SIMPSON, on FINAL OVERSEAS TRIP AS PRESIDENT, GIVES KEYNOTE in CHINA Alumnus Named Prime Minister of Somalia

OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO UBUB INTERNAINTERNATIONALTIONAL UB INTERNATIONAL UBUB INTERNAINTERNAFATIONALTIONALLL 2010 VOL. XIX, NO. 2 CONTENTS SIMPSON, ON FINAL OVERSEAS TRIP AS PRESIDENT, GIVES KEYNOTE IN CHINA Alumnus Named Prime Minister of Somalia........2 ohn B. Simpson, who will retire on among the foreign dignitaries invited to UB Ranked 12th in January 15, 2011, made his last inter- speak at the forum, delivered his address, Open Doors 2010...........3 Jnational trip as UB president in mid- “The Role of Research Universities in Re- October 2010, traveling to China to de- gional Economic Development,” near the liver a keynote address at an international beginning of the program on October 15, Social Work Research Center in India.................4 Doctoral Research..........5 CIRRIE Refunded............6 Confucius Institute...........7 International Awards......8 Arts Exchange in China...9 Walt Hakala......................10 Faculty Fulbright to the Philippines........................11 President Simpson (2nd from left) with other Forum speakers, including BJUT President GUO Guangsheng (2nd from right) and CNU President LIU Xincheng (4th from right) Çatalhöyük Project.......13 forum hosted by Beijing University of immediately following the president of BJUT, Technology (BJUT), on the occasion of GUO Guangsheng. that university’s 50th anniversary celebra- Among the other keynote speakers at the Borges Symposium......14 tion. forum was Professor LIU Xincheng, who The visit also marked the 30th anniver- once came to UB as a visiting scholar and is Barcelona Partnership..15 sary of UB’s landmark exchange agree- now President of Capital Normal Univer- ment with BJUT, which was the first es- sity—also a partner of UB for the past three Humphrey Fellows......16 tablished between a U.S. and a Chinese decades. university following the normalization of Simpson’s address focused on UB’s ef- U.S. relations with China in 1979. forts through UB 2020 to spur economic de- International Activities The focus of the forum, to which the of Faculty & Staff..........18 velopment in Western New York through presidents of BJUT’s major international investment in cutting-edge research and partners were invited, was “Universities’ technology-transfer as a spur to entrepre- Directory........................27 Role in Serving Regional Economic Devel- neurship, small business development, and opment and Educating High-Quality and job-creation. He explained the role of pub- UB INTERNATIONAL Innovative Students in a Globalized lic research universities in the United States Visit the Office of International World.” and the historic roots of that mission in the Education website at: Simpson, who had pride of place Land Grant tradition. http://www.buffalo.edu/intled continued on page 2 21294rev.pmd 1 12/17/2010, 4:00 PM OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO 2 UB ALUMNUS NAMED PRIME MINISTER OF SOMALIA ohamed A. Moha- Niagara University. med, who earned A failed state since the over- Mhis bachelor’s and throw of the last legitimate master’s degrees from UB, government in 1991, Somalia was recently appointed Prime has become one of the most Minister of Somalia. intractable humanitarian di- A native of Somalia who sasters of recent times. settled in Buffalo more than Mohamed’s government two decades ago, Mohamed faces immense challenges in was appointed in October seeking to restore civil order SOMALIA 2010 by the country’s presi- to the country. dent, Sheikh Sharif Sheik Mohamed first came to the OF Ahmed. U.S. in the late 1980s to work According to a report in in the Somali Embassy in The Buffalo News, the presi- Washington. When the gov- dent invited Mohamed to visit ernment was overthrown in him in New York City in Sep- 1991, he sought asylum in the tember when Ahmed was U.S. and eventually became giving a speech at the United an American citizen. MINISTER Nations. At that time, they dis- After resettling in Buffalo, cussed Mohamed’s ideas he earned his bachelor’s de- about how the expatriate Somali community could assist gree in history from UB in 1993, and entered public ser- their homeland. To his surprise, Mohamed was also asked vice, working for both city and county government lo- PRIME to advise the president on possible candidates for prime cally—first at the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority and minister. When Mohamed was asked to send in his own later as minority business coordinator for Erie County. resume, he was shocked; in the end, he was Sheikh Since 2002, Mohamed has been with the New York 2 Ahmed’s choice. State Department of Transportation. He, his wife Zeinab Soon after learning that the president wanted him to and their four children make their home on Grand Is- be prime minister, Mohamed departed Buffalo for land. Mogadishu, where he has been busy setting up a cabinet Returning to UB several years ago, Mohamed earned that includes another Somali native who resettled in West- his master’s degree in American Studies in 2009. His the- ern New York—Abdiweli M. Ali, who graduated from sis is titled, "U.S. Strategic Interest in Somalia: From Cold Harvard and is an associate professor of economics at War Era to War on Terror." LAST TRIP continued from page 1 The topic is currently one of great interest to the leaders of Chinese universities, which are in a process of rede- fining their role in the emergent China of the 21st cen- tury. In particular, scientific and technical institutions like BJUT see themselves, like UB, as engines for innovation and economic development in their cities and regions. The day after the forum, President Simpson; Professor Stephen C. Dunnett, Vice Provost for International Educa- tion; and Joseph J. Hindrawan, Associate Vice Provost, met with President Guo and other senior leaders at BJUT to present a plaque honoring the 30 years of friendship and cooperation between UB and BJUT, and to discuss future cooperation. 21294.pmd 2 12/14/2010, 2:09 PM OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO UB MOVES UP TO 12TH PLACE IN OPEN DOORS RANKING 3 By Patricia Donovan “They appreciate what UB can offer: distinguished faculty and superb teaching, outstanding academic pro- B, long a leader among major American research grams and cutting-edge research opportunities. UB’s rela- universities in the percentage of international stu- tively low costs compared to other U.S. research universi- Udents enrolled, ranked 12th among the top 25 U.S. ties make it an excellent value for international students, campuses hosting international students in 2009-10, up who are largely self-funded,” he said. DOORS from 2008-09, when it ranked 17th. “Moreover, they recognize that UB provides interna- Among New York State institutions of higher educa- tional student services and support that are second to tion, last year only New York University and Columbia Uni- none. The entire university community has a role in mak- ing UB such a welcoming and OPEN supportive place for our interna- IN tional students,” Dunnett said. The IIE report 12TH covers international education activities during a period of economic downturn RANKS in the United States and in UB many countries around the world, which may be why the 3 number of international students at colleges and universities in the U.S. increased versity enrolled more international students than UB. by only 1.5 percent last year (after increases of 8.3, 10.0, The data comes from the “Open Doors 2010” report 10.1 and 15.8 percent from 2005-06 to 2008-09, respec- issued Nov. 15, 2010 by the Institute of International Edu- tively). cation (IIE). The report lists UB’s 2009-10 international stu- Nevertheless, the IIE says even that small increase rep- dent enrollment at 4,911 or 17 percent of its total student resents a record high enrollment of 690,923 international enrollment of 28,881. In the 2008-09 academic year, UB’s students in U.S. institutions in 2009-10. international enrollment constituted 16 percent of total In all, the report indicates that international students enrollment. contribute more than $20 billion to the U.S economy UB has been very successful in increasing international through their expenditures on tuition and living expenses, enrollment since launching its international recruitment and that higher education is among the United States’ effort in 1995, as the graph above illustrates. For example, top services sector exports. international undergraduate enrollment has increased New York ranks second among the states in the num- five-fold in the past fifteen years. ber of international students enrolled — a total of 76,146 The economic benefit of international students to West- this year — and realized a state economic benefit of ern New York this year was $92.5 million as of September, $2.296 billion, $92.5 million of which, as noted above, according to a report by NAFSA: Association of Interna- directly benefited Western New York. tional Educators. The Open Doors data reveals a complicated picture of “I am delighted that UB continues to be such an at- international student enrollment in U.S. colleges and uni- tractive destination for international students from around versities, with enrollment patterns varying widely accord- the world,” said Stephen C. Dunnett, vice provost for in- ing to place of origin and academic level. ternational education at UB. For instance, there were strong increases in the num- continued on page 4 21294.pmd 3 12/14/2010, 2:09 PM OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO 4 SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK ESTABLISHES JOINT RESEARCH CENTER WITH AMRITA UNIVERSITY n recognition of existing collaborations between the management, community development, mental health University at Buffalo (UB) and Amrita University, the UB and alcohol abuse.

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