LAS International Programs
Newsletters
LAS
International On-line
Vol. 4, No. 2
September 15, 2005
Affirming a Commitment to Global Learning
www.las.iastate.edu/students/international/
LAS International On-Line is the bi-monthly on-line publication
of the International Programs of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. LAS
International is part of LAS' on-going efforts to coordinate all aspects of
international activities within the College including international studies,
study abroad, exchange agreements, research and outreach.
From the Director
September is officially Departmental International
Liaison Month! No really but this month we are striving to have every
LAS department designate a faculty member as the official liaison to the International
Programs Office. This will allow us to serve students, faculty, and staff more
effectively by having a regular and direct line of communications to the academic
units of the College. The liaison is not expected to attend regular meetings!
This person will help us communicate opportunities as they approach to students,
faculty, and staff in their department. Please ask your department chair who
the liaison is for your program.
We are also starting a major funding initiative to establish scholarship funds
for students to help make more affordable international study and experiences.
We are prepared to work with alumni, faculty, former faculty, companies, and
friends who may be interested in establishing scholarships either at the college
level for LAS students or at the departmental level. Scholarship aid has proven
to be the single most successful strategy for increasing the number of students
engaging in study abroad. Please feel to contact me with any ideas and we will
work closely with the LAS Development office to help increase the pool of resources
available for international study.
Steffen Schmidt, Director
LAS International Programs.
Features
TESTING THE TESTERS - Each year over 1 million international
students take the TOEFL (The Test of English as a Foreign Language) with the
expressed desire to study at an institution of higher learning in the United
States.
For the past 10 years, Educational Testing Service (ETS) has been working to
modify the test for Internet usage. The new TOEFL will now not only include
listening, reading and writing components but speaking as well.
That's where a pair of Department of English professors at Iowa State come in.
Dan Douglas, professor of English, and Volker Hegelheimer, assistant professor
of English have received a two-year $124,000 grant from ETS to investigate the
cognitive processes and use of the language and content knowledge by test takers
that use the new TOEFL listening test tasks.
"They (ETS) wants to know if the TOEFL does what they want it to do,"
said Douglas, who has consulted with ETS for several years. "(In our study),
we have the students verbalize their thoughts while taking the listening test
to see if they are using language skills the way the test developers thought
they would."
Learn more about Dan Douglas and Volker Hegelheimer's work with the new TOEFL
on-line at www.las.iastate.edu/newnews/douglas.shtml.
Events
SLAVIC CINEMA - A new film series featuring movies made after the
fall of Communism is coming to campus.
"Post-Communist Reels: Festival of Slavic Cinema" will feature eight
films. All will be presented in 303 Pearson Hall beginning at 6 p.m. Admission
is free and the films are open to the public.
The movies were made by directors from Russia, Croatia, Serbia, Poland and the
Czech Republic.
The film series opened Wednesday, Sept. 14, with a presentation of "Brother,"
a 1997 Russian thriller directed by Alexei Balabanov. The next film showing
will be Wednesday, Sept. 28, with "Fine Dead Girls," a 2002 Croatian
film.
The complete listing of "Post-Communist Reels" is on-line at www.las.iastate.edu/newnews/reeesfilms.shtml.
LATIN AMERICAN FILMS - Four films from four different countries will
be shown during the new Latin American Film Festival.
The films are all subtitled in English and will be shown in 1115 Pearson Hall
at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
The film festival begins Thursday, Sept. 22, with a 1995 Cuban satire "Guantanamera."
A complete listing of the Latin American Film Festival is at www.las.iastate.edu/newnews/latinfilms.shtml.
REEES EVENTS - The Russian, East European and Eurasian Program has
announced a series of events at www.las.iastate.edu/REEEAS/events.shtml.
The first lecture will be by Olena Goroshko on "Gender Aspects of Distance
Education in Ukraine" on Wednesday, Sept. 28, at noon in 353 Catt Hall.
Alumni
FIRE CHIEF IN IRAQ - Courtesy of the Des Moines Registrar.
Dehydration is a sneaky thing in Iraq, even for someone who's a Marine, a medic
and chief for the country's 11,600 firefighters.
Richard Phillips, a retired Des Moines fire lieutenant, said he felt a little
unsteady just before he collapsed and struck his head. Forty stitches were needed
above his right eye.
It's one of the smaller stories he tells, almost as a joke, in a country where
putting out fires is far more than just an expression.
Phillips, 61, is back in Des Moines for a few days of rest. Then he will return
to Iraq, where he is fire chief of the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office
and the director of the National Fire Academy.
Phillips, an employee of the U.S. State Department and a 2003 international
studies graduate from Iowa State, supervises a team that trains recruits for
Iraq's fire service, among other things.
Check out the rest of the article at www.las.iastate.edu/faculty_and_staff/international/firefighter.shtml.
Study Abroad
EXPERIENCING SPAIN - Not only wasn't Nick Dell fluent
in Spanish, he says he "spoke absolutely no Spanish before going to Spain."
Yet the senior finance major spent six weeks at the Department of Foreign Languages
and Literatures' study abroad experience in Alicante this past summer.
Dell was one of the few Iowa State students participating in the program that
needed language instruction while in Spain. Chad Gasta, assistant professor
of Spanish, estimated that 60 of the 86 students had at least a 300 level grasp
of Spanish before they traveled to Europe.
Almost half of the program's participants came from the Colleges of Business
and Engineering. This is largest study abroad program in Iowa State history
and Gasta hopes the numbers will continue to grow next summer.
"The unique thing about this program is the cross-collaboration between
the colleges," he said.
Learn more about the Summer in Alicante program on-line at www.las.iastate.edu/newnews/alicante0919.shtml.
LAS International On-line
Michael Whiteford, LAS dean
Steffen Schmidt, LAS director of international programs
Dave Gieseke, LAS public relations manager
Send submissions to dgieseke@iastate.edu
