touch the world |
| TouCH THE WORLD
“EX-UNDERGROUND SOLDIERS TACKLE REGISTRATION — Gunnar Bjune, Rolf Ottesen, Leif Haug and Odd Johnsen, veterans of the Norwegian Army who participated in the underground movement while Nazi forces occupied the country, cast interested glances at the registration papers of Oglethorpe University. The four Norwegian veterans are scholarship students at the university.” – Atlanta Constitution
Oglethorpe: International pioneer By Chloey Mayo ’10
Su How Hwa, from Shanghai, China, was an exchange student at Oglethorpe in 1947. Now living in Houston, Tex., Mr. Hwa returned to the OU campus in 2010 for the first time in more than 60 years. He is pictured in the Oglethorpe archives room in the basement of the Weltner Library.
In the globalized classroom of present-day Oglethorpe, it’s difficult to imagine a campus without faces from around the world.
Not surprisingly, Oglethorpe led the way during the emergence of international student programs, welcoming some of the first university international students in Georgia in the 1940s. According to Oglethorpe trustee and archives volunteer Fred Agel ’52, Oglethorpe’s first documented international students were former soldiers—four Norwegian World War II veterans who received scholarship awards offered by Oglethorpe to former students of Norwegian colleges. In 1946 the Atlanta Constitution wrote, “Gunnar Bjune, Leif Haug, Rolf Ottesen and Odd Johnsen, who during the war years secretly carried time bombs, Molotov cocktails and dynamite against the invaders of their native land, today will walk in the bright Georgia sunshine along the quiet paths of Oglethorpe University, this time armed with American textbooks, slide rules and pencils.”
10 2011 10 CARILLON CARILLON || summer SPRING 2011
Kendall Weisiger, Oglethorpe’s treasurer and assistant to then-President Philip Weltner, had worked to establish the scholarships and extended the invitation to the young men in an effort to cultivate goodwill and understanding between nations in the wake of World War II. At the time, Weisiger was also an active Rotarian in Georgia, and had founded the Rotary Club of Atlanta’s Educational Foundation 22 years earlier. Georgia’s Rotary was known for providing scholarships to local students, but Weisiger also was passionate about extending the aid to students abroad. Not long after Oglethorpe hosted the four Norwegian veterans, Weisiger convinced the Georgia Rotary to expand their educational programs to include students from overseas, much like the scholarship he established at Oglethorpe. The 61 Rotary Clubs of Georgia went on to host international students from Norway, Holland, and China at local Atlanta universities, via the Georgia Rotary Student Program, which continues today, 65 years later.
Recruiting Around the World By Philip Peroune
International students contribute to the global perspective on campus through their language, culture, and the personal experiences they share in the classrooms and across the OU campus. Recruitment of international students is increasingly important to maintain a global perspective and diversity both in the classroom and across campus.
Oglethorpe increased international recruitment, focusing on geographically and culturally diverse areas around the world.
In 2010 Oglethorpe increased international recruitment, focusing on geographically and culturally diverse areas of the world. Admissions representatives have recruited in England, seven Middle Eastern countries (Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Jordan), Honduras in Central America, and Caribbean islands Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. When traveling to these countries, admission staff reconnect with individuals who are already familiar with Oglethorpe University, and reach out to new prospective students and school administrators who are unfamiliar with all that Oglethorpe offers. Oglethorpe’s Atlanta location is one of the major selling points to international students, since most want to study in a culturally diverse city that offers an international flavor that will complement the educational experience. In some parts of the world, students are primarily looking at established fields of study, such as medicine, law, and engineering. However, as the global landscape is changing, students are increasingly realizing that a truly global education is well-served by pursuing an education in the liberal arts.
Norwegian veteran Odd Johnsen, one of Oglethorpe’s first exchange students, graduated from Oglethorpe in 1947. He was voted “most handsome” in his class.
Among the many international students welcomed to Oglethorpe this year, Anders Hardmeier and Anton Birch-Tyrberg are Swedish students in the Georgia Rotary Student Program, which shares some history with Oglethorpe, going back more than 60 years.
These recruiting treks around the world help Oglethorpe establish a presence in these countries and highlight, face-to-face, the value of the quality liberal arts education provided at Oglethorpe.
summer 2011 | CARILLON 11