I hope your semester is going well. If you would like to have a conversation partner this summer, please complete this form. The deadline to complete this form is Tuesday, June 12. You can discuss topics of your interest and do things together with your partner.
https://goo.gl/forms/4wTQA5ujrRPbdt0D3
The Fulbright 2019-20 US student program is open! Please see https://us.fulbrightonline.org/applicants/getting-started
Through this program, recent graduates can research, study or teach abroad. There are over 2,200 awards available for 2019-20, an increased number of English Teaching Assistant (ETA) placements and an increase in Master’s degree program placements.
If you have graduated (undergraduate or graduate study), or will graduate by spring 2019, you can apply. To help you get started, please review the archived information sessions available at https://us.fulbrightonline.org/applicants/information-sessions
Chatham’s on campus Fulbright application deadline is September 10, 2018. Please see the below timeline and checklist for further information.
April 2018:
Online application opens. View awards by clicking on specific countries at http://us.fulbrightonline.org/countries/regions
April-May 2018:
Summer 2018
August 15, 2018, Deadline to share revised draft statements with FPAs /Fellowship committee for feedback before campus deadline
September 10, 2018, Campus Deadline. You must submit final drafts of your statements at this time and list your recommenders, language, etc.
September 17-21, 2018 On campus interviews with Fellowship committee. (exact days/times TBD). Campus committee evaluation completed. (FPAs upload form to Embark system).
Applicants will be able to make additional revisions to application post-interview.
October 9, 2018, 5 pm EST. Online application system closes at 5:00 P.M. EST.
Late January 2019. Finalists announced.
March-May 2019. Fulbright winners announced by country.
If you are interested in applying for a Fulbright grant, and for support in the application process, please get in touch with Karin Chipman, kchipman@chatham.edu or Chris Musick, cmusick@chatham.edu.
By Greg Galford
Global Focus Coordinator
Assistant Professor of Interior Architecture
The Global Focus country of the year for 2017-18 is Indonesia. This is due to the ongoing relationships that Chatham has had with the country for several years. Over the past few months, a series of activities have been planned for the upcoming year that should give students and faculty a basic understanding of the place. Indonesia is a country of 260 million people, making it the fourth largest country in the world. Being comprised of 17,000 islands and being the world’s most populous Muslim country attest to its importance. It is currently the sixteenth largest economy in the world and a major exporter of natural resources and manufactured goods.
The ENG 105 courses will be using the book, Supernova, by author Dee Lestari. She is a well-known singer and author within the country and her books are best sellers. This book presents unique characters outside the norms of traditional Indonesian society and is set within upscale modern Jakarta. Ms. Lestari will be visiting with Chatham students through a Skype discussion in November.
Global Focus will be presenting the film, The Peace Agency, by Sue Useem, in December as part of the Women’s Film Series. The director will be at Chatham that day to participate in a discussion about the film.
An event to showcase the music of Indonesia will include a presentation of the gamelan orchestra at the University of Pittsburgh. This event is currently being planned and a date and venue will be announced soon.
The Office of Student Activities is planning a badminton event for the fall or spring semester as it is the national sport of Indonesia.
Various faculty presentations regarding the history, culture, and art of the country are currently in the planning stages.
We hope to host the Indonesian ambassador on Chatham’s campus in the spring. Coordination is now under way for that event.
The Global Focus website is now current with Indonesia events. Please check that for further details
While applications for 2018-19 Fulbright grants are due October 6, 2017, it’s not too early to start thinking about applying for 2019-20 grants.
What is the Fulbright U.S. Student Program?
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually designed study/research projects or for English Teaching Assistant Programs. A candidate will submit a Statement of Grant Purpose defining activities to take place during one academic year in a participating country outside the U.S. For details see https://us.fulbrightonline.org/
During their grants, Fulbrighters will meet, work, live with and learn from the people of the host country, sharing daily experiences. Through engagement in the community, the individual will interact with their hosts on a one-to-one basis in an atmosphere of openness, academic integrity, and intellectual freedom, thereby promoting mutual understanding. Grant lengths and dates vary by country. Please consult the specific country summary for details.
Who can apply?
Applicants for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program include:
For more information, please contact Chatham University Fulbright Program Advisers: Karin Chipman kchipman@chatham.edu or Chris Musick cmusick@chatham.edu.
Just announced:
Open Competition for New Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Awards in Brazil – February 2018!!
Special application open May 2, 2017- July 14, 2017
With funding from the Brazilian government, the Fulbright Brazil ETA Program is expanded for the Program Year 2017-18 with 76 additional grants to be offered. A special open application period will be held from May 2 to July 14, 2017. The deadline is Friday, July 14 at 5:00 pm Eastern Time.
To be eligible, applicants must be a U.S. citizen and hold a bachelor’s degree by July 14, 2017. Additional requirements/preferences for this program include:
Persons who applied for a Fulbright U.S. Student Program in the fall 2017 but did not receive a grant offer for 2017-18 are also eligible to apply for this opportunity. In this case, candidates will create a new application account in Embark with a different email address and complete the full application—respond to all questions, revise and upload new essays, request new Reference Forms (2 are required for this competition), request a Foreign Language Evaluation in one of the required languages, and upload the most recent transcript(s) of all degree level course work. However, the Campus Committee Interview/Evaluation will not apply.
For further information after May 1, please refer to the Brazil Country Description. (link to http://us.fulbrightonline.org/countries/selectedcountry/brazil) If you have specific questions about this opportunity, please feel free to contact Jody Dudderar (jdudderar@iie.org, 845-212-5565) at IIE. Please note there is a separate application for this award that will be found in the country description. Applicants must apply through the appropriate portal to be considered.
Chatham University encourages students and alumni from all disciplines to apply for a Fulbright grant and hope that you will consider submitting an application. Chatham students and alumni, for support, please contact the Office of International Affairs, internationalaffairs@chatham.edu.
We are pleased to recognize the following Chatham students who are recipients of the following study abroad scholarships:
Vira I. Heinz Program for Women in Global Leadership – Kelly O’Donnell (Ireland), Carina Stopenksi (South Africa), and Maria Taylor (Morocco)
Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship – Sivan Nizan (Costa Rica)
Glenda Rich DeBroff ’60 Memorial Scholarship – Eden Bloom (Spain)
Theo Colborn-Rachel Carson Endowed Scholarship Award for Environmental Studies – Sivan Nizan (Costa Rica)
Sally Mercke Heym ’63 Memorial Award for Cross Cultural Understanding – Jacqueline Litz (Russia)
Lorin Maazel-Rachel Carson Scholarship Award for Environmental Studies – Sivan Nizan (Costa Rica)
When will you study abroad? For more information about study abroad options, scholarships and the study abroad process, please contact internationalaffairs@chatham.edu or visit us at the Office of International Affairs in Falk Hall, lower level.
The 2016-2017 academic year has been marked with exciting international events at Chatham. Here are a few highlights of events and programs that the Office of International Affairs (co)-organized.
International activities and programming
Students and staff played the Fruit Basket game in Spring 2017 Global Mixer. There was so much fun and laughter. The event also kicked off the newly-created International Student Ambassador Program.
Fall 2016 Global Mixer featured students’ poster presentations about their countries, some of which included India, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Britain.
International Student Ambassadors, Arief, Bandar, Xinran (Echo), Issareeyaporn (Eve), Laura, Bholika, and Jing (Katherine) posed for a picture in front of the Chatham Pond. The #YouAreWelcomeHere video created by students reached thousands of people on Facebook. It was a timely message during the time of heightened anxiety among international students and parents after the election.
The Conversation Partner Program paired or grouped close to 100 students of different backgrounds in fall 2016 and spring 2017 for conversations and cultural exchanges. Many friendships were formed. In this picture are students participating in one of the Conversation Hours, organized by the English Language Program.
In this picture were students from the English Language Program and Chatham Semester during the Spring 2017 International End-of-Term Celebration. In the coming year, the OIA will capitalize on the English Language Program and Pittsburgh Pathways to attract more international students to Chatham and Pittsburgh. Also, congratulations to our 15 international students from 8 countries who graduate this term! Good luck to you all and please stay in touch with us!
Global Focus
The Global Focus Year of Canada culminated on Tuesday April 18 with the International Higher Education Summit, co-organized by the President’s Office and Global Focus. The Summit brought together university presidents, scientists, and leaders from Canada, Europe, and the U.S. In this picture, Chatham President David Finegold introduced the first panel discussion on the future of research and innovation with Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, President of the European Research Council; Subra Suresh, CMU President; Patrick Gallagher, Pitt Chancellor; and Chris Howard, Robert Morris University President.
Following the first panel, Professor Justine Cassell from CMU delivered an intriguing keynote speech, discussing some of the challenges and opportunities presented by the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
Another highlight of the summit was when Chatham students Indigo Baloch, Diarra Clarke, Maria Duarte, and Maria Taylor spoke about their passionate involvements in civil society.
Emerging from the summit, a “Declaration of Cooperation” signed by all institutions promised to build partnerships likely to augment the education offered to students at Chatham. The upcoming Global Focus Year of Indonesia (2017-2018) will continue to offer a robust program to enhance students’ global understanding and deepen relations with Indonesian nationals in our region and Indonesian universities. Professor Greg Galford will be the new Global Focus Coordinator. Many thanks to Professor Jean-Jacques Sène for his wonderful contributions to Global Focus in the past years!
Study abroad
76 students will have studied abroad by the end of Maymester. Especially, 6 students will have studied abroad for a semester and 34 students will study abroad this summer. With the current momentum, Chatham is on the right track to achieve its goal of having 42% of undergraduate students study abroad by the time of they graduate in 2020.
On April 5, Chatham welcomed Jennifer Connor from the Institute for International Education (IIE) and Shayak Sengupta, a Fulbright grant alumnus, to present information on the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Students interested in applying for a 2017-18 Fulbright Research/Study grant or English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) should contact the Office of International Affairs, internationalaffairs@chatham.edu for support.
International partnerships
Visitors from Kansai University, which plans to send 15 students to the English Language Program, starting in Spring 2018. These students will study at Chatham for 2.5 semesters as part of their degree requirements.
The University is also focusing on building strategic partnerships with universities overseas to allow students to study abroad for a longer term (one or several semesters) and create opportunities for joint research and joint degree offerings. Strategic partners will be identified among existing ones as well as new potential partners. These opportunities will provide students with rich international experiences and a comparative edge in the job market upon graduation.
By Jean-Jacques Sene, Associate Professor of History, Global Focus Director
The name Indonesia, from the Greek language “Indian Island” or “Island of India” refers to a captivating archipelago made up of some 17,000 thousand islands! If total land and sea areas are factored in, it is one of the 10 biggest countries in the world. With a very diverse population of more than 250 million inhabitants, it stands as the largest Muslim nation of the planet.
The choice of Indonesia as the country of focus for next year’s Global Focus is a particularly important one for our academic community and its affiliates. For one thing, Chatham University belongs to the very small circle of institutions involved in the U.S.-Indonesia Partnership Program for Study Abroad Capacity (USIPP) sponsored by the New York-based Institute of International Education. The consortium includes only 6 universities in America; and Airlangga University, Bandung Institute of Technology, Bogor Agricultural Institute, Gadjah Mada University, the Indonesian Institute of the Arts/Yogyakarta, and the University of Indonesia.
The choice of country is also always motivated by the opportunities to engage with individuals and groups with strong connections to that area. The very dynamic Indonesian community in Pittsburgh has responded enthusiastically to Chatham’s invitation for a strong partnership.
By Linh Phung, ELP Director
The English Language Program (ELP) at Chatham has seen a drop in its enrollment due to the decline of Saudi students enrolled in ESL programs nationally. However, there is a silver lining to this decline. First, it highlights the imperative need of diversifying the student population for a sustainable program. Second, it has pushed the program to seek more resources from the University to market the program. We appreciate the investment from the Office of Communication and Marketing to advertise the ELP to various markets, including Latin America. Third, with the commitment from Dr. Finegold and the administration to international education, we have seen a high level of activity in this area. In fact, thanks to Dr. Finegold’s vision and international connections, we are close to launching a new program: the Pittsburgh Pathways.
The Pittsburgh Pathways is a program of study that prepares non-native English speaking students to attend a degree program at Chatham or another university. It offers a combination of ESL courses and academic courses. Students can earn up to 36 credits towards an undergraduate degree at Chatham or another university while improving their English. The Pathways students will be housed on the Eden Hall campus and take classes on both the Shadyside and the Eden Hall campuses. We expect the first cohort of at least 30 students in fall 2017. We plan to expand each year to bring more international students to Chatham and local universities. More information can be found at www.chatham.edu/pittsburghpathways
We are also pleased to announce that an informal agreement has been reached with the Faculty of Foreign Language Studies at Kansai University in Japan, which plans to send about 15 Japanese students to Chatham for a few semesters to study English and take other academic courses, starting in February 2018. This is the result of intensive relationship building efforts from AVP International Affairs Chris Musick and the Office of International Affairs team as well as the commitment from Dr. Finegold to diversify the student body in the ELP to ensure that the ratio of Japanese students in each class is capped at 20%.
With these initiatives (together with the existing intensive English courses, the Conversation Partner Program, and the International Student Ambassador Program), we hope to continue to contribute to the University by providing high quality English instruction and services to non-degree and degree students, functioning as a pathway to degree programs for many students, and adding diversity of cultures and perspectives to the community. If you have connections and ideas that can help to make Chatham even more international, we would really love to hear from you.
Alia Schindler, International Admission Counselor
I moved back to Pittsburgh after having lived abroad on and off for several years in Italy, Lebanon, and Malaysia. I was teaching English as a Second Language then and found a great sense of satisfaction and comfort in doing so, as it gave me the chance to work with international students on a daily basis. After having spent a good portion of my 20’s adapting to a culture foreign from my own, I felt a little out of place back in my hometown. While I was overseas, I was viewed as a foreigner, regardless of how acculturated I felt, and back home here in Pittsburgh, I longed for the faraway lands that I had grown accustomed to while overseas. I became internally international, a wanderer of sorts, always feeling a bit out of place. Thus, I feel right at home when working with international students.
It was through my undergraduate experience in Global Studies, my drive toward higher education, and my time abroad that I realized my passion for diversity and culture. I knew I wanted to work in a field that would allow me to assist students in traveling and studying abroad in pursuit of their goals.
One day, while taking a walk through Shadyside, I came upon Chatham University’s stunning campus, and I told myself at that point, “I must find a way to work here.” Fortunately, I was able to network and obtain a position teaching in Chatham’s English Language Program. I taught wonderful students from places such as Columbia, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Libya, Turkey, China, and Vietnam. It was a joy teaching them English and about Pittsburgh and American culture in general.
My passion with international education extended outside of the classroom, and I often found myself answering student questions after class relating to both their education and lives. I also found myself consistently seeking to be a part of administrative dialogues and professional groups working toward policy change. I even worked in the International Affairs office outside of my teaching hours.
A point came when I decided that I must take a leap of faith and pursue a position in higher education that would enable me to be a part of helping to enhance the overall process for international students. I branched out first by working in Chatham’s Office of Student Affairs, and it was an excellent chance for me to get to know about, and work with, the many divisions at Chatham that strive to offer the best experience possible for each and every Chatham student.
Finally, I am thrilled to have secured my current position as an International Admission Counselor at Chatham. As an International Admission Counselor, I have the opportunity to mesh my background in teaching with the administrative aspects of higher education to recruit and assist international students through their application process. I am excited to contribute to Chatham’s commitment to promoting diversity and inclusivity. I can be reached at bschindler@chatham.edu or 412-365-2736 or 412-400-7717.