UAA delegation visits China

The staff of the UAA Confucius Institute (UAA CI) was part of a delegation of UAA officials traveling in China Oct. 14-22. The delegation included Provost Michael Driscoll, Director of International Affairs Ted Kassier, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences James Liszka, UAA CI Director Paul Dunscomb and UAA CI Associate Director GuoFeng Pu Fricke.

The delegation went to attend an American Association of State Colleges and Universities meeting, which allowed them to participate in a student recruiting fair and to learn more about partnering with China's higher educational institutions.

The trip had several other objectives: participate at the Conference for Chinese International Education and Exchange in Beijing, discuss possible future exchange and other activities with Renmin University of China (RUC) and Beijing University of Language and Culture, visit the Confucius Institute Headquarters at Hanban, and travel to Changchun to visit the campuses of Northeast Normal University (NENU), UAA CI's academic partner. Overall, the delegates visit will help to further the internationalization of UAA.

During this trip the delegation discussed many things including UAA's progress with our new Confucius Institute and prospects for faculty and student exchanges. Two immediate priorities for UAA CI are to organize a scholarly symposium on biological and environmental issues in Anchorage this spring, and for UAA to host a meeting of the directors and staffs of the CI's in South Korea and Valencia, Spain (and perhaps a new one in Canada, too) which are all partnered with NENU.