International Education Week exposes students to world cultures

This week, USD students have the opportunity to discover cultures from every corner of the world during International Education Week.

Though spearheaded by the Center for Academic and Global Engagement (CAGE), the week’s activities are hosted by several organizations, including the political science department, the National Music Museum, the Center for Diversity & Community, the International Club and the Farber Forum.

Dana Elliott, the event’s main coordinator, said International Education Week is a national event.

“It’s not just something that we do. It’s actually a program that has been developed by the Department of Education and the Department of State. The DOE and the Department of State partnered together to create this international education week,” she said. “It’s something that is celebrated on about every single campus across the country. We’ve been doing it since 2009.”

The week is made up of a variety of events such as a tea tasting, the Global Palate event and an international game night. The full list of the events is posted on CAGE’s website.

“We really try to choose things (events) that will appeal to a range of people. For example, we have some serious events and more light-hearted events,” Elliott said. “Lots of different things to appeal to different people, from food to games to culture to foreign policy and different little aspects because it’s all part of our international education.”

One of the most popular events of the week is the Global Palate event on Wednesday night, Elliott said.

“The Global Palate is one of our crowning events, it is free food,” she said. “We work with Aramark to provide a wide variety of dishes from different countries. This year the menu includes Peruvian, Korean, Italian and different European dishes.”

Elliot said this week also helps with USD’s goal to achieve more campus-wide acceptance of diversity.

“USD, as part of their strategic plan, has got these foci of diversity, inclusiveness and outreach,” she said. “It’s an excellent way to showcase the strides USD has made towards increasing international focus on campus. Because it is definitely a focus on campus.”

The week kicked off with Farber Forum’s Dimensions of India’s Foreign Policy and Indo-US Relations presented by Fulbright scholar Josukutty Abraham.

The presentation covered India’s immense cultural diversity and how that relates to the relationship India has with other countries of the world, more specifically the relationship with the U.S.

“If you look at the relationship (between the U.S. and India) since the 1990’s it’s a wonderful relationship,” Abraham said.

First-year Rose Mclaughlin was excited about the event and everything else planned for the week.

“I got a lot from this. I am an international studies major so it’s super important for me,” she said. “It’s really exciting to learn about different cultures because it teaches you about yourself and your own culture as well.”

The Cultural Fair, sponsored by the Center for Diversity & Community, took place on Tuesday.

The fair consisted of multiple cultural campus groups displaying elements of their culture. Students intermingled throughout the night to learn more about other cultures.

First-year Diamond Hall, an African Student Association member, said she enjoyed the events of her first International Education Week.

“You get to see people coming from multiple areas. And I’m not from Africa, but I learn more about them and their culture,” Hall said. “You also get to learn about social issues all over the world and discuss them.”

International education events will continue throughout the week.

“Everybody’s welcome and should come on down because it’s pretty much free,” Elliott said. “We really want to increase that feeling of inclusiveness amongst all the different diversity we’ve got.”