Students and community members came together for the International Symposium to explore the theme “Building Mutual Understanding for a Peaceful World”.
Presenters included keynote speaker RaMa, a Sudanese activist and author. RaMa has published two novels and a short story collection to great international critical acclaim. She is currently a writer-in-residence at City of Asylum Pittsburgh.
Students presented speeches and posters on a variety of topics, including religion, marriage, cultural differences, study abroad, and kindness across cultures!
Globally Green: Vira I. Heinz Scholar Presentation
Participants learned about sustainability in Italy and Jordan from Vira I Heinz Scholarship program scholars Mikaela and Isabel. Dr. Lehrer discussed sustainable farming and agriculture in Costa Rica, and Dr. Julier provided an overview of the projects and initiatives of CRAFT at Eden Hall campus. CRAFT, or the Center for Regional Agriculture, Food, and Transformation, works to transform the future of food and agriculture in Western Pennsylvania and beyond. Speakers provided information on opportunities to volunteer and impact the sustainability of the local area. Everyone was invited to sample some foods from Italy and Jordan.
International Snacks with ISA/TEAN
Sara Kochuba from Worldstrides shared information on ISA [studiesabroad.com] and TEAN [teanabroad.org] study and intern abroad opportunities during summer and semester long programs. Students sampled tasty snacks from abroad.
International Karaoke
Students of modern languages gathered in the Carriage House for International Karaoke! Students sang to practice their language skills in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish!
International Tea
This relaxing event fostered engagement and conversation among Chatham students and community members. Participants joined in for conversation, snacks, games, and tea!
Between May 29 to July 24, 2020, the English Language Program at Chatham University organized and hosted eight virtual events open to students from all over the world. The topics of the events ranged from cities around the world, yoga and meditation, food and cuisine, and racism in the U.S. Participants had the opportunity to hear from not only all of the staff from the Office of International Affairs at Chatham University, but also guest speakers, including Ms. Sue Finegold and Dr. Randi Congleton. Especially, the participants enjoyed making connections, talking with one another in the Zoom breakout rooms, and playing Kahoot and Jeopardy games. We’d like to share some of the pictures and resources from the events below.
Let’s Talk Friday, July 24, 2020: Summer Experiences and More
Hosted by Ms. Kate Emory, Office of International Affairs
Let’s Talk July 24, 2020
Let’s Talk Friday, July 17, 2020:Storytelling
Hosted by Ms. Karin Chipman, Office of International Affairs
Ms. Karin Chipman led the students in the discussion of fictional stories and what makes a good story. Participants did some storytelling activities and learned more about parts of a fictional story and story transitions
Let’s Talk Friday: July 10, 2020: A Conversation with Dr. Randi Congleton about Racism and Other Social Justice Topics
Hosted by Dr. Linh Phung, Director of the English Language Program
Let’s Talk, July 10, 2020
Dr. Randi Congleton and the participants talked about the history of of racism in the U.S. and the recent social justice movements and issues, including:
Black Lives Matter
Black in the Ivory Tower
Say Her Name
DACA (Children of Undocumented Immigrants)
Dakota Access Pipeline
International Students in U.S Higher Education
Dr. Congleton also suggested the following additional resources:
Netflix Documentaries
13th
Living Undocumented
When They See Us
Reading
An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States by: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
So You Want to Talk About Race by: Ijeoma Oluo
Between the World and Me by: Ta-nehisi Coates
Dr. Congleton is the Assistant Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Chatham University. Dr. Congleton has been at Chatham University for 3 years and has spent the past fourteen years advocating for inclusive excellence in higher education. Prior to coming to Chatham, Dr. Congleton was the Director of Multicultural Programs in the College of Agricultural Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University. She is a proud parent of a Fashion Design student and is a very proud alumna of The Pennsylvania State University, Michigan State University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. When she is not enacting strategies for campus inclusion, Dr. Congleton can be found watching a great movie, cooking, relaxing with friends, or traveling.
Let’s Talk Friday: June 26, 2020: Jeopardy
Hosted by Ms. Sylvia Shipp, ELP Lecturer
Participants played a round of Jeopardy (based on the TV trivia game) and had a great time.
Let’s Talk Friday: June 19, 2020
Hosted by Ms. Kate Emory, Office of International Affairs
Participants talked about food and cuisine and recommended dishes from different countries.
Let’s Talk Friday: June 12, 2020
Hosted by Ms. Sylvia Shipp, ELP Lecturer
We had a blast playing skribbl.io together!
Participants talked and played the online Zoom/Skribbl.io game.
About skribbl.io: skribbl.io is a free multiplayer drawing game to play on your laptop. A game consists of 3 rounds. In each round someone must draw their chosen word and others have to guess it to gain points. The person with the most points at the end is the winner!
How to Play: When it’s your turn to draw, you choose a word from 3 options and draw that word in 80 seconds. When someone is drawing, you type your guess into the chat to get points. The faster you guess a word, the more points you get!
Here’s an example:
Let’s Talk Friday, June 5: A conversation with Ms. Sue Finegold
Hosted by Dr. Linh Phung, ELP Director
Let’s Talk Friday on June 5, 2020
Participants had the opportunity to hear from Ms. Sue Finegold, Chatham President’s wife and community Yoga instructor at Chatham. We practiced a breathing exercise and talked about how important exercising is for our physical and mental health.
Sue’s introduction:
Susan Finegold grew up in the north of England, near Manchester. She studied English Literature at Oxford University, and then taught it in a sixth-form college (a school for students aged 16-19, as you might know from the Harry Potter books). After she had moved to America and had two children, she retrained as a yoga teacher. She teaches community classes at Chatham’s three campuses, and at some other places in the city.
Let’s Talk Friday: May 29, 2020: Cities Around the World
Hosted by Dr. Linh Phung, ELP Director
Participants visited the Chatham’s Shadyside campus before the event. They then shared a picture and some information about their home city. We concluded with a fun Kahoot game.
A virtual tour of Chatham’s campuses: https://chatham.edu/admission-and-aid/next-steps/virtual-tours.html
Read about the city of Pittsburgh: https://pittsburghpa.gov/pittsburgh/pgh-about
