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Andrew Sisk Appointed New Diplomat in Residence
September 1, 2022Andrew Sisk has assumed the role of Diplomat in Residence (DIR) for the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S., covering North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. He will be jointly hosted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University from 2022-24. DIRs are career foreign service officers located in 16 geographic areas throughout the United States. They are responsible for providing guidance and advice to students and professionals about careers, internships and other opportunities in the U.S. Department of State. “We are thrilled to have Sisk as our new Diplomat in Residence,” said Barbara Stephenson, vice provost … Read more
Global Guarantee Thrives as More Students Seek a Global Education
August 15, 2022This fall participation in Study Abroad Office programs will reach 110% of pre-pandemic levels. By the end of the academic year, more than 2,000 Tar Heels are expected to study abroad—more than any previous year. When combined with steadily expanding on-campus global courses and programs, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is following through on the Global Guarantee. The Global Guarantee is Carolina’s commitment that a global education is available to all students. Launched in 2019-20, this promise is embedded in the Globalize pillar—one of eight strategic priorities—of the University’s 2020 strategic plan, Carolina Next: Innovations for Public … Read more
Russian Flagship Program Students Secure Competitive Funding Opportunities
July 27, 2022UNC-Chapel Hill’s Russian Flagship Program (RFP) has completed its second year, and its students are continuing to make great achievements. Four received Critical Language Scholarships, three earned Boren scholarships, one received a Gilman scholarship and two were selected for Project GO. Historically, Flagship students have obtained these scholarships at a higher percentage rate as compared to overall applicant pools, as review panels for such programs are aware of the rigor of language flagship programs. Gilman Scholarship recipient Alexandra Love ’23 will further her study of the Russian language in Georgia. Love is a political science and music double major and … Read more
A Summer to Remember: Reflections of the Impact of the Rotary Fellowship
June 28, 2022It has been great and fulfilling so far. Before my applied fellowship experience officially started in Zambia (more of this shortly), I dashed to Ghana where I achieved four important objectives: visited family, handed over a brand new clinic to the people of Kuboko and the Ghana Health Service, donated 120 chairs and tables to a school where learners lie on their bellies to receive their education, and of course, touched base with the grassroots supporters of my campaign to be elected to represent the people of the Zebilla constituency in Parliament in 2025. Thanks to Rotarians and the powerful … Read more
Slowly, Then All at Once
June 20, 2022When Shekinah Elmore started medical school in 2010, she approached it with a mindset uncharacteristic of most first-year students: To do her best, and if her best wasn’t good enough, then that was okay. “I think the overachiever types who often go to med school are very afraid of failure,” she shares. “And I think I was much more afraid of not giving it whatever I had, that failing would have been just a testament to the fact that I really wanted to try.” Just two weeks before orientation began at Harvard University, Elmore underwent her last surgery from a double-cancer diagnosis: … Read more
Preserving Endangered Islamic Manuscripts
June 1, 2022Scholars from the department of African, African American and diaspora studies and a University Libraries digitization specialist traveled to Senegal and Mali to preserve and digitize 6,000 pages of handwritten Islamic manuscripts. In the summer of 2018, Samba Camara traveled to his native Senegal, to the homeland of the the Haalpulaar people in the semidesert region known as Futa Toro. A teaching assistant professor in the department of African, African American and diaspora studies in UNC’s College of Arts & Sciences, Camara investigates the influence of Islam on West African popular music. “We were talking about this Pulaar poetry I grew up … Read more
The Bone Decoder
May 18, 2022In 2005, when Clark Larsen got off a plane in South-Central Turkey, he wasn’t expecting a scene from his childhood to greet him. Larsen grew up in Nebraska, a state of endless cornfields and farmland. Despite having flown halfway around the world, he now found himself surrounded by much of the same endless, flat landscape. “And then the driver says, ‘We’re close!’ And you can see in the distance, sticking up from these flat surfaces, a gigantic mound. I mean, it’s huge,” he recalls. Çatalhöyük. Back then, Larsen didn’t even know how to pronounce the name. Now it slides off … Read more
16 UNC-Chapel Hill Students Awarded Fulbrights for Global Research and Teaching
May 9, 2022Sixteen students and recent graduates from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been selected to receive the Fulbright U.S. Student Program award for the 2022-2023 academic year. The UNC-Chapel Hill recipients are among more than 2,100 U.S. citizens who will study, conduct research or teach abroad for the academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Recipients are selected by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as their record of service and leadership potential in their respective fields. Awardees address … Read more
Nine Carolina Students Receive Critical Language Scholarships from US Department of State
April 14, 2022Nine students from across the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been awarded a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study less commonly taught languages during Summer 2022. The Carolina awardees were chosen from a pool of over 4,500 applicants from 583 different higher education institutions. The recipients will further their language studies in Russian, Arabic, Indonesian and Swahili, spending eight to 10 weeks at intensive language institutes around the world. “The high number of awards is a testament to Carolina students’ dedication to language learning and excellence,” said Barbara Stephenson, vice provost for global … Read more
Former Ambassador to Brazil on Skills for a Successful Career in International Affairs
March 3, 2022Ambassador (Ret.) Liliana Ayalde believes that risks, passion, language-learning and diversity are vital attributes to the makings of a strong leader in the world of foreign affairs. Ayalde, former U.S. ambassador to Brazil, spoke about the skills and wisdom she has gained in her 38-year diplomatic career at “Careers in International Affairs & Global Development,” a Diplomatic Discussion held Feb. 15 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s FedEx Global Education Center. During her Q&A with Peace, War and Defense Chair Navin Bapat, Ayalde emphasized the constant need to learn and collaborate with others in foreign affairs, development … Read more