The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University recognized international activities by its faculty, staff and students during its annual international dinner on Tuesday, April 1.
Five individuals were specifically honored for their international work including Eric Abbott, professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication; Nancy Guthrie, program coordinator in Iowa State's Study Abroad Center; and students Carrie Carlson, a senior in anthropology and German; Jessica Maves, a senior in political science and international studies; and Kim Rogers, a graduate student in creative writing and the environment.
The awards bestowed at the event included:
Eric Abbott received the LAS Distinguished International Service Award. Abbott's involvement in international service over four decades has been extensive and far-reaching in scope, breadth and erudition. He has worked in the areas of communications with the World Food Institute in Latin America and the Caribbean, the World Bank in Asia and Russia, USAID in Nigeria and Kyrgyzstan, and more recently with Iowa State's Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Uganda.
Nancy Guthrie received the LAS International Staff Service Award. As a staff member in Iowa State's Study Abroad Center, Guthrie has worked tirelessly to assist LAS students achieve their study abroad goals. She coordinates international service learning programs on campus including the summer LAS program to Peru. She also serves as the coordinator of the Iowa State and Monterrey TEC (Mexico) exchange program.
Three students received the LAS Student International Excellence Award.
Last academic year, Carrie Carlson combined her academic interests of anthropology and German while studying at the Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms Universitat in Bonn, Germany. That experience is funded through a one-year DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Undergraduate scholarships. While she was in Germany Carlson volunteered for three weeks at archaeological excavations near Titz, Germany. She also attended the International Congress ‘150 Years of Neanderthal Discoveries' for anthropology/paleoanthropology. Her time in Europe also included participation in a seminar on the German occupation of Poland during World War II and its impact on contemporary political relations with an excursion to Warsaw. While at Iowa State, Carlson has also served as a research assistant for German professors James Dow and Kevin Amidon.
Jessica Maves' international experiences while a student at Iowa State have been varied. She has traveled to China with the Iowa State Singers, participated in the LAS study abroad program in Florence, Italy, and Belize, and has studied Arabic in Egypt. But it has been her research of local elections that has taken her to such countries as Iceland, the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, Japan and Turkey. She has also served as a teaching assistant for political science professor Steffen Schmidt and a part-time project assistant for the LAS International Programs.
Kim Rogers has been described by the Department of English as a "star" in that department's MFA in Creative Writing and Environment Program. She has made four trips to Zimbabwe over the past 10 years. As part of her internship requirement for her degree, Rogers journeyed back to Zimbabwe last fall. There she volunteered in the village of Kufunda, teaching poetry, nonfiction and business writing. She also conducted research for a memoir she is writing about her experiences in Africa. That book uses the trip as a framework for Rogers to reflect on the changes she has seen in Zimbabwe over the decade she has visited, and on the changes the country has worked in her. The memoir project has been described as a "stellar meditation on the human condition through the lens of her observations in Zimbabwe."
Eric Abbott
Carie Carlson
Jessica Maves
Kim Rogers
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