Next week Mississippi State University will host events and activities celebrating cultures from across the globe as part of International Education Week.
This weeklong celebration will expose students to several aspects of different cultures through music, movies, poetry, sports, political views, food and opportunities to study abroad.
“This event will allow people from the United States to see what else is out there and to learn more about other cultures outside of our own little world,” said Molly Watkins, interim manager of the English as a Second Language Center.
This year is Philip Bonfanti’s first year to be the director of the International Services office. He said that with over 700 international students representing 70 countries from across the globe, International Education Week will teach everyone something about different cultures.
“We wanted to do something to bring attention to international cultures and celebrate the MSU global community,” Bonfanti said.
The week’s events will begin with a 30-minute radio show on WMSV featuring interviews with international students and music from their countries Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m.
“There will be two or three international students on the show answering questions about their experiences in the United States and they will be playing music from their home countries,” Watkins said.
Other musical events in International Education Week include performances by international bands in the Dawg House Coffee Shoppe, said Kelly Nesbit, assistant director for the Colvard Student Union and Campus Activities Board.
Mr. Buddy, a Caribbean band partially made up of faculty members, will play Reggae music Tuesday at 7 p.m., while the Bombay Boys, an Indian band made up of students will play traditional and contemporary Indian music at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
In addition to music, students can watch international movies Tuesday at 8 p.m. in
The Dawg House, and in The Union Small Auditorium at 8 p.m Thursday.
“We will show a Chinese movie called ‘Lover’s Grief over Yellow River’ on Thursday night,” Bonfanti said. “It is about an American soldier who falls in love with a Chinese woman during the war, so it’s kind of a love story.”
Tuesday night’s movie will be a French film, Bonfanti said.
Another piece of international cultures for students to learn about is sports. Students who grew up watching America’s pastime-baseball and American football may not be familiar with cricket, aside from seeing international students playing it on the Drill Field in the afternoons. Those who are interested in learning about the sport can do so through the cricket clinic on the Drill Field Monday at 3 p.m. from the MSU Cricket Club, Bonfanti said.
“The Cricket Club will be demonstrating and teaching the sport to anyone who wants to learn it,” Bonfanti said.
To celebrate International Education Week, CAB is hosting Football 101 for international students to attend before the game begins, Colvard Union Assistant Director Kelly Nesbit said.
“We are hosting Football 101 to teach international students about American football before our normal Monday Night Football begins to help them understand what’s going on,” Nesbit said.
In The Union Small Auditorium on Wednesday at 3 p.m., Rick Travis, a professor in the political science department, will moderate a roundtable discussion over international views on U.S. foreign policy.
“The event will focus on U.S. foreign policy from the tive of people on the outside,” Travis said. “It will give us a chance to see how others feel about the United States’ current foreign policy.”
The discussion panel will consist of five or six international students, graduate students, or faculty members. They will receive a series of questions to discuss and answer for the audience, Travis said.
“I think that certainly as Americans we don’t understand how others perceive us,” Travis said. “This is an opportunity for citizens of the U.S. to see how others see the United States, because ultimately it doesn’t matter what we think about our foreign policy, it’s how they see it.”
Bonfanti said he also believes that this event will provide insight to Americans.
“When 9/11 happened one of the first things many people thought was ‘Why do they hate us so much?'” Bonfanti said. “This discussion will hopefully enlighten some Americans and help them see why others feel this way toward the United States.”
Also on Wednesday, CAB has taken another of their regular activities and put an international spin on it with their regular poetry night, co-sponsored by Iota Phi Theta.
“We asked that people bring international poems this time, either by an international poet or dealing with other cultures and international themes,” Nesbit said.
Nesbit said CAB decided to co-sponsor the International Education Week and to incorporate their regular activities into the event to get their normal crowds involved.
“Since most of our activities are geared more toward the mainstream audience, we wanted to bring international students into that and integrate their cultures into the mainstream also,” Nesbit said. “It’s also an opportunity to get our regular crowd to step outside of their comfort zone and see what else is out there.”
International Poetry Night will begin at 8 p.m. in the Dawg House.
Several informative presentations about other cultures will be held throughout the week. These include human sciences associate professor Phyllis Miller’s presentation on “Body Decorations from Around the World” in the Union at noon Wednesday, followed by a presentation from counseling psychologist Beatrice Tatem over “Dealing with Culture Shock” at 3 p.m.
Other presentations focus on getting students to experience other cultures first-hand through the various study-abroad programs offered.
Tuesday at 3 p.m. representatives from the different programs including the National Student Exchange, the International Study Abroad, the College Consortium for Study Abroad, the International Business Academic Program Internship and the Global Engineering Education Exchange will be available to answer questions about opportunities to study abroad in the Mitchell Memorial Library Auditorium.
After the presentations on study abroad opportunities, Watkins will host a presentation over opportunities with the U.S. Peace Corps, and Wanda Dodson, a human sciences professor, host a presentation on Fulbright opportunities.
Perry Cafeteria will also help celebrate the week by having international maroon plates, featuring cuisines from a different country each day, Bonfanti said.
Bonfanti said he believes that there are three major benefits to having an event like this.
“It’s an opportunity for American students to meet the international students and learn about their cultures,” Bonfanti said. “The event will also draw attention to opportunities for students to go to other countries and encourage them to, and it will also draw attention to the fact that international education and exchange is an important foreign policy tool. Through learning about and understanding other cultures, we can prevent stereotypes and prejudices and even wars.”
Watkins said she hopes to see many students taking advantage of the opportunities available through International Education Week.
“This is the first year that MSU has celebrated International Education Week,” Watkins said. “It’s very exciting that they are doing so many things. I only hope that enough students will take advantage of it.”
The sponsors for this weeklong event are the International Services Office, the English as a Second Language Center, the Department of Foreign Languages, the Student Association, the Office of the Provost, the Department of Political Science, the World Neighbor’s Association, and the Campus Activities Board.
More information about International Education Week is available on the Internet at www.iso.msstate.edu/iew.