U.Va. Celebrates International Education Week With Most Comprehensive Schedule Ever

The University of Virginia will celebrate the 13th annual International Education Week next week with its most comprehensive set of offerings, intended to stoke student interest in becoming more globally engaged.

A joint initiative of the State Department and the U.S. Department of Education, International Education Week kicks off Monday, at a time when President Teresa A. Sullivan and Executive Vice President and Provost John Simon are committed to making U.Va. a leading global university.

“This is probably the first time in U.Va's history where you've had a commitment on the part of both the provost and the president to really internationalize the University, so I think we are in a new phase now,” Vice Provost for Global Affairs Jeffrey W. Legro said.

You can view a full schedule here. Some of the highlights:

• Legro joins Les McCabe, president of the Institute for Shipboard Education, and Lisa Reilly, associate professor of architectural history in U.Va.’s School of Architecture, Monday at noon in the Commonwealth Room in Newcomb Hall for a panel discussion on Global Comparative Education sponsored by Semester at Sea, a shipboard program for global study abroad, of which U.Va. is the academic sponsor.

Other events Monday include a Tai Chi workshop at 4 p.m. in Ern Commons and Spanish conversation at 5 p.m. at Casa Bolivar.

• Tuesday features a new addition to the schedule: a Language Fair intended to highlight the importance of learning foreign language, which will feature “micro-lessons” in 22 languages. Caren Freeman of the Summer Language Institute said the event is a wonderful way for students to learn in a single place about all of the resources the University has to offer. The fair takes place in the Mural Room of Clark Hall from 3 to 5 p.m.

(The 22 languages are Latin, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Russian, German, modern Hebrew, classical Hebrew, Yiddish, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, Swahili, English, Sanskrit, Persian, Hindi and Urdu.)

That evening, a free screening of “Strangers No More,” a film about teaching diversity in Israeli classrooms, will take place at 6:30 in Bavaro Hall.

• Wednesday, students can learn about all of their options for study abroad at an open house at the International Studies Office in Minor Hall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Wednesday evening features an information session at 6 p.m. in the Byrd Room of the Harrison-Small Collections Library where students can learn how to apply for a Boren Scholarship, which provides up to $20,000 to American undergraduates to study abroad in areas of the world that are critical to U.S. interests and are less traveled.

• Thursday features a mix of cultural events and is capped with an introductory Seminar on Cross-Cultural Misunderstanding at 7 p.m. in room 130 of Minor Hall.

• Friday features two events sponsored by the Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures in the College of Arts & Sciences. Guest lecturer Martha Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, will talk about religious intolerance at 1 p.m. and participate in a forum on higher education at 3 p.m. Both appearances take place the Minor Hall auditorium.

Media Contact

Jane Kelly

Office of University Communications