Xbox)
Rocket League CompetitionNBA 2K (PS4 & Xbox)
Interested? Let me know, I’m starting new tournaments each Monday between now and the end of April. “
–Looking to get involved in Stetson leadership opportunities? Connect with ULEAD www.stetson.edu/ulead
Sprouting Growth
Through the Alliance for International Reforestation Inc. and Stetson, students are planting seeds for learning in Central America.
Since the year 2000, the Alliance for International Reforestation Inc. (AIR) has enjoyed a strong partnership with David and Leighan Rinker, longtime ardent Stetson benefactors, in offering transformational service experiences for Stetson students in Central America.
The partnership actually began when in 1999 David Rinker offered to support student trips with Anne Hallum, Ph.D., a Stetson political science professor and founder of AIR, through the Marshall E. Rinker Sr. Foundation. David Rinker had learned of Hallum’s early experiences working in Guatemala — training farmers in sustainable agriculture and other services — and he wanted students to benefit as well.
Through the years, both literally and figuratively, it’s been quite a journey.
Today, selected students — based on grades, a reflective essay and an interview — participate in three primary programs, along with academic assignments, over a period of four to six weeks. The word participate is used loosely.
Students build stoves with Mayan families and the AIR staff; they are actively engage at rural schools; they plant fast-growing trees on deforested slopes; and they maintain a journal of reflections on friendships made and lessons learned.
Camaraderie with locals is part of the AIR experience for students.
Over the years, for example, more than 100 stoves have been constructed — involving cement mixing and brick laying — to help prevent lung disease and conserve precious trees. Meanwhile, more than 45,000 fast-growing trees have been planted —up to 4,000 trees each month by hand on mountains — to improve crops and prevent mudslides.
The trips, clearly, aren’t vacations, except for the Saturday “tourist days.”
Last summer, in addition to building and planting, a student with a special interest in marketing shadowed Hallum to learn the nuances of fundraising and donor relations.
The travel expenses for each of those students, as well as for Hallum, are covered by the Marshall E. Rinker Sr. grant (with some funds from Latin American Studies when more students traveled). Those annual grants total approximately $9,000 each June, which cover hotels, food, ground transportation, small stipends and continual supervision by the AIR staff members.
For the students, the payoffs have been significant.
A first-year student was taught the “sheer joy” of an exhausting day of service (especially outdoors). An impressionable 19-year-old who spent six weeks with AIR in Guatemala now is an accomplished alumnus. More generally, AIR has impacted how student view the world.
Thanks to charitable funding and Anne Hallum, Ph.D., a former political science professor at Stetson, students continue to participate in uncommon immersion abroad.
Until June 2012, Hallum taught full-time at Stetson and managed AIR’s early growth in Nicaragua and Guatemala. She was able to combine the service work in rural Guatemala and Nicaragua with her own academic research, and to find ways for students to earn academic credits in independent studies such as immersion Spanish, environmental activism, Latin American studies: Mayan Culture, and religion and the environment.
Hallum left Stetson in 2012, moving to Atlanta to work full-time (non-salaried) as president of AIR-Guatemala. Yet, even today, by virtue of her personal ties to the university and the Rinker support, she continues to exclusively host Stetson students for lengthy immersion experiences.
Not coincidentally, in 2017 AIR Guatemala received its second recognition from the United Nations, as a winner of the 2017 Equator Prize, presented by the United Nations Development Programme.
As a result, a reforestation organization founded on the third floor of Elizabeth Hall at Stetson more than 25 years ago now is globally acclaimed. Even greater, it continues to provide uncommon experiences of growth for Stetson students.
-Michael Candelaria
Originally posted at Stetson Today on February 25, 2019
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.”
4th Annual Open House Welcomes Faculty and Staff
WORLD welcomed faculty and staff to its 4th annual Open House on October 18, 2018.
#Fulbright Language Teaching Assistants Fernanda Ribeiro from Brazil (lft) teaches Portuguese and Naila Shaqqur from Israel (rt) teaches Arabic @StetsonU. FLTAs pose with WORLD staff (center) during WORLD Open House https://t.co/fwm7f9xtKU pic.twitter.com/nUJqbCm1QQ
— BrownCenter@StetsonU (@browncenter_su) October 19, 2018