News

University College (UC), home to Syracuse University’s English Language Institute, has 10 Japanese students from Tokai University on campus this semester. Tokai University has been sending students to the ELI for many years as part of their study abroad experience.

As news of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan broke, administrators at UC focused on helping students contact their family members hit by the disaster. All of the students were able to contact their families, although for some it took 48 hours or more to establish communication. All of their families are safe.

The Tokai students are working with the Japanese Student Association to collect money. Additionally a Japanese flag is situated in the ELI upon which students can write messages. Funds collected, as well as the flag, will be sent to the Japanese Consulate General in New York City at the end of the month.

“The Tokai students are scheduled to return to Japan the week of March 28 for the start of the Tokai semester,” says associate dean and ELI director Geraldine de Berly. “Understandably, the returning students are concerned about their country and the welfare of their family members.”

In addition, the ELI has been able to contact many former students who have returned to Japan and has received good news as to their well-being.

Onondaga County Court Judge Joseph E. Fahey will present on the life of James K. McGuire, the youngest mayor to govern Syracuse.

The March 17 session of Thursday Morning Roundtable (TMR) will feature Heidi Holtz, director of grant making at the Rosamond Gifford Foundation, and Steve Butler, executive director of the Cultural Resources Council. They will present “IDEAS Collaborative.”

In its first round of funding for innovative summer program development, Summer@Syracuse has awarded financial support to 10 Syracuse University departments to develop creative summer courses. A request for proposals was sent to faculty in each school and college in January, encouraging them to apply for funding up to $20,000 each.

The innovative program development fund was created to promote creativity and experimentation in summer credit and non-credit courses, encourage innovative delivery of new and existing courses, attract new students and better serve the needs of the community and various constituencies.

The funding supports the development of innovative courses and program offerings in summer 2011 and 2012. The goal is to increase on-campus and online summer enrollment long term, as well as create unique programs and courses that support SU’s reputation of excellence.

The Rose, Jules R., and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (in collaboration with the Burton Blatt Institute), L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science, and the School of Information Studies are a few of the schools/colleges that were awarded funding for course development.

“The recipients are representative of the priorities of the schools and colleges,” said University College Dean Bea González. “The proposals reflect a diverse range of disciplines and approaches representing multiple academic programs. We are pleased to have initiated this opportunity to advance the Chancellor’s Scholarship in Action initiative while serving the needs of our students.”

For more information, contact González at bgonzale@uc.syr.edu, or 443-3259, or Chris Cofer, director of Summer@Syracuse, at clcofer@uc.syr.edu, or 443-1988.

Catherine Bertini, professor of public administration and chair of the international relations program at SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, will speak this week at the Institute for Retired Professionals (IRP). Bertini will discuss the impact of hunger and poverty on national policies, and the importance of addressing these issues in U.S. government policy. The program is free and open to the public. IRP meets from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Syracuse, 5833 E. Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville.

Following more than a decade of service to the United Nations, Bertini joined the faculty of the Maxwell School in 2005 as professor of public administration. She teaches courses in humanitarian action, UN management, girls’ education and post-conflict reconstruction, drawing on the vast experience she gained during her years of leadership in public sector management, international organizations, humanitarian relief, nutrition policy and agricultural development.

Bertini’s career spans public service at international, national, state and local levels and includes private sector and foundation experience. She was the driving force behind reform of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), where she was the chief executive for 10 years. During her tenure, WFP’s institutional changes in the area of efficiency, effectiveness and accountability were cited by the United States government and the 36-government board of WFP as a model of UN reform.

She has received honorary degrees from several universities worldwide. Bertini is the 2003 World Food Prize Laureate and was awarded the Gene White Lifetime Achievement Award for Child Nutrition in 2007. She is a member of two US AID advisory committees, a board member of the Stuart Family Foundation, a juror of the Hilton Foundation Humanitarian Prize, and serves on a number of advisory boards and foundations. Currently, she is co-chair of the Global Agriculture Development Initiative for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and chair of the council’s Girls in Rural Economies project.

For more information on this program, call University College of Syracuse University at (315) 443-4846.