Spring Break
Goldfarb tours Asia, helps recruit international students
Makoto Yamagishi
Issue date: 3/28/07 Section: News
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The nine-day tour visiting five cities was planned to facilitate a stronger relationship between the university and its international alumni as well as the relationship between Western and several Asian universities. The Western delegates worked to recruit and exchange even more international students between Western and these universities.
Alumni Programs Director Amy Spelman, Interim Director of Western's Center for International Studies Murali Venugopalan, Associate Dean of the College of Business and Technology Larry Wall and former Western recreation, park and tourism administration faculty member Hyung "Hunter" Cho accompanied Goldfarb on the trip.
Cho is now the president and CEO of Amthink Consulting Inc. in Seoul, Korea.
Goldfarb, who cancelled the original Asia tour planned for November 2006 due to his medical leave of absence, said he enjoyed meeting Western alumni who have already commenced their respective careers in their own countries.
"It's been wonderful," Goldfarb said. "It was interesting to see students who went to Western at different times during the past years."
He also said it is very difficult to develop the internationalization of campus without the presence of Western alumni who reside not only in three Asian countries but worldwide.
Spelman said she had been looking forward to seeing what had become of Western alumni with degrees and also expressed her joy to meet American Western alumni who now work in Asia.
"We knew that we had alumni who live in Asia and we just made a commitment to be here," Spelman said. "It's nice to see how happy (they) all are."
One Western alumnus Spelman encountered was a U.S. native living in Korea. Spelman said the man so enjoyed living and working there that he was planning to extend his stay.
Spelman also said she felt sure that it is these alumni and present students who create Western's legacy.
"Their experiences in Western make (them) who they are today," she said. "But they have to realize that Western is what it is (because of) students like them."
Venugopalan explained Western has had an increase of students in study abroad programs for the past few years.
"We encourage our students to study in other countries," Venugopalan said. "The Center of International Studies will work closely with the Alumni House for international students and alumni to increase the recruitment efforts to internationalize the campus.
"We need to work a lot more on further impact on the communication with Western in Seoul, Taipei and Osaka. It's a very important part of the overall internationalization," he added.
Geoffrey E. Olson, junior geography major currently in Japan for a study abroad program at Kansai Gandai University in Osaka, said he wants to travel around Japan until he is supposed to return to the U.S. in May.
Olson also said he was honored to receive Western representatives for the first time in Japan.
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