IU Provost to Visit South America
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana University has announced Provost Lauren Robel will travel to South America next week. She will lead a delegation hoping to strengthen partnerships and opportunities in Brazil and Chile. October 17, 2014
News Release
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana University Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel will travel to South America next week to strengthen university partnerships, discuss new collaborations with leading institutions and organizations, and foster relationships with alumni in Brazil and Chile.
Robel will lead an IU delegation that visits institutions of higher education, governmental agencies, cultural institutions and nongovernmental organizations. The delegation will also meet with alumni and current IU Bloomington students who are studying abroad in Brazil and Chile.
“Strengthening the international reach of our programs is vital to ensuring our graduates will succeed in the global marketplace,” Robel said. “This trip will allow us to deepen our current partnerships and pursue new collaborations that will lead to increased teaching and research exchanges in an economically and culturally dynamic part of the world.
“We are also looking forward to reconnecting with our many successful alumni in Brazil and Chile who are making an impact in top universities and businesses.”
During the trip, she will meet with faculty and administrators from several of the region’s top-ranked institutions of higher education, among them: Fundacao Getulio Vargas, University of Sao Paulo, University of Brasilia and Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
In Rio de Janeiro, Robel will meet with the leadership of Fundacao Getulio Vargas’ schools of law and public administration and business; with members of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, a distinguished literary society and the foremost institution devoted to the Portuguese language; and with officials from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, one of the founding members of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes.
In Brasilia, Brazil, Robel will meet with the rector and other university leaders at the University of Brasilia, as well as with representatives of the Brazilian Federal Agency for the Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil, Robel will meet with the U.S. consul general; with the leadership of Fundacao Getulio Vargas’ school of law; and with faculty leaders from several academic programs at the University of Sao Paulo, including communications and arts, business, law, public health, and international relations. Other activities will include visits with high school counselors and the Council on International Educational Exchange Study Center, which coordinates a study abroad program co-sponsored by IU.
The Santiago, Chile, portion of the trip will include a stop at the Council on International Educational Exchange study abroad program and meetings with Pontifical Catholic University of Chile faculty leaders from the schools of law, letters, communications, and economic and administrative sciences.
Nearly 80 students from Brazil and more than a dozen from Chile are enrolled at IU Bloomington. Over the past year, IU Bloomington has hosted more than 50 Brazilian undergraduate students for one year of study through the Brazilian Scientific Mobility program. Worldwide, there are 308 IU alumni from Brazil and 70 from Chile.
IU’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, founded in 1963, has many nationally prominent scholars representing 30 disciplines. The more recently established Brazilian Studies Program has strong roots at IU and continues to foster interdisciplinary research to bridge the social sciences and humanities. IU also has extensive library collections, including the Lilly Library’s sizeable collection of Brazilian materials, and renowned research institutes for this region.
Two years ago, in November 2012, IU President Michael A. McRobbie traveled to Brazil, Argentina and Chile to explore academic partnerships, study abroad opportunities for students and faculty research opportunities.
Robel will be accompanied by Shawn Conner, associate director of international partnerships for the IU Office of the Vice President for International Affairs. Austen Parrish, dean and James H. Rudy Professor of Law at the IU Maurer School of School, will join her in Brazil.
Source: Indiana University