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Wesleyan officials expand a simple foreign exchange student program
into a network of international relationships.
July, 2007
When Wesleyan College and Ulyanovsk State University’s Student Exchange Program began in 1999, few realized the program had the potential to become a model of excellence for ambassadorship and global community leadership. But unexpectedly, the participants of the program became completely inspired by the cultural exchange of ideas. As a result, a simple foreign exchange program has grown into a network of international relationships. Those involved claim the momentum has only just begun.
To date, almost 200 individuals have participated in the exchange relationship, from students and scholars to diplomats, business and community leaders, children and artists. In addition to the layered cross-cultural exchange of business ideas that has developed outside the classroom, the program has evolved into a greater mission of community outreach that has benefited hundreds of children internationally. And, on the side, an official relationship of sisterhood between the two cities of Macon and Ulyanovsk will expand the program’s exchange even further.
Wesleyan’s relationship with Ulyanovsk State University (USU) was established in June of 1999 as a five-year agreement, but has already been renewed by Wesleyan’s President Ruth Knox for another five years. Under the exchange program, USU sends two rising-senior business students to Wesleyan for undergraduate degree completion each year. After an additional year at USU, the students also earn a degree from USU. With an American BA and a Russian degree in world economy, they are extremely well prepared for a successful career in international business. In exchange, each year Wesleyan normally sends a cohort of EMBA students to Russia for an intensive two-week immersion program in Moscow and the Ulyanovsk region.
“Russia, as a country in transition from a planned economy to a market economy, is an important country for graduate students to visit. Wesleyan is very fortunate to enjoy a strong partnership with Ulyanovsk State University,” said Dr. Phil Taylor director of graduate business programs. As a result of the well-developed ties with USU’s administration, as well as city officials and regional governments, Wesleyan students have been able to visit major business firms in the Ulyanovsk region. Touring international facilities offers the EMBA graduate students opportunities to focus on the growing trend of a global economy.
From Business Concepts to Community Outreach. Thinking globally quickly developed into acting globally. While accompanying EMBA students to Russia, Vice President Farr saw an opportunity to combine his involvement as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Georgia Industrial Children’s Home (GICH) with the relationship building and educational exchange occurring among our students traveling to Russia.
“The mother of one of our former Russian exchange students, Liubov Lazareva, is a teacher at the Alexander Matrosov orphanage. She invited me to tour their facility during our 2004 trip. Impressed by the experience, I wanted to help develop programs that could cross cultures and benefit more Russian and American children, “ said Farr. “My roles with Wesleyan and the GICH complement one another given Wesleyan’s emphasis on community engagement and service. Our students are great supporters of the children’s home and often volunteer their time, talent and money.”
When planning the 2005 EMBA trip to Russia, Farr and Taylor included the GICH Executive Director, CFO, and trustee chair of the Program Committee. “Since the 2005 trip, the Georgia Industrial Children’s Home, with the assistance of Wesleyan College and Ulyanovsk State University, began a new aspect of outreach,” said GICH Executive Director Brian Evans. “We worked out programs that would serve children on both sides of the ocean through joint training, staff exchanges, and the development of an art sales program that will bring profits directly to the children who create the art. While we were in Ulyanovsk, we saw many opportunities to learn from one another.”
In June 2006, a return trip comprised solely of children's home administrators and business leaders throughout the Southeast, brought others into the exchange. Retired audiologist Ken Pollard of Pollard Professional Hearing Services in Macon, for example, joined this delegation as a representative of an international aid community. His hearing services company sent equipment to test and fit children for hearing aids.
The 2006 trip also featured an international symposium sponsored with the Central Administrative Board for Education in Ulyanovsk on childcare from the American and Russian perspectives. In addition to participating in the symposium, delegation members toured close to a dozen orphanages and met with business and government officials to further discuss and act upon helping our children in need.
In June 2007, Pollard and his wife Mary returned to Russia with the Wesleyan EMBA Cohort. While visiting orphanages in the Ulyanovsk region, the Pollards donated over 100 custom fitted hearing aid ear pieces. Representatives from the Georgia Industrial Children's Home secured more Russian orphanage artwork and are organizing a large regional fundraiser to assist Russian and American children in need. Through meetings with the governor, mayor and Ministry of Education, plans were finalized for an official of the Ministry of Education to visit Macon this September to learn more about the American system of children's homes and help establish a foreign language and cultural program for Russian children adopted by Central Georgia families.
From Outreach to Foreign Diplomacy. Aside from the growing network of leaders involved in the community outreach, Wesleyan’s foreign exchange program has inspired foreign trade and business opportunities between the regions of Ulyanovsk and Central Georgia.
Russian business leaders are capitalizing on the opportunity to learn from American business models. In November 2003, Wesleyan invited USU trustees to participate in a Wesleyan College trustee meeting. They accepted and have since incorporated some of Wesleyan’s governance committee concepts at USU. In 2005, the US Embassy in Moscow hosted a special symposium for Russian universities and invited USU to give a presentation on their relationship with Wesleyan. By showcasing this relationship and how it had grown to incorporate a number of different events and programs, the embassy hoped that it would serve as a model for other universities throughout Russia. Additionally, Wesleyan’s interest in the Russian region opened the door to other opportunities where cultural experiences could be shared.
During the 2004 EMBA Cohort trip, at the request of Macon’s International Cherry Blossom Festival officials, Wesleyan invited Russia to be a featured country for the 2005 festival. They accepted and sent two-dozen representatives including their Deputy Mayor, USU president and trustees, plus musicians and dancers who performed during the festival. One Russian trustee videotaped his experience at the festival for broadcast back home. The First Secretary of the Russian Embassy traveled from Washington, DC, to join the governmental leaders during the festival and praised the organizers of such cultural programs that bring people together. As the two colleges anticipated, the cultural exchange fosters a healthy environment for foreign diplomacy.
In April 2006, Macon City Council extended an invitation to the City of Ulyanovsk to become Macon’s newest Sister City. The decision represented the culmination of five years of meetings and discussions spearheaded by Wesleyan College and the beginning of endless possibilities for cross-cultural exchange of diplomacy, as well as economic and cultural educational opportunities.
Wright Tilley, President & CEO International Cherry Blossom Festival, and Janice and Lowell Register, Chair of the Board of Trustees International Cherry Blossom Festival, traveled to Russia with the Wesleyan EMBA students during June 2007. During this visit, the Cherry Blossom Festival extended an invitation to government officials in our sister city, Ulyanovsk, for Russia to be a featured country in the 2008 Cherry Blossom Festival.
USU President Yuri Polyanskov said of the successful relationship, "I am very grateful to Wesleyan senior administrators, including President Knox, Vice-President Farr and Chairman of the Board of Trustees Tom Bass for offering our students the unique opportunity of completing their BBA degrees at the college. For all our exchange participants, exposure to a different academic culture and work ethic becomes a truly formative experience, which forever changes their way of thinking. These young people get the best of two worlds and hopefully will be twice more capable of meeting global challenges. It is with pride and admiration that I have watched our relationship with Wesleyan College steadily progress from simple academic exchange to major community involvement, which is consistent with our vision of the university as a facilitator of communication and agent of change."
The trend of a global economy, within the context of a Wesleyan educational experience, includes networking in its most dynamic capacities. Global economy translates to global community, and students clearly recognize that partnerships grounded in this philosophy just make good business sense. |
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