VOL V, no. 1

Fall 2003

Japanese Culture Festival, 2002-2003

In this Issue

Japanese Culture Festival 1

New Immigration Updates 2

Visiting Author Profile: Elizabeth Nunez 2

Visiting Author Profile: Nikki Giovanni 2

New Study Abroad Programs 3

McGlothlin Travel Grant Awarded 3

Guest Artist-in-Residence Profile: Graham Hair 4

New International Exchanges 4

Calendar 4

International Education

Radford University is pleased to announce the arrival of the

Japanese Culture Festival 2003 – 2004. "Japan is a culture of

wonderful contrasts, from the picture cellphone with Hello Kitty

charms to the most quiet ancient tea bowl. I look forward to sharing

some of my favorite bits of Japanese culture with the Radford

University Community thia school year," stated Jennifer Spoon, a

Radford University art professor.

Events for the Japanese Culture Festival will begin with a

remarkable art exhibit featuring Japanese prints from Kyoto

Seika University. The prints are all works by printmaking faculty

and students and will be available for viewing in Gallery

205, Powell Hall from September 4 – October 17.

Other featured events include a Haiku Writing Workshop

and a special Japanese Karate and Aiki-Jitsu Demonstration.

A lecture on "Higher Education in Japan" by Dr. Steve

Cornwell of Osaka Jogakuin Junior College will take place

October 13 at 7 p.m. in Cook Hall, Room 107. Additionally, a

media presentation on the Japanese Gardens will be given by

Professor Tom Knight of Eastern Kentucky University.

Also introduced as part of the Japanese Culture Festival is a

special event entitled "A Night in Japan." This event, held in Heth

Ballroom on October 25 at 6 p.m., will include a cooking demonstration,

Japanese music, a traditional

tea ceremony, and a

lesson in flower-arranging.

Other events will begin in

Spring 2004. A major spring

event will be the Japanese Festival

Concert in Preston Hall featuring traditional,

contemporary, and westernized

music. "The concert will feature not

only traditional Japanese music in

modern settings, but will also take a

comic look at how the Western

world viewed the exoticism of Japan at the beginning of the 20th

century," stated Clarity James, a music professor at Radford

University and one of the concert’s presenters.

Be sure to view posters around campus for specific information

regarding the Japanese Culture Festival, 2003 – 2004 events.

This major event is sponsored by the International Education

Center, Office of Multicultural and International Student Services

and the McGlothlin Family Endowment. For a complete year-long

schedule, please call (540) 831-6200 or visit our website at

www.radford.edu/~intlprog/japanfest.htm.

Faculty Invited to Attend Southwest

Virginia International Educators Meeting

All faculty with interest in international education are invited

to attend a one-day meeting on Monday, Oct. 6, at the University

of Virginia.

The program includes presentations on international students,

international programs and study abroad.

The SW VA International Educators group began five years

ago when representatives from RU and Virginia Tech met to

network and share international program ideas. Since then it

has grown to include more than 20 regional colleges stretching

north as far as JMU, east to Sweet Briar College and south

to Southwest Virginia Community College.

To learn more contact Joe Flory at jflory@radford.edu

Radford University does not discriminate in the administration of its educational programs, activities, admission, or employment practices. 03-110 (07/03)

Faculty Needed to Plan

South Asian Festival

Planning has begun for a 2004-05 South Asian Cultures

Festival, but more faculty are needed to help plan lectures, films,

cultural programs, etc. for this year-long celebration of South Asia.

A planning committee will meet in September. For more

information please e-mail Joe Flory at jflory@radford.edu.

International Minors

Available to Students

Faculty advisors are encouraged to remind students that RU

offers three different international minors:

The Intercultural Studies Minor complements students’ foreign

language skills with a cultural focus. Students choose from one of

three fields of specialization: classics, Latin America or Western

Europe. Contact Dr. Sweet at psweet@radford.edu for more information.

The International Studies Minor is an interdisciplinary minor

providing a broad overview of international issues while permitting

some degree of specialization on a particular issue or

region of the world. For more information contact Dr.

McClellan at cmcclell@radford.edu

The Peace Studies Minor provides students with an opportunity

to complement a wide range of major courses of study with

systematic exploration of the causes of world conflict and the

possible means of both managing that conflict and creating a

more peaceful world. Contact Dr. Martin at

gmartin@radford.edu for more information.

R A D F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y

R A D F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y

2

Elizabeth Nunez

Award-winning, Trinidad-born novelist

Elizabeth Nunez will return to Radford

University between January 15 to

February 2, 2004. She will be available

to speak to classes on literature, creative

writing, multicultural topics and more.

When she last visited RU in April

2001, Dr. Nunez read from her recent

work and met with small groups of

students.

"I was so impressed with the talent I

found at RU," she says, "that I wanted to return. I am truly

looking forward to this opportunity to work more closely with

the students and to share my knowledge about the craft and

art of fiction and the challenge writers face in getting published

successfully."

A City University of New York Distinguished Professor of

English at Medgan Evers College, Dr. Nunez is the author of

five novels: "When Rocks Dance," "Beyond the Limbo

Silence," "Bruised Hibiscus," "Discretion," and "Grace". For

more information on Elizabeth Nunez, visit her web site at

www.elizabethnunez.com.

Nunez chairs the PEN American Open Book Committee,

which focuses on providing acess for people of color to various

aspects of the publishing industry.

Nikki Giovanni

Radford University presents "An

Evening with Nikki Giovanni." Worldrenowned

poet, Nikki Giovanni, is also a

writer, activist, commentator and educator.

She is a University Distinguished

Professor at Virginia Tech where she

teaches writing and literature. She is

also a Gloria D. Smith Professor of Black

Studies.

Giovanni’s web site states, "Over the past 30 years, Nikki’s

outspokenness, in her writing and in person, has brought the

eyes of the world upon her. One of the most widely read

American poets, she prides herself on being ‘a Black

American, a daughter, a mother, a professor of English.’ Nikki

Giovanni has written more than two dozen books, including

volumes of poetry, illustrated children’s books, and three collections

of essays."

"An Evening with Nikki Giovanni," will be presented in Preston

Auditorium on January 21, 2004 at 7:30 p.m. A question-andanswer

period will be followed by a book-signing. Giovanni is the

author of recently published "Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea:

Poems and Not-Quite Poems," "Blues for All the Changes: New

Poems, and Love Poems". This event is co-sponsored by CAB,

BAP, and Multicultural and International Student Services. For

more information on Nikki Giovanni, visit her official web site at

www.nikki-giovanni.com.

Faculty should be aware that international

students, those on F-1 and J-1 student

visas, have special academic and

advising considerations due to U.S. government

regulations for those visas.

Schools are now (as of August 1, 2003)

required to report all international students

in the federally mandated SEVIS

(Student and Exchange Visitor

Information System) data-base, and to

periodically report certain events and

actions by their students. What may be

typical and very acceptable for a domestic

student may be a serious violation of

immigration regulations for international

students. Please help our students by

recommending that they always contact

RU’s Immigration Counselor before making

academic changes or adjustments.

Faculty should be aware of at least

two regulations which affect these students’

legal status and ability to continue

their studies in the United States:

1. Students must pursue a full course

of study at the school listed on the

Form I-20. *CFR 214.2(f)(6)(i)(A-E)

Full course of study means:

• Undergraduates must be enrolled

and complete 12 credit hours each

semester; Graduate students must

be enrolled full-time for nine credit

hours at RU. Students who are not

enrolled full-time without prior

approval by the Immigration

Counselor must be reported in

SEVIS.

• Students must obtain prior authorization

from RU’s Immigration

Counselor to drop below full-time

before registering for less or withdrawing/

dropping a course.

• There are very limited exceptions to

the full course of study requirement.

Does your department have cooperative

agreements for internship placements?

Please notify our office so that

students can take advantage of this

important opportunity, because:

2. International students in F-1 and J-

1 status have many employment

restrictions, some of which include:

• F-1 and J-1 student visa holders are

not allowed to work or undertake an

internship or other employment offcampus

— whether or not it is paid —

until applying and receiving approval

from the BCIS (Bureau for Citizenship

and Immigration Services, formerly

INS) or the university Immigration

Counselor.

• Immigration regulations define the

method of employment eligibility for

internships as "alternate work/study,

internship, cooperative education, or

any other type of required internship

or practicum which is offered by

sponsoring employers through cooperative

agreements with the school."

They also define that the training

"must be an integral part of an established

curriculum."

*8CFR 214.2(f)(10)(i)

*Code of Federal Regulations

Faculty are always welcome to contact

the Immigration Counselor at any

time regarding international student

needs and immigration regulations at

831-6200, or by e-mailing Teresa

Underwood at tunderwo@radford.edu.

Visiting Authors’ Profiles:

Elizabeth Nunez and Nikki Giovanni

What Faculty Need to Know About Immigration

R A D F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y

3

The International Education Center proudly announces the

advent of six new study abroad programs. The programs are

scheduled for summer 2004 and include the following countries:

Australia, England, Ireland and Japan.

The Australian Program will

be headed by Professor Allen

Bures in the Department of

Management and Marketing.

Bures says that he is "really

excited about leading RU's first

group to Australia." Students

will have the opportunity to

explore cross-cultural management

and business practices

while meeting with business

and government officials.

Three professors will be

teaching programs in England. Professor Brenda Bakhitah

Abdul-Raúf in the Department of Criminal Justice will spend

most of the four summer weeks in London teaching about

comparative criminal justice systems. Other locations of

interest in her program include Paris and Amsterdam.

Professor Bill Kovarik in

the Department of Media

Studies will hold his threeweek

summer program in

London, England surveying

the mass media of the

United Kingdom and its

media law system.

Professor Gary Ellerman in the Department of Educational

Studies and International Pre-service Teacher Exchange, also

enthusiastic about his program, says that "the Teaching in

England Program is a proven model for an exciting international

experience for pre-service teachers. Participants are

able to work in a classroom with a British teacher and gain

valuable experience in teaching in a culturally diverse environment."

Ellerman further commented on the overall study

abroad experience declaring, "It is life changing."

Dr. Stevan Jackson, an adjunct faculty member within the

Department of Sociology and Anthropology, anticipates engaging

in a cultural examination of Celtic Ireland. Jackson says,

"Traditional Irish culture resides within the Irish language."

Economics professor, Dr. Prahlad Kasturi, is offering a 13-

day program to Japan as a culminating

event to the Japanese

Culture Festival activities being

celebrated at Radford during the

2003-2004 academic year.

Most of these study abroad programs

are open to all majors. Visit

the International Education

Center’s web address at www.radford.

edu/~intlprog or call 831-

6200 to learn more about the various

study abroad programs.

Faculty interested in proposing a

new study abroad program for the

summer of 2005 should contact

Joe Flory at jflory@radford.edu.

New Study Abroad Programs for Summer 2004

Last year, four Radford University professors

were awarded the McGlothlin

International Travel Grant. The

McGlothlin Grant is an award of $1,000

presented to faculty to supplement international

travel that would ultimately internationalize

the RU curriculum. Specific

purposes of the grant include: adding or

enhancing international dimensions to

faculty members’ classes, internationalizing

department or college curriculums,

and thirdly, the grant allows for investigation

of and preliminary planning for new

study abroad or exchange programs.

Professor Joe Derrick in the

Information Technology Department proposed

to use his grant for travel to China

for the development of summer internship

opportunities. Additionally, Derrick

said that he wanted to provide "assistance

to Kirk scholars in Beijing in meeting

and dialoguing with local students,

and [to pursue] potential long distance

education programs between RU and

Beijing area universities."

Professor Bill Kovarik of Media Studies

has used his grant for summer travel to

Europe, more specifically London and

Maastrecht, Netherlands, to familiarize

himself with the area and to further develop

his 2004 summer study abroad

course: Intercultural and International

Communication (MSTD 451). Kovarik

expressed appreciation for the grant stating,

"I hesitate to think of how this new

section of Radford University’s study

abroad program might have fared without

the initial support of the McGlothlin Grant.

I now have a good deal of insight into the

essential details of the travel and learning

experience that would have been quite

elusive otherwise."

Professor Margaret Bassett in the

School of Nursing spent her visit in

Edinburgh, Scotland at Napier

University. During her trip she was able

to solidify arrangements for her proposed

study abroad program, make

contacts with faculty representatives,

and explore other collaboration possibilities

between RU and Napier University.

Bassett felt "that this was a very productive

visit and that further cooperative

ventures will be forthcoming

between Napier and Radford." The

2003 summer study abroad course she

taught was Global Perspectives in

Health and Human Services.

The fourth professor receiving support

through the McGlothlin grant was

Dr. Gary Ellerman, Professor of

Educational Studies. He was interested

in developing a new partnership

between the University of Worcester

and Radford University. His travel was

to Worcester, England during the summer

of 2003 and the Teaching in

England study abroad program will be

available during the summer of 2004.

Faculty interested in applying for a

2004 McGlothlin International Travel

Grant should contact Joe Flory, Director

of International Education, at jflory@radford.

edu or at (540) 831-6200.

Professors Awarded McGlothlin Travel Grant

Help Promote Internationalization of RU

4

New Exchange Students

Upcoming Events

Sept. 24 Haiku Workshop, Young 303, noon

Sept. 25 Study Abroad Fair, Heth Plaza, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Oct. 10 Japanese Karate Demonstration, Cook 107, 7 p.m.

Oct. 11 Radford Highlanders Festival, Moffett and Heth

fields, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Oct. 13 Lecture: Higher Education in Japan, Cook 107, 7 p.m.

Oct. 25 Night in Japan, Heth Ballroom, 6 p.m.

Nov. 3 Media Lecture: Japanese Gardens, Cook 107, 7 p.m.

The International Education Center is proud to welcome seven

new international exchange students to Radford University. The

exchange program is a reciprocal opportunity where RU students

have the chance to "trade places" with students from international

universities while paying RU tuition. Five exchange students

will arrive from France, one from England, and one from Taiwan.

They will begin their studies during the Fall 2003 semester.

France

Virginia Andanson (English)

Cecile Bonnet (Foreign Languages)

Olivier Guedon (Computer Science, Applied Mathematics)

Anne Laure Jego (English)

Bernice La Selve (Foreign Languages)

England

Alexander Sawyer (History)

Taiwan

Szu-chieh Chiu (MBA)

When asked why she wanted to come to Radford University, La

Selve said, "Les voyages forment la jeunesse." This popular

French expression is translated as "traveling helps to mature."

Another student expressed similar sentiments. Bonnet was

enthusiastic in commenting that coming to Radford "is going to

be a different atmosphere and I am ready to live it."

Any student interested in the exchange programs should contact

the International Education Center at 831-6200.

Professor Graham Hair, from the

department of music at the University

of Glasgow, has been appointed

Visiting Guest Artist-in-Residence at

Radford University for the 2003-2004

academic year. A composer of international

renown, Dr. Hair will be finishing

his "Transcendental Etudes" for piano

and working with music composition

students and conducting informal lecture

presentations while he is on campus.

Professor Hair’s compositions are primarily for women's

voices, and are usually accompanied by solo instrumentalist,

ensemble or orchestra. His research interests include:

composition, performance of contemporary music, microtonality,

and contemporary music in Scotland, Australia and

America.

Radford University has maintained an ongoing student

exchange program with the University of Glasgow since 1996

when Professor Bruce Mahin spent six months as a research fellow

in the music department at University of Glasgow. While in

Scotland, he worked with the university to establish the exchange

program as an important opportunity for students at both schools

to learn about music on the other side of the Atlantic.

For more information about Professor Graham Hair’s visit

or the RU student exchange with the University of Glasgow,

please contact Bruce Mahin at (540) 831-6174 or

bmahin@radford.edu.

Visiting Scholar Profile:Graham Hair, University fo Glasgow

Several RU Students Abroad

Twenty RU students are studying abroad this semester in

Australia, Austria, England, Mexico, Scotland, Spain and Tanzania.

The most popular destination is Australia with a total of eight students.

England is second with four. These numbers are a recent

high since most semesters have an average of twelve students

studying abroad.

Two exchange students are at Middlesex University in

England and Vaughn Walters is an exchange student at the

University of Glasgow.

RU

International Education Center

P.O. Box 7002, Cook 302

Radford University

Radford, VA 24142