UW-Madison Division of International Studies

1979 Delegations to China have Enduring Impact

Among the hundreds of new graduate students who arrived on campus for the start of the fall 2011 semester, Zhao Jingzhou of Shanghai could claim a unique connection to a special moment Read more.

Chinese Champions Visit Cranberry and Ginseng Growers

A group of world-class Chinese athletes accustomed to competing on the international stage got a close look at two international stars of Wisconsin agriculture—cranberries and ginseng. The student-athletes in the Chinese Champions Read more.

[UW News] Sociologist Celebrates 50 Years of Teaching at UW-Madison

UW-News — September 27, 2011 By Stacy Forster On a research trip to India several years ago, UW–Madison sociology professor Gay Seidman was eavesdropping on other visiting faculty sharing their struggles to Read more.

International Studies Annual Advisory Board Meets in 2011

Several students reported on their recent international internships and other global experiences at the International Studies Advisory Board meeting at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on September 23, 2011. View photo gallery for Read more.

Plexus Corporation Internship Opportunity: International Engineer for Summer 2012

The UW-Madison International Internships Program is pleased to post an opportunity through the Plexus Corporation, open to UW-Madison students. The Plexus Corporation is searching for one International Engineering Intern for Summer 2012 Read more.

Five at UW–Madison awarded WUN Seed Grants

April 25, 2012 Division of International Studies No comments

Five projects at UW–Madison have been awarded Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) Seed Grants, funded through the Division of International Studies, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), and the Graduate School.

“Seed Funding” Project Development Grants are designed to support faculty and academic staff who seek to establish new research linkages via exchanges and jointly sponsored workshops and conferences. Projects must focus on one of the four core WUN research areas (Global Challenges):

Adapting to Climate Change
Understanding Cultures
Global Health – (Public Health – non-communicable disease)
Globalization of Higher Education and Research

Expert on Cuba and Brazil to speak in Madison

April 24, 2012 Division of International Studies No comments

Cuba is reforming and establishing close ties with Brazil and China. At the same time, Cuba is facing economic and political changes.

“Fifty years after the United States enacted an embargo on all trade and commercial transactions, relations between the two countries remain frozen, even as Raul Castro has been moving in the direction of the kind of reforms that every administration over the last 50 years has called upon Cuba to make,” says Dr. Julia Sweig, a leading expert on Cuba and Brazil.

Sweig, the Nelson and David Rockefeller senior fellow and director for Latin American Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), will address how these developments might influence the United States’ relationship with Cuba in her talk, “Cuba Today: Domestic Developments and Foreign Policy,” on Wednesday, May 2, at the Edgewater Hotel in Madison.

She also directs CFR’s Global Brazil Initiative and Cuba in the Twenty-First Century Program.

This program is co-sponsored by the Madison Committee on Foreign Relations (MCFR), Madison-Camaguey Sister City Association and Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Bousquet appointed interim UW-Eau Claire chancellor

April 19, 2012 Division of International Studies No comments

University of Wisconsin System President Kevin P. Reilly announced Wednesday that Gilles Bousquet has agreed to serve as the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Interim Chancellor following the departure of Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich next month.

Levin-Stankevich announced on March 27 that he will leave Wisconsin to become President of Westminster College in Utah. May 1 will be his final day as Chancellor, with UW-Eau Claire Provost and Vice Chancellor Patricia Klein serving as officer-in-charge until Bousquet’s appointment begins on July 15.

In addition to serving as Dean of UW-Madison’s Division of International Studies and Vice-Provost for Globalization, Bousquet is Director of the International Institute, Special Assistant to the Chancellor for International Engagement, and the Pickard-Bascom Professor of French.

After consulting with leaders of the Board of Regents and members of the UW-Eau Claire campus community, Reilly identified Bousquet as the person to provide effective leadership for UW-Eau Claire while a search is launched for Levin-Stankevich’s successor. The full Board of Regents will meet on Friday to approve the terms of Bousquet’s interim appointment.

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.

INT'L@UW