Editorial Note: This article first appeared in the Register Guard on Sunday, November 23.

Business students from China studying at the University of Oregon are transplanting old-fashioned Eugene do-gooderism back to the motherland.

For a fifth year, the UO-based Chinese Philanthropic Leadership Association is doing fundraising events — bake sales, flea markets, an annual “The Voice”-style singing contest — to pay for a summer project in China.

UO Japanese language students got a surprise visit in class from Consul General of Japan in Portland, Hiroshi Furusawa.

In December 2013, Consul Furusawa decided to honor all schools in Oregon that maintain a Japanese language program, to express his appreciation for efforts to better the relationship between Japan and the United States.

The acknowledgement is particularly important for Oregon, which has the second-highest percentage of people studying Japanese of any state in the country (only Hawaii is higher). 

The industry-leading Design Intelligence report by the Design Futures Council has ranked UO School of Architecture as the nation’s best for sustainable design practices and principles.

The UO outranked the University of California, Berkeley, MIT and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

In an opinion piece published by the Register Guard, Vice Provost for International Affairs Dennis Galvan addressed recent commentary on the current Ebola crisis in West Africa, while making a case for cultural sensitivity and the value of study abroad.

World Bank President Jim Kim briefly describes the progress in Afghanistan over the past 10 years, and how people (including UO international studies graduate student, Najla Sabri) are grateful for the opportunities which allows for a positive future for the girls and women of this country.

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/video/2013/03/14/jim-kim-visits-afghanistan

AHA's Sam Bethal and Lisa Calevi visited the headquarters of Idealist.org in Portland, where PDX Abroad had gathered 26 higher education professionals from Oregon and Washington to hold a Generation Study Abroad Think Tank.

The group was challenged with the question of "What will it take to double study abroad?"

The University of Oregon and its Department of Political Science are hosting the inaugural Globalization, Gender and Development Conference, October 23-24. The event will feature several multidisciplinary experts addressing modern issues of gender and development.

The conference was created by UO Professor Erin Beck and Professor Emerita Jane Jaquette from Occidental College. Both scholars noticed amazing and inspiring research related to gender taking place at the University of Oregon and thought of a way to bring UO's experts together with those from across the country.

Education New Zealand and the University of Otago have recently announced study abroad scholarships for the 2015 year.

Scholarships are offered as part of New Zealand’s Generation Abroad initiative.

Lori O'Hollaren, Associate Director of the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies (CAPS) has been named new Associate Director of the Global Studies Institute (GSI).

O'Hollaren will be holding a shared appointment with 70% of her time devoted to her new role within GSI, and the remainder of her time serving as associate director for CAPS.