Japanese Student Wins First International Seat in MSU Student Government

In September 1999, international relations junior Mayuko Shimakage was elected to fill the first international student seat on the Associated Students of Michigan State University (ASMSU) Student Assembly. ASMSU represents undergraduate students at the university, about 900 of whom are international in origin.

International relations major Mayuko Shimikage represents the International Associations Council at MSU. (photo by Rachanee Therakulsathit, The State News)

A member of MSU's Japan Club, Shimakage came to MSU from Komono, Japan. Her election to the Student Assembly and the later election of Hetal Shah, a supply-chain management major from India, to the Academic Assembly were the culmination of a lengthy effort in 1998-99 to secure voting seats for representatives of the International Associations Council in the two student government assemblies.

"International students' concerns and interests are very unique, and domestic students need to be aware of them," Shimikage said. "That is why I am providing my opinions and views as an international student in the ASMSU decision-making process." The main items on her agenda for the Student Assembly, which addresses nonacademic issues that affect student life, are the university and other students' understanding of international students, better housing options between semesters, greater support for international clubs, and more international and cross-cultural events at MSU.

MSU Graduate Student Wins Major World Bank Award

Mercy Chigubu, a Michigan State University graduate student from Zimbabwe pursuing a Ph.D. in family and child ecology, has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the World Bank in its recent Development Marketplace Innovation Competition in Washington, D.C. The annual competition strives to identify and support innovative poverty-reduction projects that have concrete plans for effective implementation.

In announcing the winners, World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn said, "In the next 25 years, another 2 billion people will share the world. Most of them will live in poverty if we do not take action now. We need ever more effective, innovative solutions to meet this challenge."

Chigubu was one of nearly 2,000 individuals and groups who originally submitted proposals to the World Bank and one of 300 who were chosen as finalists to present their ideas to the jury panel on February 7 and 8, 2000. Each team's idea was judged on its intended impact on poverty, originality, cost-effectiveness, and potential for ownership by those whom it benefits the most. In this year's competition, $5 million in start-up funds were awarded to a total of 44 winning projects from around the world.

Chigubu's success in the competition is all the more notable given that she was one of the few students who entered. Jeff Riedinger, assistant dean of MSU International Studies and Programs, said, "I am accustomed to MSU graduate students doing extremely well in national competitions with other top graduate students for research funding and awards. However, Mercy has done something that is truly extraordinary-in a competition dominated by experienced development professionals and organizations, she was awarded substantial World Bank funding for her project, which promises to make an important contribution to the quality of life in her home country."

Chigubu's proposal, "Orphans and Kinship Care-Givers," grew out of her current doctoral research on Zimbabwean orphans whose parents have died of HIV/AIDS. Many of these children end up migrating to the homes of relatives who already live in poverty, where their presence exacerbates the dire circumstances of these families in a country that has also been ravaged by war, drought, and economic decline.

This project, with partnership participation from UNESCO in Zimbabwe, will "combat poverty . . . by implementing appropriate, indigenous, income-generating projects" for impoverished Zimbabwean care-giving households, according to the proposal text. There will be significant educational components to the project, as well, with training for care-givers in HIV/AIDS destigmatization techniques, developmentally appropriate child rearing practices, counseling techniques for working with grieving children, and budgeting and project-management skills. Implementation of the overall project will be done by teams working in ten Zimbabwean provinces.

Chigubu's research has been supported in the past by the Rockefeller Foundation and the American Association of University Women. Her trip to Washington to participate in the final round of competition was supported in part by funds from the MSU Department of Family and Child Ecology and the African Studies Center.

For more information about the Development Marketplace Innovation Competition, consult their Website at http://www.developmentmarketplace.org/index.html

1999-2000 Thoman Fellows Named

In April 1999 ten new international graduate students were selected as members of the Thoman Fellow Class of 1999-2000.

The Thoman Fellow Program, created in 1982, provides Michigan State University doctoral students from developing nations with an opportunity to deepen their understanding of global problems of hunger and poverty and meet the challenges of confronting such problems in their own countries. Designed as a capstone experience to graduate study, the program awards a one-year stipend to outstanding and motivated international scholars.

Thoman Fellows learn about grassroots development, poverty, and hunger through readings, lectures/seminars, group discussions, and interaction with resource persons on campus. In internships in the Greater Lansing community, they gain invaluable hands-on experience learning about the realities of hunger and poverty and viable ways to serve the disadvantaged. Fellows contribute as interns at local community service organizations such as Advent House, Big Brothers-Big Sisters, East Lansing Islamic School, Food Movers, the Lansing City Rescue Mission, Michigan Environmental Council, MSU Food Bank, and Refugee Services. Fellows have also updated the Thoman Fellow Program's home page on the Worldwide Web and added links to sites with information about hunger and poverty.

By the time fellows are ready to go back to their countries of origin, they have gained a deeper understanding of the many dimensions of poverty and hunger and how to set up a nongovernmental organization to serve the needs of the poor in their areas of influence.

The Thoman Fellow Program is primarily funded by the W. B. and Candace Thoman Foundation of Lansing, Michigan. "The program is one way to alleviate hunger and poverty in various parts of the world," said Candace Thoman. Additional support is provided by several MSU colleges and units including the Graduate School, the Institute of International Agriculture in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the College of Education Office of International Studies, the College of Engineering, and the Office of International Studies and Programs.

For more information about the Thoman Fellows program, visit the Website at http://www.isp.msu.edu/thoman/