• One Stop
• Directories
• Search U of M
• 

---

Office of International Programs

What's Inside

• About OIP
• News and Events
• Funding for International Activities
• Exchanges and Linkages
• Strategic Initiatives
• Travel Approvals and Safety
• Alumni and Friends
• Awards and Recognition
• International Visitors
• Make a Gift to OIP

International Resources Directory

Global Spotlight

OIP Units

• Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA)
• China Center
• Confucius Institute
• India Center Initiative
• International Student and Scholar Services
• Learning Abroad Center

Office of International Programs
100 University International Center
331 — 17th Avenue SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
(Campus delivery code: 3021)
Tel: 612-624-5580
Fax: 612-626-1730
E-mail: international@umn.edu

---

News

Below are announcements and news stories related to the Global Spotlight themes of Africa and Water in the World.

To suggest additional items to include, please send an email to Kaoru Nunn nunnx016@umn.edu

---

November 2009

• Nov. 14 : Kenya drives last of forest dwellers from their trees (Star Tribune)
  The ancient tribe is falling victim to the press of modernity and, some say, government greed. (MORE)
  
  
• Nov. 14 : Splash! NASA's moon crash struck lots of water, making moon an enticing place to visit again (Star Tribune)
  Spacecraft that crashed into the moon last month kicked up a relatively small plume. But scientists have confirmed the debris contained water — 25 gallons of it — making lunar exploration exciting again. (MORE)
  
  
• Nov. 12 : Android Cellphones Dial Up African Health in University Project
  (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
  Computer scientists at the University of Washington have used Android, Google's open-source cellphone operating system, to turn a phone into a device that collects vital health data from HIV patients in Africa. (MORE)
  
  
• Nov. 11 : Black History At Risk? (Inside Higher Education)
  One of the most important troves of African-American historical materials became the subject of national ire and hand wringing this week, when the student newspaper at Howard University reported that the university library’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center -- considered one of the foremost repositories of artifacts and manuscripts related to black history -- could close due to an inadequate budget and a shortage of staff. (MORE)
  
  
• Nov. 10: University of Minnesota's Deborah Swackhamer receives international award for Environmental Leadership and Research (News Release)
  Swackhamer, co-director the University of Minnesota's Water Resources Center (WRC), is the 2009 recipient of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry's (SETAC) Founders Award. (MORE)
  
  
• Nov. 9: Liberia: The untold stories (Minnesota Daily)
  Though many would rather try to forget Liberia's 13-year civil war, new reports have brought it back to life. The reports document the tragic past, and make controversial recommendations for the future. (MORE)
  
  
• Nov. 4: Moroccan receives $1 million Opus Prize (University of St. Thomas)
  Aïcha Ech Channa, founder and president of a Casablanca, Morocco, organization that provides services to unmarried women with children, is the winner of the $1 million 2009 Opus Prize. (MORE)
  
  
• Nov. 2: Women's Night Out - with an international flavor (Twin Cities Daily Planet)
  More than 100 women who live and work in the Cedar-Riverside area celebrated "Women's Night Out" on October 24 at the Brian Coyle Center, an event designed for women in the community to get to know each other and build community.  Neighbors, service workers, and girls mingled, sampled different kinds of ethnic food, and were entertained by a fashion show and open mic in the event, now in its fourth year. (MORE)

October 2009

• Oct. 27: Documentary tells story of South African Leader (Minnesota Daily)
  Carleton College Professor Cherif Keita premiered his documentaries in the Twin Cities for the first time last week. (MORE)
  
  
• Oct. 23: U of M's Water Resources Center Receives $750,000 To Create Framework for Sustainable Management of State's Water Resources (News Release)
  
  
• Oct. 20: The Office of International Programs, as part of its Global Spotlight initiative, is pleased to announce four all-University grant programs: two for faculty and two for graduate students. (MORE)
  
  
• Oct. 12: Gambian Team Wins MN Africa Cup 2009 (African News Journal)
  Due to the fact that MN has became one of the fastest growing African Community in the United States, a little known organization called African Vision 360 took the task of putting together this great event. This organization  is a non-profit organization created to help host the annual “MN Africa Cup”. (LINK)
  
  
• Oct. 12: University says goodbye to Borlaug (Agri News)
  Jeanie Borlaug Laube challenged those attending a memorial service in her father's honor to carry on his work in Africa. (LINK)
  
  
• Oct. 9: Minnehaha AIDS Exhibit: A Teacher's Call to Action (MinnPost.com)
  Steve Ramgren, a teacher at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, traveled to Zambia in 2008 and toured poverty stricken areas with high rates of HIV and AIDS. Here's a video report on an AIDS exhibit at the school that Ramgren hopes will get students involved in helping impoverished people. (LINK)
  
  
• Oct. 6: Alfalfa sprouts key to discovering how meandering rivers form and maintain
  (Science Centric)
  Sinuous, meandering streams produce diverse and wildlife-rich habitats and are the aim of many river restoration efforts, but until now, the bank, water flow, and sediment conditions required to form and maintain meanders have been largely a matter of speculation....Key to their success was the use of alfalfa sprouts, which was suggested by related experiments at the University of Minnesota, headquarters of the National Centre for Earth-Surface Dynamics. (LINK)
  
  
• Oct. 5: Cathrine Ziyomo - Reality of Climate Change (Star Tribune)
  To many people, the reality of climate change may seem far removed... I know because I am from Zimbabwe studying plant sciences at the University of Minnesota so I can help my country sustain itself in the face of climate change. (LINK)
  
  
• Oct. 3: A not-quite-concrete solution to Valley water woes (Visalia Times Delta)
  Tulare County officials plan to pour a strip of porous concrete at Sequoia Field north of Visalia next month to determine if it will allow—as its manufacturer claims—water to flow through it and into the ground while staying as strong as regular concrete... A University of Minnesota report states that "Permeable paving should be considered on all projects and is a useful tool for storm-water management." (LINK)
  
  
• Oct. 3: How to build a meandering river in your basement (Science Blogs- Highly Allochthonous)
  Meandering rivers are characterized by regularly spaced bends that grow and cutoff and generally march downstream in a fairly orderly fashion... Over the last 10 years, graduate students Karen Gran and Michal Tal working with Chris Paola at the University of Minnesota figured out how to make a self-sustaining single channel in coarse sediment. (LINK)
  

• Oct. 1: University of California and Ethiopian Collaborators Unveil Oldest Known Proto-Human
  (Chronicle of Higher Education)
  The human ancestor, more than a million years older than "Lucy," turns out to be surprisingly unlike an ape. (LINK)

• Oct. 1: President of Somalia making rare visit to Twin Cities (MPR)
  Minnesota's Somali community, the largest in the U.S., is rolling out the red carpet for Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed. The newly-elected president arrives in the Twin Cities on Friday night as part of a stateside tour of cities with large Somali-American populations. Ahmed's visit marks the first time a Somali president has come to Minnesota. (LINK)

September 2009

• Sep. 29: Disability knows no boundaries
  Staff members from the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) traveled to Zambia to continue the work of the Twin Cities-Zambia Disability Connection. The partnership between ICI and four Twin Cities disability organizations provides advanced leadership training in disability advocacy, policy, and services to government officials, missionaries, and educators. (News Release)

• Sep. 23: Innovative Online Community Launched at Clinton Global Initiative, Will Fight Poverty in Africa (Business Wire)
  At the Clinton Global Initiative Fifth Annual Meeting, President Clinton introduced a unique commitment between General Mills and CARE called "Join My Village," an innovative online community that is fighting poverty in Malawi through the empowerment of women and girls. (LINK)

• Sep. 23: NASA Data: Ice Sheet Melting Worsening (MPR)
  New satellite information shows that ice sheets in Greenland and western Antarctica continue to shrink faster than scientists thought, and in some places are already in runaway melt mode. (LINK)

• Sep. 23: Earth on the Edge
  The University's Jon Foley is on a team that has specified how far the Earth can be pushed on climate change, freshwater use, ocean acidification, and other factors and still avoid the irreversible or the catastrophic. The team says that global environmental "tipping points" can no longer be ignored. (News Release)
  
  
• Sep. 16: Road salt may be hurting aquatic life (Star Tribune)
  A new study supports a University of Minnesota study by civil engineering researchers at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory published last winter that estimated 70 percent of the road salt used in the metro-area ends up in wetlands and lakes and seeps into groundwater. (LINK)

• Sep. 8: Teacher Education Project wins Quality of Education in Africa Award (CEHD News)
  The Teaching in Action program, initiated by Associate Professor Frances Vavrus, Ph.D., Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development, has received the Ashoka Changemakers Champions of Quality Education in Africa award. The award, sponsored by the William and Flora Hewlitt Foundation, went to three programs drawn from a pool of 400 international entrants. (LINK)

• Sep. 4: The Art of Life on the Mississippi (CLA Reach)
  An MFA student helps Twin Cities teens draw new meaning from life by the river. (LINK)

August 2009

• August 13: Water, Water Everywhere (Inside Higher Ed)
  And many a drop to drink. A community college in Michigan builds a program around freshwater studies. (LINK)

• August 13: Antarctic glacier 'thinning fast' (BBC)
  A study of satellite measurements of Pine Island glacier in west Antarctica reveals the surface of the ice is now dropping at a rate of up to 16 meters a year. It is thinning four times faster than it was 10 years ago. (LINK)

• August 10: A South African Student Charity Becomes a Study-Abroad Destination
  (Chronicle of Higher Education)
  A student nonprofit group at the University of Cape Town puts American and European undergraduates to work helping the poor. (LINK)

• August 10: Researchers discover high levels of estrogens in some industrial wastewater
  Civil engineering associate professor Paige Novak and her graduate student researcher Mark Lundgren have discovered that certain industries may be a significant source of plant-based estrogens, called phytoestrogens, in surface water. (News Release)

• August 6: Bioethanol's water requirements underestimated (Science a Go Go)
  At a time when water supplies are scarce in many parts of the world, scientists from the University of Minnesota are reporting that production of bioethanol—regarded by many as the clean-burning fuel of the future—may consume up to three times more water than previously thought. (LINK)

July 2009

• July 31: Uncertainties surround future monsoons (BBC)
  It is almost halfway through the rainy season, and the monsoon in many parts of South Asia continues to remain unreliable. (LINK)

• July 29: Exchange students celebrate Minnesota experiences (Minnesota Daily)
  The students invited friends and host families to a party with Middle Eastern foods, music, and culture. (LINK)

• July 29: Minnehaha Falls now a waterfall in name only (Pioneer Press)
  Its legendary tumbling waters disappear amid the persistent drought. (LINK)

• July 28: Chimps and HIV: The story behind the study (MinnPost)
  Vincent was the first wild chimpanzee known to be infected with SIV—the primate version of the HIV/AIDS virus. Findings from nine years of study on Vincent and other wild chimps came together in breakthrough news published in the Journal Nature. (LINK)

• July 28: Clinton to go on tour of Africa (BBC)
  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will tour seven African countries, starting on August 5. (LINK)

• July 24: Pawlenty, Doyle talk water cleanup cooperation on St. Croix (Star Tribune)
  Minnesota and Wisconsin will coordinate efforts to reduce runoff of nutrient-rich soil from construction sites and farms that can cause pollution in the river to bloom. (LINK)

• July 20: African Universities Tackle an Agricultural Crisis (Chronicle of Higher Education)
  Pests, population growth, and depleted soil have wreaked havoc on agriculture in Africa, so universities across the continent are rethinking how they teach the topic. (LINK)

• July 11: Obama speaks of hopes for Africa (BBC)
  President Obama, on his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office, has said Africa must take charge of its own destiny in the world. (LINK)

• July 7: Deborah Swackhamer, co-director of the Water Resources Center, has been named president elect of the National Institutes of Water Resources
  As president, Swackhamer will oversee the network of 54 water resourcescenters located in land grant institutions across the country, as well as the agency’s efforts to coordinate and promote the training and research activities of water quality professionals and researchers in the United States and around the world. (News Release)

June 2009

• June 25: Thomas Johnson named Regents Professor
  Johnson is a professor of geological sciences and founding director of the Large Lake Observatory, University of Minnesota Duluth. He is considered to be the world’s leading scientist studying the evolution of large lakes today. (LINK)

• June 15: Pilot U course winners discuss Mumbai water work (Minnesota Daily)
  The students hope to turn their coursework into a business that would improve water quality and access in Mumbai slums. (LINK)

May 2009

• May 21: Researchers use remote-controlled sensors to track pollutant loads from storms
  The next cup of stale coffee you pour down the drain may end up as evidence. Not in a courtroom, but in a U of M study of how well Twin Cities sewers and waterways handle the loads of pollutants washed into them by storms. (News Release)

April 2009

• April 14: Study sees water risk in ethanol—Authors say irrigation could deplete aquifers in drier states (Pioneer Press)
  A University of Minnesota study looks at the amount of water used in ethanol production, with particular attention to water use in areas that require heavy irrigation. (LINK)

• April 7: U class looks to improve water access in India (Minnesota Daily)
  A new course allows multidisciplinary, cross-cultural teams of students working to solve global problems. This semester, six teams from three colleges and one team of high school students took on the broad challenge of improving water access in the slums of Mumbai, India. (LINK)
  

March 2009

• March 25: OIP announces Global Spotlight benefit for travel grants
  OIP international travel grants for faculty are generally limited to one award per person in a 12-month period. However, if proposals address one of the two areas in the Global Spotlight initiative, applicants will be allowed to apply twice in a 12-month period. (MORE)

• March 18: University of Minnesota's Engineers Without Borders student group awarded $50,000 for projects in Haiti and Uganda (News Release)

• March 13: UofM Learning Abroad Center incorporates Global Spotlight into site visits (MORE)
  

February 2009

• Feb. 20: Minnesota researchers take on deadly fungus threatening world's wheat crop (MinnPost)
  Story describes Minnesota researchers work to deal with the spread of a deadly fungus stem rust that is ravaging wheat in Kenya and spreading beyond Africa. (LINK)
  
• Feb. 17: Cargill donates $1 million to global anti-hunger network (Star Tribune)
  Minnesota-based Cargill donated $1 million to Chicago-based Global FoodBanking Network (GFN) to feed schoolchildren in Argentina, Colombia, India, and South Africa, as well as "support existing partner networks and food banks, and scale up key network development projects that alleviate hunger and malnutrition." (LINK)
  
• Feb. 16: Liberians in Minnesota face deportation (MinnPost)
  This report is part of an ongoing MinnPost video series—called "Why We Are Here"—about immigrants who tell why they left home and came to Minnesota. (LINK)
  
• Feb. 15: A disaster revisited: Darfur (Minnesota Daily)
  This is the first in a four-part series looking at recent humanitarian crises. (LINK)
  
• Feb. 3: Institute on the Environment Discovery Grants
  The Institute on the Environment has selected five new projects to receive major funding from its Discovery Grants program. The Discovery Grants program is part of the Institute's high-impact investment strategy, which aims to accelerate innovation in environmental research and problem solving across the University of Minnesota. Two of the projects revolve around Global Spotlight themes:
  • Global Great Lakes
    Project coordinator: Robert Hecky
    The Institute will support researchers at the U of M-Duluth's Large Lakes Observatory as they collect and interpret data on the world's great lakes across North America, East Africa and Eurasia. LLO will work with UMD's Natural Resources Research Institute and the Center for Water Research in Australia to identify meaningful metrics of ecosystem health; improve the capacity to monitor and model these metrics in real-time or near real-time, with an initial focus on the western arm of Lake Superior; and develop the capacity to anticipate, rather than react to, pressing environmental issues. This project could radically change how the great lakes of the world are viewed and managed by scientists, decision makers and the general public.
  • Whole Village Project
    Project coordinators: Craig Packer and Katey Pelican
    The Whole Village Project works to provide an in-depth understanding of the health, prosperity, education and natural resource consumption of rural Tanzanians in East Africa. This information is made available to the villagers, economic development and government agencies, and conservation NGOs, serving as a common language that allows communities to more easily collaborate and share best practices. The WVP team will work with the Institute to map land-use patterns of the region, focusing on the intersection of rural livelihoods, land use practices, agriculture and food security. A parallel track focused on food safety and security will promote sustainable agriculture, as well as health research and extension, in Tanzania.
• Feb. 3: The culture of home
  A Star Tribune article about an exhibit of culturally sensitive design, including a discussion of design related to Somali immigrants by University Assistant Professor Tasoulla Hadjiyanni. (LINK)

January 2009

• Jan. 30: Misery and death: Minnesota doctors fight malaria in eastern Africa
  A story on the MinnPost website about the University's Dr. Chandy John and his work in malaria prevention in Uganda. (LINK)
• Jan. 4: Global Spotlight Announced
  The Office of International Programs announces its new Global Spotlight initiative for 2009-2010.

---

• © 2009 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.
• The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.

• Contact Webmaster | Contact U of M | Privacy |
• Last modified on November 16, 2009.

---