Phi Beta Delta, the honor society dedicated to recognizing scholarly achievement in international education, has chosen MSUs Alpha Alpha chapter for the 2006 Eileen Evans Outstanding Chapter Award, the top honor for affiliates of the international organization. The award will be presented at the Phi Beta Delta / International Studies Association national conference in San Diego on March 23rd.

Phi Beta Delta, the honor society dedicated to recognizing scholarly achievement in international education, has named MSUs Alpha Alpha chapter the 2006 outstanding chapter in the Mid-West. Criteria for a regional award include programming, chapter growth and development, service to Phi Beta Delta, and expanded outreach within and beyond the academic community. The award will be presented at the Phi Beta Delta / International Studies Association national conference in San Diego on March 23rd.

Yael Aronoff, a senior associate at Columbia Universitys Institute of War and Peace Studies, has been named the first Michael and Elaine Serling and Friends Israel Studies Chair at Michigan State University. The Serling chair is a core position in MSUs Jewish Studies Program, which is administered by the College of Arts and Letters. Aronoff will become a faculty member in James Madison College, the universitys prestigious residential college, in the area of public affairs.

Among the unique aspects of indigenous nations existing within the larger nations of the United States and Canada are the individual justice systems associated with each smaller nation and their relationship to the justice systems of their host nations. Educators, students and attorneys from throughout the United States and Canada will gather Friday, March 17, and Saturday, March 18, to examine tribal courts during the Indigenous Justice Systems of North America Conference at Michigan State U

Ahmed Kathrada, a leading anti-apartheid activist, will visit the campus of MSU in March. Kathrada, who was awarded an honorary degree from the university in December 2005, will speak at a public reception and lunch at MSU. MSU Today article by Emily Young, student writer.

MSU's Kresge Art Museum is hosting an exhibition of twenty prints by critically acclaimed South African artist William Kentridge, as part of MSUs year-long focus on African Arts and Culture (see www.culturalconnection.msu.edu). The exhibit is the first showing of Kentridges art ever presented in mid-Michigan and runs through March 19 in the Works on Paper Gallery. The prints in the exhibition are on loan courtesy of the artist and the Barbara Krakow Gallery in Boston, plus one from a private c

Jennifer Olson, a visiting assistant professor of geography at Michigan State University, is co-coordinator of LUCID: Land Use Change, Impacts and Dynamics, an international effort to examine and discover links to how East Africas economic and social progress is influencing land use, the areas plant and wildlife diversity and land degradation. Olson participated on a panel discussion today at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in a session exploring challe

The war in Iraq and similar conflicts in other parts of the world have profoundly affected the lives of citizens in particular, women of the countries involved. More than 130 educators, students and attorneys from 10 nations will gather at Michigan State University College of Law on Friday, Feb. 24, to examine the plight of these women during a one-day symposium titled, Gender, War & Peace: Women in the Wake of Conflict. News release by Russ White, University Relations.

The war in Iraq and similar conflicts in other parts of the world have profoundly affected the lives of citizens in particular, women of the countries involved. More than 130 educators, students and attorneys from 10 nations will gather at Michigan State University College of Law on Friday, Feb. 24, to examine the plight of these women during a one-day symposium titled, Gender, War & Peace: Women in the Wake of Conflict. News release by Russ White, University Relations.

Michigan State Universitys efforts to expand international research, teaching and outreach activities in East Lansing and abroad have earned the university the Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization. The annual prize is named for the late U.S. Senator Paul Simon (D -Ill.), who identified international education as an issue of crucial importance for the future strength and security of the United States. It is administered by NAFSA: Association of International Educators, a w

With 71 volunteers last year, MSU was one of four Big Ten universities to make the top 10 in the "Large Colleges and Universities" category which includes schools with more than 15,000 undergraduate students. "MSU has a huge, long history of being involved with the Peace Corps, and being on the top of the Peace Corps' listing is something we've always wanted to build on," MSU's recruiter Lisa Robinson said. State News story by Kristen Daum.

ISP Acting Dean Jeffrey Riedinger recently announced the ISP Department of State Internship Award Program, which will provide stipends for MSU students participating in relevant internships. Only MSU students who have been accepted for summer 2006 State Department internships are eligible to apply.

The American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) honored MSUs College of Education with its Best Practice Award for Global and International Teacher Education on February 1, 2006. The award, sponsored by AACTEs Committee on Global and International Teacher Education, recognizes exemplary practice in preparing education professionals for work in intercultural, global, cross-cultural, and international settings. The award was presented at AACTEs 58th Annual Meeting in San Diego

Two international exhibits, "Weavings of War: Fabrics of Memory" and "Siyazama: Traditional Arts, Education, and AIDS in South Africa," will be featured at the MSU Museum during spring 2006. The first opened January 22, while the second opens February 5; both run through June 30. Two articles by Lora Helou, MSU Museum. For more about MSU Museum exhibits and viewing hours, visit the website at http://museum.msu.edu

Fewer foreign students studied at U.S. universities including MSU but last year the university saw about a 5-percent increase in undergraduate international enrollment, according to statistics from the university and an organization that specializes in global education. Overall international enrollment dropped 0.7 percent because fewer graduate students chose MSU, said Pam Horne, MSU's director of admissions. Horne blamed the decrease on tougher standards for graduate students obtaining vis

After nearly two years of tweaking, adjustments and instrument additions, the SOuthern Astrophysical Research or SOAR telescope is being used by MSU astronomers to collect intergalactic data. Within the last couple of months, astronomers have been using the 4.1-meter telescope to get a closer look at, among other things, spiral galaxies that are nearly 100 million light years away and interstellar clouds that can be the birthplaces of stars. Story by Tom Oswald, University Relations.

A delegation of MSU representatives recently returned from a trip to Thailand that focused on exploring ways to expand MSUs collaboration with the countrys government ministries, educational institutions and Thailand-based alumni. Headed by Provost Kim Wilcox, the delegation also included John Hudzik, vice president for global engagement and strategic projects; Jeff Riedinger, acting dean for international studies and programs; Lonnie King, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine; Chris Wheel

A study that for 10 years has been putting climate change on fast forward to predict how plants will respond to global climate change is generating not only data, but a scientific legacy. The International Tundra Experiment, born nearly 15 years ago at MSU, is brilliant in its simplicity. Modest little greenhouses dot the Arctic tundra in more than 30 locations that rim the North Pole. Each greenhouse, which spans about 1.5 yards, houses a little plot of global warming for native plants a wa

Among the unique aspects of indigenous nations existing within the larger nations of the United States and Canada are the individual justice systems associated with each smaller nation and their relationship to the justice systems of their host nations. Educators, students and attorneys from throughout the United States and Canada will gather Friday, March 17, and Saturday, March 18, to examine tribal courts during the Indigenous Justice Systems of North America Conference at Michigan State U

Senior MSU administrators and professors, including Provost Kim Wilcox, will spend the week of Jan. 16 in Thailand exploring ways to expand MSU collaboration with the countrys government ministries, educational institutions and Thailand-based alumni. For Wilcox, who began as provost in August 2005, the trip marks his first opportunity to participate in MSUs global engagement in an international setting.