Faculty & Staff | UW-Madison Division of International Studies

Soffa Lecture to feature South Africa’s ‘state conscience’

April 05, 2012 Division of International Studies No comments

South Africa’s Public Protector is among several state institutions supporting the democracy established under the country’s celebrated Constitution, which gives equal value to all human rights, including social and economic rights and ethical governance.

Thulisile Madonsela, the Public Protector of South Africa, is scheduled to deliver this year’s J. Jobe Soffa and Marguerite Jacqmin Soffa Distinguished Keynote Lecture. This event, which is free and open to the public, will be held Friday, April 13, at 4:00 p.m., in the On Wisconsin Room, Red Gym, 716 Langdon Street, Madison.

In her lecture, titled “Righting State Wrongs: Enforcing the South African Constitution through the office of the Public Protector,” Madonsela will touch on the enabling constitutional and legal framework, key milestones and impact on public accountability in the last few years and future prospects for this institution.

UW office in Shanghai seen as innovative, connecting

March 20, 2012 Division of International Studies No comments

Interim Chancellor David Ward described the launch of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Innovation Office in Shanghai as the start of a “China-Plus Initiative”—a unique presence for promoting and facilitating UW engagement across East Asia.

“This is envisioned as part of the Educational Innovation initiative,” Ward said, referring to the current campus-wide effort to promote reforms in academic structures, policies and programs.

The chancellor spoke March 14 at the start of a gathering to inform faculty and staff about plans for the UW’s first overseas outpost, which is scheduled to open in June. About 100 people, representing 60 units, attended the event, where they were invited to consider how this office can serve units from across campus.

The Shanghai office builds upon the university’s long history of ties with China and will serve multiple purposes in deepening UW engagement there, Ward said.

He viewed it as “a way of connecting knowledge spheres,” such as the UW and Chinese universities, companies in Wisconsin and China, the University Research Park in Madison and Zizhu Science Park in Shanghai (where the UW office will be located).

“And out of that comes a better understanding of issues like technology transfer,” he said.

‘Seed funding’ available to support international collaborations

February 02, 2012 Division of International Studies No comments

A competition for seed funding grants to support new areas of international collaboration between University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers and researchers affiliated with the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) has been announced by the Division of International Studies, with support from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and the Graduate School.

Projects are to begin on or after May 1, 2012 and to be completed by December 31, 2012.

The Worldwide Universities Network is an international alliance of leading higher education institutions. WUN builds on its partners’ commitment to quality and innovation in research and teaching by developing collaborations in interdisciplinary areas of global significance.

Workshop to help teachers make a stronger case for French language

December 15, 2011 Division of International Studies No comments

They teach what Bloomberg Rankings has identified as the third-most-important business language in the world, after English and Mandarin. Yet, as budgets for public education continue to tighten, teachers of French are struggling to keep their programs off the chopping block in Wisconsin and across the United States.

An upcoming workshop at the University of Wisconsin–Madison aims to bring teachers of French in Wisconsin together to talk about these challenges and prepare them to be more effective advocates for French instruction.

While pointing out that Spanish remains the most popular world language taught in U.S. schools, the Bloomberg Rankings rates French a couple of notches higher in importance for business, according to a report published August 30, 2011. The measures used to calculate the business importance of a language included number of speakers, number of countries using it officially, “financial power” and education and literacy rates.

“French continues to be an important language in international business and communication, diplomacy, scientific discovery and achievement,” says Gilles Bousquet, dean of the UW–Madison Division of International Studies, vice provost for globalization, and Pickard-Bascom Professor of French.

UW-Madison delegation finds optimism and opportunities in Asia

November 28, 2011 Division of International Studies No comments

“Cautious optimism” is the economic outlook from Asia, according to a survey conducted at MIPIM Asia last week by the Wisconsin School of Business in cooperation with HKUST Business School.

“The strong sense of optimism that we’ve seen in the last two years in Asia has been justified,” says François Ortalo-Magné, Albert O. Nicholas Dean of Wisconsin School of Business. Ortalo-Magné presented the survey findings at the annual real estate and investment conference in Hong Kong, which is attended by 1,800 senior real estate executives, retailers, government officials and city administrators from 41 countries. This is the third annual investor survey he has led at this conference.

An obvious reflection of this optimism is the fact that more than half of the participants surveyed at the conference reported improved or at least the same level of business activity in the current quarter compared to the same quarter last year.

“China is the unavoidable market because of the scale and the performance of the economy,” says Ortalo-Magné.

Ortalo-Magné’s visit is part of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s broader efforts at deepening relationships with government, business and education leaders in China. He accompanied Gilles Bousquet, dean of the Division of International Studies and vice provost for globalization, and Laurie Dennis, associate director of the Wisconsin China Initiative (WCI), to meetings in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

INT'L@UW

Category Archives: Faculty & Staff

Soffa Lecture to feature South Africa’s ‘state conscience’

UW office in Shanghai seen as innovative, connecting

‘Seed funding’ available to support international collaborations

Workshop to help teachers make a stronger case for French language

UW-Madison delegation finds optimism and opportunities in Asia

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