INTERNATIONAL FACTS
Old Dominion International Facts presents some special dimensions of the University's international engagement that we hope will be of general interest. We welcome submissions!
Afghani Women Call ODU Home
Khatera Alizada and Saghar Baqueri, Afghan women, receive their education at ODU facilitated by the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women.
Nuclear Medicine Technology Grad, First in Her Country
In May 2006, Aishah Alboloushi became the first Kuwaiti citizen to earn a bachelor of science degree in nuclear medicine technology.
Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar Team
In 2006, international students Stan Guerrero (Golf), and Henrique Cancado (Men's Tennis) were selected to the 13th annual Arthur Ashe, Jr., Sports Scholar teams as announced by Diverse Education.com. Stan Guerrero (Tijuana, Mexico) recorded three top 20 performances this year. He took tenth at the Joe Agee tournament, 17th at the ODU/Seascape and 19th at Wofford this season. Guerrero carries a 3.63 grade point average in finance. Henrique Cancado (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) earned second team All-CAA honors both in singles and doubles. The junior has a 25-9 singles record and 20-9 doubles mark, and helped lead ODU to the CAA Championship match and a school record of 23-9 along with a top 50 national ranking. Cancado carries a 3.60 grade point average in information technology.
Club of Rome
In October 2005, the Club of Rome held their annual meeting at Old Dominion University. The Club of Rome is a global think tank based in Hamburg, Germany. President of the Club of Rome Prince El Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan was awarded an honorary degree. ODU President Rosann Runte is a member of the Club of Rome.
WorldQuest Champions
An ODU faculty team has won the WorldQuest global knowledge competition for seven consecutive years (2000-2006). The competition, held during International Education Week, is part of an annual program sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Greater Hampton Roads. Participants include regional academic institutions, law offices, media outlets and others with interests in world affairs. Competition is also held at the high school level, with the winner going on to a national competition each March in Washington, DC.
Old Dominion University Opens Doors
According to the Open Doors 2005 Report for 2004-2005 published by the Institute for International Education (IIE), ODU is ranked fourth among Virginia four-year institutions with more than 1,000 international students enrolled.
Best Book on Indian Cinema 2004
Roopa Swaminathan, current graduate student in Creative Writing from India, is the recipient of the Best Book on Cinema for 2004 at the 52nd National Film Awards. Swaminathan's book published by Penguin Books India is entitled "Star Dust: Vignettes from the Fringes of the Film Industry.
Facilitating Education in Kenya
In the Fall of 2005, Angelia Sanders and Leslie Harlson, both graduate students in international studies, organized a campaign to raise money for school uniforms for Kenyan students. With the aid of the campus community, Sanders and Harlson raised $1800.00, providing uniforms and school lunches for more than 150 Kenyan children.
International Internships for ODU Students
The International Career Advantage Program (ICAP) was set up in 2000 jointly by the Career Management Center and the Office of Study Abroad to assist ODU students with finding international internships. For more information, contact Tom Wunderlich, Executive Director, Career Management Center, at 683-4388 or twunderl@odu.edu.
Global Business in Hampton Roads
There are currently 169 international companies representing 25 countries in the Hampton Roads region that employ about 18,200 people. Countries with the leading number of firms are Germany (31), Japan (31), United Kingdom (17), France (13), Netherlands (12), Canada (9) and Sweden (7). About 92% of the companies are from Europe (69%) and Asia (23%). Over 80% of the companies are located in Chesapeake (40%), Newport News (18%), Virginia Beach (14%) and Norfolk (12%) and seventeen firms have established their U.S. or regional headquarters in Hampton Roads. In 2003, international firms accounted for 10% of both new and expanding companies in Southside Hampton Roads. (Source: Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance, International Firm Directory 2004, updated 4/22/2004, and the 2003 Economic Activity Reports)
College of Arts & Letters Mission
In its mission statement, the College of Arts and Letters stress the importance of "fostering global awareness and sensitivity to the breadth and diversity of the human condition." Accordingly, the college has made the international dimension a central character of its education and research programs. (www.odu.edu/al/do/alglobal/index)
ODU Alumna Marianthi Koukouvinou
ODU alumna Marianthi Koukouvinou from Stockholm, Sweden reported on the 2004 Summer Olympics from Athens for the Tony Mercurio Show. Koukouvinou was a fan favorite as a Lady Monarch, played from 2000-2004, a period which saw ODU with a 97-33 overall record, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2002. She has been a member of both the Swedish and Greek national teams.
Strengthening Asian Studies at ODU
The most recent Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education for internationalizing undergraduate studies and foreign language instruction awarded to ODU was in Spring 2000 for a two-year project, entitled "Strengthening Asian Studies through Faculty Training, Study Abroad, Enhanced Language and Literature Instruction, and the Establishment of an Asian Studies Major." Dr. Jie Chen, Director of the Graduate Program for Intl Studies was the project's Principal Investigator. The new major in Asian Studies will award its first degree in May 2005.
Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada (2004)
In 2004, President Roseann Runte was named one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada by the Women's Executive Network. The annual award recognizes Canada's most accomplished and influential women in six categories: corporate executives, entrepreneurs, public sector, trailblazers, professionals and champions. Runte was named a trailblazer along with a Supreme Court judge, a UN deputy secretary-general and the founder of the Montreal Chamber Orchestra, among others. Runte is currently president of the American Council on Education's Commission on International Education and a member of the International Parliament of Cultures.
International Community Service
In October 2004, Allen Sandler, Professor of Early Childhood, Speech Pathology and Special Education, was awarded the ODU Community Service Award for his humanitarian work in central Vietnam. He enlisted the help of a Swiss organization, in cooperation with Hampton Roads residents, raised approximately $54,000 to build a school for children with disabilities. With funding from the Northern Virginia-based firm Diversified Education Systems, he also established the first special education teacher training program in Central Vietnam.
Global Environment
Mark Butler, professor of biological sciences at ODU is one of the principal investigators on a coral reef research team that was awarded $22 million by the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and World Bank. Butler joins scientists from Canada, Ireland, France, Hong Kong, Australia, among other countries. He developed a scope of work with Robert Crown from the University of Miami on the 15-year project entitled "Connectivity of Spiny Lobster Populations in the Western Central Atlantic."
ODU International Student Organizations
Old Dominion currently recognizes twenty-three active international student organizations, fifteen of which are led by international students.
Admissions Survey on Study Abroad Interest
The current ODU undergraduate application asks students if they "plan to study abroad while at Old Dominion University."
US-Europe Multicultural Education Alliance in Computer Science and Engineering
The College of Technology was awarded a grant from FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education, USDOE) for a winning proposal on a US-Europe Multicultural Education Alliance in Computer Science and Engineering. The 3-year project represented a consortium with the following US and EU partners: Old Dominion, California State University, Chico, the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, the University of Hamburg, Germany, the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom and Vienna University of Technology, Austria. Professor Ralph Rogers, Department of Engineering Management Chair was the project leader.
Hurricane Lenny Reconstruction Project
In Summer 2001, Prof. David Basco (Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of Old Dominion's Coastal Engineering Center) lead a team of scientists and coastal engineers to teach short courses on Coastal Engineering at 5 Caribbean Islands - Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, and Trinidad & Tobago. The $100,000 project sponsored by the Organization of American States and USAID with funds from the Hurricane Lenny Reconstruction Project and in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI). ODU was selected from only three US universities asked to a submit proposal.
ODU Alumna Elected Member of Parliament in Mali
Oumou Ba Sangare, an international student who graduated from Old Dominion in 1996 with at Master's Degree in Education Administration, is currently a member of Parliament in Mali, her home country. Ms. Sangare was elected in 1997 from the 2nd Comune in the capital city of Bamako and is one of the 18 women in a National Assembly of 147 members.
First Thai Doctoral Student at ODU
The first Thai student to receive and doctorate from Old Dominion University was Pramote Dechaumphai. (pramote@mtec.or.th) Dr. Pramote Dechaumphai, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Chaulalongkorn University, was the first Thai doctoral student at Old Dominion, receiving his degree in 1982. He worked for 10 years at NASA as Senior Aerospace Engineer and returned to Thailand to become the youngest full professor in engineering at his country's most prestigious university at the age of 44.
Women in Engineering Summer Program in Paris
In 2000, three Old Dominion students from the College of Engineering and Technology were awarded National Science Foundation (NSF) grants to participate in the First Annual International Institute for Women in Engineering (IIEW) Summer Program in Paris, France. Nancy Icayan, Cheryl Ellis and Shannon Hysell were three out of only fifteen students nationwide that received this grant, The program was a joint effort between the École Polytechnique Femenine (FPF) in France and Embry Riddle University in Arizona. The three Old Dominion students had the opportunity to participate in lectures on Global Engineering, panel discussions and industrial visits.
Romanian Couple First to Simultaneously Receive Doctorates in Physics at ODU
In Fall 2000, Dorin and Luminita Todor of Romania became the first husband and wife to simultaneously receive doctorates in physics from Old Dominion University. The couple came to Norfolk in 1985. Luminita received an award from the American Association of Women in Science as the best female graduate in the United States.
CAA Player of the Year
In 2005, Alex Loughton of Australia was named CAA Player of the Year and Tournament MVP as he helped lead ODU men's basketball to it's first CAA championships and NCAA tournament bid since 1997. Loughton also earned national All-Academic honors and the CAA Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Tennis Player of the Year
In 2004 Nataly Cahana of Israel was named Colonial Athletic Association Women's Tennis Player of the Year. The first 4-time winner of that award in the CAA. She was also a two-time All-American and first female tennis All-American.
CAA Scholar Athlete of the Year
In 2003, Attilla Vendegh of Slovakia became ODU's all-time scoring leader with 134 career points with 56 goals and 22 assists. He also earned All-American honors and was the CAA's male Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Fifth Lady Monarch to Win Honda Award
In 2000, Marina DiGiacomo of Argentina becomes the NCAA All-Time points leader with 414 in field hockey and the fifth Lady Monarch field hockey player to be presented the Honda Award as the best in her sport.
Lady Monarchs Win Kodak Award
In 1997 Ticha Penicheiro of Portugal and Clarisse Machanguana of Mozambique are named Kodak Women's Basketball All-Americans. The two helped lead the Lady Monarchs to the 1997 NCAA Championship game. Machanguana was a two-time CAA Tournament MVP and Dean Ehler's Award winner. In 1998, Penicheiro would repeat that Kodak All-American honor in and become the first international student athlete to win the prestigious Lifetime/Wade Trophy award.
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