International Briefs
October, 2006
A Remarkable Young Man from the Sierra Tarahumara
My column
this month is a brief biography of one of the six graduate students
from Chihuahua, Mexico who are currently at NMSU pursuing degrees in
areas of vital need to the Sierra Tarahumara region of Chihuahua. The
six are here under the auspices of the HED—TIES/USAID (Mexico)
Project: “New Mexico Chihuahua Partnership for the Sierra
Tarahumara,” an economic and social development project
administered by International Programs in conjunction with the
Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua. An earlier version of this brief
biography was prepared by Professor Anne Hubbell in her capacity as
external evaluator for this project.
New
Mexico State University and the Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua have
been partnered to develop the project called “New Mexico
Chihuahua Partnership for the Sierra Tarahumara: Increasing Assistance
to Small Farmer by Improving Food Production, Natural Resource
Management, and Marketing Strategies”.
Manuel
Lopez has two bachelor’s degrees, one in education and the other
in animal sciences. He also speaks English as a third language (Spanish
and the indigenous language Raramuri are his first and second
languages). He taught himself to speak English. Manuel had not had
previous exposure to the English language or culture when he was
selected as a candidate to work on a master’s in education due to
his great capacities. He was also not able to cross the border to take
the TOEFL (English proficiency exam) due to the fact that he had no
passport, visa, or other documents needed to become an international
traveler. His only previous travel was either education or work-related
and never out of the State of Chihuahua.
It is
hard to believe that without previous English interaction with English
speakers, living and teaching in an isolated community 8 hours away
from the closest small city of fewer than 100,000 inhabitants, Manuel
was able to meet all of the NMSU requirements to work toward a
master’s degree under the HED—TIES USAID Program.
Twice on
his own Manuel came to the border with a NMSU letter of support to
negotiate with a U.S. Immigration official for a three hour visa to
take the TOEFL exam in El Paso, TX (the closest border city from his
hometown). Both times he was denied the visa. Therefore, NMSU arranged
for an English language evaluator to test Manuel in the Mexican border
city of Ciudad Juarez (Professor Judy Messal).
Once he
met all of the NMSU requirements, the Mexican Teacher’s Union
denied Manuel permission to move to the U.S. to begin his
master’s degree program as the Union required at least five years
of experience to grant such permission.
He
explained to them that his situation was different as he was not
expecting to receive money, salary, or monetary support from them, just
the permission to be absent from his job for the time needed to
complete his master’s degree. The answer was “No.”
So, once again he was required to shuttle back and forth with demands
for additional documentation. Finally, the day before moving to the
U.S. he received the required permission from the Union.
Manuel is
currently facing some major obstacles, one of which is how to live in a
totally different society with different cultural norms. He also
continues to work on his use of the English language, and his
understanding of U.S. culture.
He has also done very well
in his first semester at NMSU. He learned how to make connections with
his professors and other students and he worked hard to achieve close
to a 4.0 in all of his classes. He has just recently decided on a
research topic for the project, how to best maintain and teach
indigenous languages. This is critical to the Sierra in that many of
the indigenous languages are being lost because instruction is in
Spanish and no effort is made to teach the native language. He is
excited about the opportunity to pursue his education and to give back
to his own community.
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International Travel
A delegation of NMSU faculty and administrators are scheduled to be in China starting on October 8th
for approximately 12 days. This visit was precipitated by a visit from
a delegation of Chinese university administrators, faculty and
community leaders who visited NMSU and Las Cruces in April of 2006.
Specifically NMSU is looking into developing 1-2-1 agreements with a
number of Chinese Universities, in which Chinese undergraduates
complete one year at a Chinese university, two years at NMSU and the
final year at the Chinese university and receive dual bachelor’s
degrees from both NMSU and the Chinese university. In
addition, the group will also visit other Chinese universities to
establish collaborative work (both research and teaching), sign
cooperative agreements, and recruit students. Those traveling to
China are: William
Flores, Provost; Everett Egginton, Dean for International & Border
Programs; Wesley Holley, Associate Dean, College of Agriculture &
Home Economics; Kenneth Hammond, Associate Professor of History;
Yu-seng Lee Assistant Professor of Economics & International
Business; Martha Rowe, Associate Professor of Music; and Candace Kaye,
Professor of Curriculum & Instruction.
The universities which the group will visit are: Beijing Normal
University, Beijing University of Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan
University for Science & Technology and Jianghan University.
2006 International Matching Travel Grants – Deadline October 15,
The International Matching
Travel Grants provide support to faculty/staff members who are seeking
external funding for support of international programs and
activities. Prospective grantees need to articulate their
intended use of funding; clearly identify the institution or agency
with which they hope to work; and why funds are needed. This
grant is not intended to cover salaries nor IDC. A detailed
one-page budget should accompany your proposal. On the budget, clearly
identify how a minimum of 30% cost share will be provided. Proposals
are due October 15 in the Office of International & Border
Programs. Go to our website at www.nmsu.edu/~ip for a complete copy of the application guidelines. If you have any question, please call or e-mail Ida Baca at ibaca@nmus.edu or 646-4528.
Twenty-Third Annual World Food Day Teleconference is scheduled for October 16, 2006 from 10:00am to 1:00pm.
This year’s World Food Day Teleconference will examine the unique
and potentially powerful role played by the hundreds of
grassroots’ based movements working for a world free of hunger.
The discussion will be a follow-up of the 2005 program in which Frances
Moore Lappé framed the issue of hunger not as a shortage of food
but as a shortage of democracy. Three international leaders with
hands on experience and knowledge about these “home grown”
endeavors will share information about these global citizen
activists: Dr. Makanjuola Olaseinde Arigbede of Nigeria, a full
time development activist who trained as a doctor of medicine; Eva
Clayton (former congresswoman from North Carolina) who has just retired
as the Associate Director-General and director of the International
Alliance Against Hunger for the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the UN; and Dr. Deepa Narayan, of India who is senior advisor in the
Poverty Reduction and Economic Management of the World Bank, and author
and team leader of the Voices of the Poor initiative.
The Office of
International & Border Programs at NMSU is a registered site and
the teleconference will be broadcast from 10:00am -1:00pm in Milton
Hall room 169. Everyone is invited but we would appreciate
notification on the number of attendees to assure adequate space.
Please call 646-4528 to reserve space and/or to receive a copy of the
Study/Action packet. The conference will be taped if someone cannot
attend.
Globalization Awards
The
Office of International & Border Programs is now accepting
Globalization Award nominations. The Office of International
& Border Programs provides up to three awards per academic year to
NMSU faculty, staff, students, and individuals from the
community. The award recognizes individuals whose actions and
deeds promote international understanding, cooperation involvement, and
development. For more information about the awards call 646-4528
or to submit nomination, please contact Ida Baca at MSC 3567 or at ibaca@nmsu.edu,
indicating who you want to nominate and describing in one page what the
person has done and/or is doing internationally to warrant the award
and include a copy of their CV. Nominations will be accepted
through March 15, 2006. If you would like to review the list of
past recipients, please go to our web site at http://www.nmsu.edu/~ip/pages/awards/awards.html
Visitors to Campus
Dr.
Fred Kirschenmann, Distinguished Fellow and former Director at the
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University, will
visit New Mexico State University to present several lectures during
the week of October 2-6, 2006. Dr. Kirschennman is a longtime national
leader in national and international sustainable agriculture,
maintaining an active public role in serving the farming community at
the same time that he oversees management of his family’s 3,500
acre certified organic farm. On Thursday, October 5, 7:00-8:30 p.m., Dr. Kirschenmann will deliver a public lecture, Land Grant Universities at a Crossroads: Can We Turn This Tractor Around?
in Room 190 of Gerald Thomas Hall on the NMSU campus. Prior to the
public lecture, there will be an informal reception for Dr.
Kirschenmann in the NMSU Honors College, 5:00-6:30 p.m. On Thursday, October 5, 2006, 2:00-2:45 p.m., Dr. Kirschenmann will also speak on Commercial Organic and Sustainable Agriculture as a Business Strategy at the Southwest Agribusiness Conference, taking place the Ramada Palms.
Funding for this lecture and visit have been provided through a
Southwest Borders and Cultures Institute Grant, NMSU College of Arts
and Sciences. For further information, please contact Lois Stanford (lstanfor@nmsu.edu or 646-6092) or Connie Falk (cflak@nmsu.edu or 646-4731).
Office of International
&
Border Programs
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