FROM THE PRESIDENT The world is so enormous, it is hard to grasp just how big it really is. Our international programs provide countless opportunities for our faculty, staff, and students to broaden their horizons, and in turn, their perspectives. We encourage cultural immersion in order to gain the most from our experiences. That is why I always use chopsticks when I travel to Tokyo. Here at Washburn, we understand that experience enhances understanding. In all my travels, I have learned something very important about our exchange programs: they are just that, an exchange. We share food, conversations, ideas, experiences, and most importantly, relationships. Before we do business with any school or organization, we first create relationships with them and get to know their values. These pages contain stories of such life-changing exchanges, and how they are a key part of the way we live out our core values of respect, excellence, and inclusiveness on this campus and beyond. The emphasis we put on our international programs have proven crucial to the success of our students and faculty. I hope you enjoy reading about the experiences of our fellow Ichabods abroad, and that you will be inspired to join them. Jerry Farley, Ph.D., President
FROM THE DIRECTOR It is with anticipation and excitement that I present this issue of Washburn’s International Accents to you. This is the newly formatted and expanded version of the newsletter of our unit, which records an abundance of the international activities that occurred during 2019 involving our students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends. They span from one-time individual endeavors to long reoccurring group projects. Most notably, the Belize program (10 years), developed and managed by Dr. Judy McConnell-Farmer, and the joint internship program (12 years and running), involving three countries developed and managed by Dr. Michael Stoica, have sent hundreds of students overseas. But above all, the Washburn Fukuoka (Japan) University exchange program (40+ years and running) has seen nearly 1,000 participants! Truly remarkable! These programs share one common theme – Washburn people striving to explore far and wide for new ways to learn, to interact, and to make a positive difference. They make me proud and inspire me to continue improving my work. I encourage you to read through the entire publication and hope you will find it educational, inspirational, and enjoyable, as I did. Baili Zhang, Director of International Programs
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In April, the School of Business (SOBU) hosted a visit from Institute for Business Administration in Bucharest (ASEBUSS) in Romania, Rector Dr. Ovidiu Dimbean, and Dean Dr. Marcel Duhaneanu. ASEBUSS, a private school offering graduate programs in business, has the best-ranked MBA program in Eastern Europe. While at Washburn, the visitors met with Dean David Sollars, Associate Dean Russ Smith, and faculty of the School of Business, and decided on a first-level agreement of cooperation. In October, in the follow-up visit to Romania, Washburn’s Dean David Sollars and Dr. Michael Stoica met with ASEBUSS leaders, faculty, students, and alumni, and made several presentations. In the research area, Professors Michael Stoica and Tom Hickman (via Skype) presented their work on internal marketing to MBA students. Dean Sollars and Professor Stoica also gave an interview to Ziua Financiara (Financial Daily), the local Wall Street Journal. In Spring 2020, Washburn students will team up with ASEBUSS students for Capsim, the capstone simulation game offered online.
Bucharest, Romania
In November, Dr. David Sollars and Dr. Michael Stoica visited the Methodist University of Sao Paulo (MUSP) in Brazil. From among the collaboration opportunities the Washburn School of Business offers, MUSP opted to join Washburn’s BU 406 International Business and Entrepreneurial Experience class in China that works in mixed teams of students from U.S., Chinese, Belgian, and now, Brazilian, partner schools. Faculty and students from Brazil went to China as part of the class last year. This year, given the Coronavirus, MUSP will host and provide the consulting sites. The students from Wuhan will participate via the Internet (Zoom). While in Brazil, the Washburn professors visited various companies and the Sao Bernardo Chamber of Commerce, and met with a great many administrators and faculty at the university.
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Law professor Linda Elrod presented a paper entitled, “Evolving Capacities and Weight to be Given Children’s Wishes in Custody Proceedings,” at the Convention on the Rights of the Child Implementation Project: Article 5 Colloquium, at Robinson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in July 2019. She also presented a paper entitled, “Hearing the Voices of Children: Requiring Council in International Cases” at the international Conference on Gender, Inclusivity and Protecting the 21st Century Family, sponsored by the University of Westminster and the International Centre for Family Law, Policy and Practice, in London, UK, also in July 2019. Professor Elrod also moderated a separate panel at the conference, and attended a conference dinner at the House of Lords. Law Professors Ann Estin (Iowa) and Linda Elrod (Washburn) pose in front of picture of Queen Anne at a conference reception at Draper Hall, England
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In other parts of the world, Dr. Sungkyu Kwak made two overseas trips last year, one to Germany and the other to South Korea. In May 2019, at the Schmalkalden University of Applied Sciences in Germany, he taught three courses: on International Monetary Policy, International Trade, and Microeconomics. The visit and teaching program were arranged through the Magellan Exchange program. In South Korea later in the summer, Dr. Kwak led a group of ten students and community members on a study abroad program. The Washburn group attended a ten-week short-term Korean course at the Kookmin University in Seoul, Korea. They had Korean class in the morning, and attended various cultural activities in the afternoon. Dr. Kwak also organized cultural activities for evenings and weekends. In May, Dr. Liviu Florea and Dr. Dmitri Nizovtsev traveled to Harbin, China, to represent Washburn at the annual conference of the Network of International Business Schools (NIBS), of which the Washburn School of Business is a member. NIBS is a truly global network that incorporates universities from 24 countries, all of which share the commitment to international business education and to making their institutions a genuinely intercultural environment. In addition to panel discussions, wo r k s h o p s , a n d ex te n s i ve n e t wo r k i n g opportunities, the conference was also the venue for the ďŹ nal phase of the NIBS World Business Plan Competition. The Washburn School of Business team, coached by David Price, with the help of other business faculty, took second place in this pre stigious competition, topped only by the team from the Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland.
Dr. Jason Miller, Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, spoke in November 2019 at the joint meeting of the American Anthropological Association, and the Canadian Anthropology Society in Vancouver, BC, Canada on a panel titled, "Multi-Modal Methods in Changing Climates: Do the Traditional Methods Still Apply?" Miller discussed the use of community-based research methods and participatory video as a way of enhancing ethnographic research whilst beneďŹ ting communities at the same time. Tokyo, Japan
In March, Dr. Liviu Florea participated in the 15th International Conference of Western Economics Association International (WEAI) in Tokyo, organized by Keio University, Mita Campus. Dr. Florea presented a research paper on prosumption, reviewed and discussed research papers on transaction costs, and attended featured presentations made by Nobel Prize laureates Peter Diamond and Robert Engle. Special thanks to the contributors to our Faculty News and Focus on Students sections, including Russ Smith, David Sollars, Michael Stoica, Dmitri Nizovtsev, Sungkyu Kwak, Liviu Florea, Lara Rivera, Jan Carpenter, Michaela Saunders, Craig Martin, Mike Russell, Lauren Edelman and many others.
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WELCOME NEW INTERNATIONAL FACULT Y We welcome the following scholars, who joined the Washburn University faculty in 2019.
Dr. Allan Ayella, CAS/Chemistry, Makerere University, Uganda
Professor Helene PerrigueyKeene, CAS/Modern Languages, Universite de Franche-Comte, France & Universidad de Valladolid, Spain
Dr. Manaf Sellak, SOBU, Moulay Ismail University, Morocco
2019 INTERNATIONAL BROWN BAG LECTURE SERIES Washburn University supports a variety of activities which serve as informal educational opportunities about diversity, such as the OIP's "International Brown Bag Lecture" series. These presentations, usually delivered by faculty, focus on international research and travel. The following presentations were given in 2019: Feb. 6 - Tom Prasch - “Inalienable Rights”: The Spread of an Idea Feb. 20 - Rugena Hall, Assistant to the President and Susie Hoffmann, Alumni Association Director - “So Close But Yet So Far”: 100 Miles from the Promised Land, Cuba Experience March 6 - Maria Stover - "Media Freedom: A Global Overview of Countries and Trends" March 20 - Kara Kendall-Morwick - Banned Books around the World: Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and the Cultural Politics of Islam April 10 – Bill Rich - "Freedom of Speech: Bright Lines in a Murky World" May 1 – Madeline Eschenburg - History of State Censorship of Contemporary Chinese Art in a Global Context Sept. 25 - Norma Juma - “Diversity Management in Africa: A Cross-Cultural and Postcolonial Comparative Analysis of Egypt, Kenya and South Africa” Oct. 2 - Zach Frank - Peru: Different Climates, Different Cultures, Different Health Care Oct. 16 - Chris Hamilton - Climate Catastrophe? The 6th Extinction? The Green New Deal? What You Just Don't Know About Other Nations Advanced Green New Deal Economies, Climate Policies, and their Race to Save the Planet that the "US News" Never Talks About Nov. 6 - Sangyoub Park - A Traveling Sociologist in Tokyo
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Nov. 20 - Maria Stover - The Curious Case of Celebrities as Politicians
Associate Professor of Art Ye Wang was awarded a Mary B. Sweet Summer Sabattical in 2019 and shares his experience in what he calls, "Follow the Footsteps of the Impressionists." During the 76-day Summer Sweet Sabbatical, I visited 19 art museums with the emphasis on Plein Air paintings and Impressionist paintings. I also did 40 Plein Air watercolor paintings (11”x7” each”). In France, I visited the four most important Impressionist museums (Musée d'Orsay, Musée de l'Orangerie, Musée Marmottan Monet, and the Petit Palais) in Paris, and observed and analyzed as many Impressionist paint-ings as possible. Then I traveled to a few small towns (Barbizon, Moret, Giverny, Rouen, Etretat and Le Havre) to see the sites where the masters made their masterpieces in the 1800's. Obviously France is proud to have so many Impressionist masters; they set up markers with the printed paintings identifying where they were painted. It’s definitely educational and inspiring! When you compare the painting with the actual scene in front of you, you can tell how the artist approached the subject, how he generalized forms, and how he used the colors and brushmarks to depict the images, even though some scenes have been changed a lot throughout the years. As an admirer I also set up my easel and painted watercolors at the same spots and it was a great feeling. Following the footsteps of Impressionists in France was a great spiritual fulfillment to me. As well, by visiting those towns where the masters used to paint, I have had a better idea of possibly leading my classes to paint in France in the future. The visits in Eastern European countries gave me an overall idea of how the movement of Impressionism happened in the previous Socialist countries. The French Impressionism movement started approximately in 1860 and was active between 1870-1880. Eastern European Impressionism was about 30 years later. To my surprise, in each of the museums in Eastern Europe, there is a collection of the French Impressionist paintings. Serbia has about 30 pieces. Budapest has 15 pieces. Impressionism was introduced to China in 1905. Most Chinese art colleges have adopted the Impressionist system in their teaching, as the Impressionist color theory was scientific. However, the Chinese government doesn’t favor Impressionism as it is not understood by the people. So China National Art Gallery doesn’t have a collection of the French Impressionists’ work. In 2008, the Plein Air China organization was established and it is growing into the world's largest Plein Air club. There are over fifty thousand members all over China and they have frequent activities such as demonstrations, lectures, painting outdoors and exhibitions. They seldom sell their paintings, as the masses do not apprec-iate this style; however, it does not affect their passion for painting outdoors. They have earned enough salary from their jobs so painting outdoors becomes their favorite hobby "can't-live-without" lifestyle. In Beijing, Chengdu and Chongqing, I interviewed some Plein Air artists including Meng li, the founder of Plein Air China. They all had the same passion, dedication and certainty. It reminded me of the French Impressionists in the 1870s. In Sichuan, I painted outdoors for three days with over ten artists in a small village. Some people started their paintings at 6 am and came back to the hotel at dusk. It was a great experience to feel the passion of being a sincere artist.
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