Credit: The Wall Street Journal, By Maya Goldman

Yulissa Garcia-Serrato and her classmates were supposed to meet the former Croatian president during their study abroad trip to the Balkan country this summer. But after the Covid-19 pandemic caused the program to switch from in-person to an online learning environment, the University of Oregon senior feared her virtual travels wouldn’t amount to much of a trip.

Until the day that former Croatian President Ivo Josipović, who is also a composer, showed up on the virtual study abroad Zoom class.

On September 18, the University of Oregon will host a daylong virtual workshop for approximately 60 study abroad advisors on best practices in supporting candidates for two prestigious U.S. Department of State programs, the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program and the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program. This workshop is part of the State Department’s continuing efforts to increase and diversify the institutions and students participating in both the Gilman and CLS programs.

Dear University of Oregon International Students,

As the UO shifts to primarily remote and online instruction for fall 2020, we want to make sure you remain fully connected to all of our services and supports for you, our international community.

First and foremost, let me update you on the rules on remote/online enrollment for international students.

Published in Around the O. 

Five UO students have earned Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarships to study abroad this fall term.

Gilman Scholars receive up to $5,000 to apply towards their study abroad or internship program costs with additional funding available for the study of a critical language overseas. 

Published in Around the O. 

A significant gift from Aisha Almana, a UO graduate, hospital executive and prominent feminist, will create new international opportunities in education and global health at the University of Oregon.

Published in Around the O.

UO faculty members who conduct research and other activities across international lines now have a new website to help them follow federal regulations that govern the transfer of items and information.

Published in Around the O.

Fresh water was hard to find, but where it emerged on Easter Island in the South Pacific was an important factor for where Polynesians built their monuments, according to new research led by University of Oregon doctoral student Robert DiNapoli.

Published in Around the O. 

In 2017, David Koch was volunteering as an exhibition designer for the United Nations when the organization posted an opening for a museum curator in Ethiopia. Koch had never worked in a museum, held no curatorial degrees, and didn’t live in Ethiopia, but his reaction to the advertisement illustrates his approach to most things in life. He went for it.

Published in Around the O.

A little bird led Swedish-born Martin Stervander to the University of Oregon, but his journey wasn’t a direct flight.

As a doctoral student at Lund University he studied the genetics of a bird species that only lives on Inaccessible Island, a tiny patch of volcano-produced land in the Atlantic Ocean between South America and Africa.

Published in Around the O. 

A summer trip to France gave 20 UO students a chance to learn a little more about art — and a lot more about themselves and others.

It was kind of a mixed-media group: some were art majors but others study business, math or social sciences. Some were current or former student-athletes; others were not. But together they immersed themselves in the challenges of representing place, identity and race through art.