Listen to VU Head Coach Greene Preview of Brazil: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=k2ny5KpvPyk

Follow the Commodores daily logs, photos and video at the VU Women’s Soccer website: http://www.vucommodores.com/sports/w-soccer/brazil2013.html

VU Soccer getting coverage in Brazil (in Portuguese): http://globoesporte.globo.com/futebol/noticia/2013/05/curtinha-norte-americanas-acompanham-fla-flu-do-sub-20.html

A video by David Sanchez, a junior in the College of Arts and Science, is one of five finalists in NAFSA: Association of International Educators 2013 video contest celebrating international education. The winning video will be announced at this year’s annual NAFSA Conference in late May. Votes can be cast until midnight on May 6, 2013.

Sanchez studied abroad in Denmark last spring through Vanderbilt’s Global Education Office and worked as a student videographer for the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS). His video about student perspectives of the Justice & Human Rights program was submitted by DIS to the NAFSA video contest this year and it has made the top five finalists.

“It is great to see David’s video receive recognition –  as he did a stellar job, and his name is still often mentioned back here at DIS for being one of our all-time favorite students – from faculty, to online marketing team, to study tours…everyone had the highest respect for David as both a student and a story teller,” said Lauren Chaney, Online Marketing Director of DIS.

The winning video will be announced at this year’s annual NAFSA Conference in late May.

Delegation of Vanderbilt faculty visit Moore Surgery Center in Guatemala. (courtesy of Ted Fischer)

Vanderbilt University’s expanded commitment to research and sustainable development in Guatemala is reflected in this spring’s opening of a Guatemala City field station that is home to 13 projects.

The field station, located at the Moore Pediatric Surgery Center, provides support for diverse programs ranging from pediatric surgery to study of Mayan languages as well as small-scale coffee production.

“The 13 initiatives share a common vision for sustainable improvements in the quality of life,” said Edward F. Fischer, professor of anthropology and director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Vanderbilt. “Bringing them together under one roof complements the ‘one university’ model espoused by Vanderbilt’s senior leadership.” He noted that this initiative, by building on collaborations among Vanderbilt departments, programs and schools, avoids the tendency of units in some large research universities to operate in isolation and in competition with each other.

“The Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is proud to be part of this ‘one university’ plan being implemented in Guatemala,” said John W. Brock III, surgeon-in-chief and professor of urologic surgery. “Our relationship with the Shalom Foundation and the state-of-the-art Moore Surgery Center allows us to provide continuity of care for children in this region. The field station deepens our relationship with other Vanderbilt departments involved in Guatemala.”

Primeros Pasos offers Vanderbilt students opportunity for service learning. (Courtesy of Center for Latin American Studies)

Each year at least 50 Vanderbilt graduate and undergraduate students travel to Guatemala to carry out research and engage in service learning. Vanderbilt’s work in Guatemala began in the mid-1980s with archaeological excavations and expeditions led by Arthur Demarest, the Ingram Professor of Anthropology. At the time, Guatemala was still in the midst of a 36-year civil war that ended with the signing of peace accords in 1996. Since then, Vanderbilt’s interest and presence in Guatemala have steadily increased.

“In a country that has experienced some transitory aid efforts, Vanderbilt has achieved effective and sustainable initiatives involving the School of Medicine, Nursing, Engineering, Owen and the College of Arts and Science,” Fischer said. “Guatemala’s proximity and diversity makes it an ideal site for these projects. The Central American nation is roughly the same size in area as Tennessee, with double the population and less than a fifth the size of the state’s economy.”

The field station received significant support from the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital, Vanderbilt International Office, Center for Latin American Studies and Shalom Foundation.

Current Vanderbilt initiatives in Guatemala include:

• Moore Surgery Center in Guatemala City. The Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital has worked closely with the Shalom Foundation as part of an innovative “medical timeshare” for surgical missions to Guatemala.
• An intensive summer program for the study of the K’iche’ Mayan language in Nahualá, Guatemala. The program, directed by the Center for Latin American Studies, receives U.S. Department of Education funding to offer a two-year sequence of intensive K’iche’.
• Primeros Pasos, a rural health clinic in Quetzaltenango founded by Vanderbilt alumnus Brent Savoie. He leads the Inter-American Health Alliance that provides most of the funding for Primeros Pasos. The clinic provides a base for service-learning trips, the Emphasis Program and Project Pyramid.
• Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP), which surveys opinions regarding democracy and security in Guatemala and elsewhere. Every two years LAPOP carries out the AmericasBarometer survey, which currently covers 26 nations.
• Service-learning course taught by Cynthia Paschal, associate dean and associate professor of biomedical engineering. Students work on medical equipment at Moore Surgery Center and other Guatemalan hospitals. They collaborate with engineering students from the Universidad del Valle of Guatemala.
• Manna Project, with one of three permanent sites in Guatemala. Manna is an organization dedicated to connecting Vanderbilt students with service opportunities through a range of local and global initiatives.
• Vanderbilt Institute for Coffee Studies. The institute collaborates with Anacafé, the national coffee producers association, to study multi-dimensional measures of development around small-scale coffee production.
• Project Pyramid, led by Bart Victor, the Cal Turner Professor of Moral Leadership at the Owen Graduate School of Management. Students develop strategic planning and business models for projects ranging from micro-finance to malnutrition.
• An international component to the Nurse-Midwifery Program in the Vanderbilt School of Nursing. Students work with local midwives and Primeros Pasos.
• Vanderbilt Cancuén Archaeology Park, directed by Demarest. The program integrates local development, health projects and eco-tourism.
• Vanderbilt’s Alternative Spring Break program. Groups that are organized through the Office of Active Citizenship and Service have traveled to Primeros Pasos annually since 2005.
• A year-long Vanderbilt Initiative for Scholarship and Global Engagement (VISAGE) course, which is offered by the centers for Medicine, Health, and Society and Latin American Studies. Students spend a summer working on projects in Guatemala.
• Maní+, a project started by Fischer with support from the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health and the Shalom Foundation. Its purpose is to combat childhood malnutrition.

For more information on Vanderbilt initiatives in Guatemala call the Center for Latin American at 615-343-1750.

PhD student Nicole Spigner, Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Education, Professor Vicki Greene, and PhD student Evan Haglund

Inspired by its partnership with the University of Melbourne, Vanderbilt University held its inaugural Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition on March 22, 2013 at the Student Life Center. More than 60 master’s and Ph.D. students in the Graduate School presented at the competition, which was organized by the Graduate Student Council with help from a dedicated crew of faculty and staff members. The challenge of the 3MT is for graduate students to pitch their dissertation topics to a general audience and a panel of judges; participants have exactly three minutes to explain what is novel, compelling, and exciting about their research using only a single static slide for illustration. The goal of the competition, originally developed by the University of Queensland, is to prepare the students to communicate the significance of their work clearly and concisely, an accomplishment that will serve them well during job interviews as well as casual conversations.

The Vanderbilt 3MT had its origin in an invitation that Professor Dick Strugnell, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Melbourne School of Graduate Research, issued to Professor Victoria Greene, Senior Associate Dean for graduate education for Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science. Professor Greene spent a few weeks in Melbourne in 2012, shadowing Professor Strugnell and learning about several excellent programs at Melbourne designed to enhance the professional development of graduate students. While at Melbourne, Professor Greene was a judge for the finals for the Melbourne 3MT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Q9Cs-r1-Y) and was determined to bring the competition to Vanderbilt. Joseph Rustick and Sushil Khadka, president and vice president of academic affairs of the Graduate Student Council enthusiastically proposed to hold the Vanderbilt 3MT competition during the annual Graduate Student Research Symposium. The Writing Studio offered workshops to help the students prepare for the competition.

The Vanderbilt 3MT was very well-attended, the competition was fierce, and the event underscored the high level of research being done by students of the Graduate School. Ultimately, two students tied for first place: Elizabeth Dong Nguyen (Chemical and Physical Biology) with “Progress Toward Unlocking the Treatment for Cognitive Impairment” and John Baunach (Physics and Astronomy), “Radiation in Deep Space: Can we go to Mars Without Getting Cancer?” The People’s Choice Award went to Rachel Lippert for her presentation “A Sweet Mystery: Understanding How Your Brain Controls Your Desire for Sugar.” Plans are already underway for the 2014 Vanderbilt 3MT competition.

As part of their practicum experience, Ames, Hilbrich and Wright primarily see their role as strengthening Vanderbilt’s partnerships through interviewing faculty and staff about future collaboration in various disciplines, job shadowing in the international offices, and visiting schools in Guangdong province. Other activities will include seminars/lectures on culture, education and language learning. You can follow their blog at www.peabodypearlriverpracticum.wordpress.com.

IEPM students Megan Ames and Matt Wright at South China Normal University's west gate

The Center is an international initiative of Vanderbilt University and multiple universities in China. The initiative is derived from two successful projects that established high-level relationships among these cooperating universities.  For the past four years, Vanderbilt’s top-ranked Peabody College of Education has carried out an exchange program with South China Normal, enabling public-school principals in Guangzhou and Nashville to trade places, gaining hands-on knowledge of best practices in two very different educational systems.  During the same period, Vanderbilt has served as the lead U.S. partner in producing a series of conferences comparing work in intangible cultural heritage (“ICH” or folklore) in China and the US.

The Center’s goal is to connect American education and culture the Pearl River Delta and other regions in China. The key audiences are students and faculty at partnering universities; local K-12 public and private school teachers and administrators in need of professional development; and government and non-profit entities engaged in the preservation and presentation of cultural assets.

VU residents, medical students, and undergraduates can participant in biomedical research or clinical rotations in Buenos Aires, Argentina

The Vanderbilt Vaccine Center and Fundación INFANT are partnering to offer an international field experience involving clinical research training and thorough insight on the healthcare system in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Open to Vanderbilt undergraduates, students in the School of Medicine, and residents, this program will provide participants with the opportunity to conduct biomedical translational research or pediatric rotations at hospitals and medical centers in Buenos Aires. The program will embed participants in a fully bilingual team of both local and U.S.- trained researchers and physicians.

While the focus of the program is scientific, students can take advantage of Spanish lessons, vibrant cultural offerings and excursions around the country.

Fundación INFANT is an Argentinean non-profit organization established in 2003 to translate laboratory findings into preventive and therapeutic medical interventions that promote pediatric health. Vanderbilt’s Cesar Milstein Professor of Pediatrics, Fernando P. Polack, M.D., serves as the director and was recently elected to the American Pediatric Society.

For information and application forms, click here.

Julia Shelton, in Kenya, while participating in an international residency.

Vanderbilt’s General Surgery Residency Program, the first program authorized by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, now offers residents the option of a four week elective rotation at Kijabe hospital, located in a rural community in Kenya’s Rift Valley. Although Kenya’s population exceeds the population of California, it has only 300 surgeons, thus providing a vital service to this rural community in addition to training VUMC residents. The program, directed by Erik Hansen, M.D., teaches surgical residents how to provide quality surgical care in low-income, resource-limited communities. At Kijabe, residents are supervised by Vanderbilt faculty member Peter Nthumba, M.D., a plastic surgeon. For Nthumba, having Vanderbilt residents helps alleviate both immediate and longterm needs: residents assist with existing patient care and increase the hospital’s capacity to teach Kenyan medical students.

Photo: John Russell/Vanderbilt

Tony Stewart performed an experiment when he arrived on the Vanderbilt campus.

“I asked everyone I ran into for directions to Religious Studies,” he said. “Without exception, they told me how to get to the Divinity School.”

Although they share a lot of intellectual territory, Religious Studies and the Divinity School are separate entities with different agendas. While the Divinity School has its own building, Religious Studies is based in Garland Hall.

The Department of Religious Studies, which Stewart began chairing in Fall 2011, does not prepare anyone for the ministry. It is an undergraduate major devoted to the academic study of religion. The Divinity School is a graduate school that prepares its students for various types of service, including the ministry.

Stewart, a specialist in the religions and literatures of the Bengali-speaking world, arrives at Vanderbilt with a reputation as a program builder. The founder of the Bangla Language Institute in Dhaka, Bangladesh, spent 25 years at North Carolina State University bolstering South Asian studies and religious studies.

Language student Kira Krown escapes the heat on the ruins of the 8th century Paharpur Buddhist Stupa and Monastery in northwest Bangladesh. Photo: © Tony K. Stewart

During his career in North Carolina, Stewart nurtured a handful of faculty at Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State into the North Carolina Center for South Asian Studies, which grew to 72 faculty members and was named a Title VI National Resource Center for South Asia, the highest status awarded by the U.S. Department of Education for international studies.

“(Vanderbilt’s Department of Religious Studies) has identified the religions of Asia as the area needing the most attention,” Stewart said. “We are currently searching for a position in Buddhist traditions of South and Southeast Asia and religions of Japan. Coverage of contemporary Islam, Native American and Caribbean religious traditions will also be improved.”

Raised in small-town Millersburg, Ky., Stewart was first interested in Asia because of his father’s descriptions of Japan when he was a Marine in the occupation forces following World War II.

Language instructors Farzana Hafiz (left) and Nazeen Islam Khan (right) pose with Bangla Language Institute Director Tony K. Stewart. Photo: © Tony K. Stewart

“I found it fascinating just trying to understand people who are different,” he said. “Also, I had a great-aunt named Flora Dodson who was a missionary to China for more than 50 years.”

Despite that, Stewart’s first major was accounting, and he came to the brink of sitting for his CPA exam before changing direction. He chanced into a course on Asian religions and found himself hooked.

Bangla Language Institute founder and Director Tony K. Stewart with newly appointed Executive Director Razima Chowdhury, at student talent show, Dhaka, 2010. Photo: © Tony K. Stewart

“This was at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green,” he said. “On Friday nights while everybody else was out partying, I would drive down to Nashville and speak with Bengalis in the Indian community.”

In between college and graduate school, Stewart decided to live in India for a time to see if he was on the right path. He has spent eight years off and on living in South Asia since.

In addition to his B.A. in religious studies from Western Kentucky, Stewart has earned master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Chicago. His dissertation was on the Vaishnava saint and social reformer Krsna-Caitanya, a 16th-century figure who was considered by some to be the full incarnation of Lord Krishna. That study laid the foundation for two of his books, his most recent monograph on the hagiography of Krsna-Caitanya titled The Final Word: The Caitanya Caritamrta and the Grammar of Religious Traditions (Oxford 2010), and a translation of that critical text for the Harvard Oriental Series prepared in collaboration with his mentor, the late Edward C. Dimock, over nearly 20 years.

In the early 1990s, Stewart switched his focus from India to Bangladesh. When he got there, he found that his language training was deficient; he couldn’t understand a word of what most people said. The majority population did not speak the version of Bengali that was being taught in American universities.

Language student Gwendolyn Kirk, Bangla Language Institute 2006, visits the reconstruction of the Goaldi Mosque near Panam, Sonargaon, Bangladesh. Photo: © Tony K. Stewart

This led to the establishment of the Bangla Language Institute, which Stewart ran from its inception in 2006 until last year, training students for the Department of State’s Critical Language Summer Program. That institute came directly from his prior activity as executive director of the South Asian Summer Language Institute on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison which he founded and served as trustee from 2002 to 2006 and where each summer students can study as many as 15 different Indic languages. His years of work in the Bengali-speaking world have opened up a treasure trove of previously unpublished manuscripts, a unique literary heritage that has endured for more than 700 years.

Fishmonger in the Gulshan DIT2 Market, Dhaka Photo: © Tony K. Stewart

Stewart believes Bangladesh will provide endlessly fascinating possibilities for his future research. The nation’s government has effectively moved to address a host of environmental issues, including chronic flooding, contamination of ground water and overcrowding.

“Bangladesh is a shining example of what an industrious people can do,” he said. “I think it would benefit Americans greatly to put aside their popular images of Bangladesh and learn from its experience.”

Reprinted with permission from Vanderbilt View, October 2011. Photos, except where noted, by Tony K. Stewart

Vanderbilt students and Sherif Barsoum, director of International Student and Scholar Services, visit Luxor as part of the Religion and Culture of Egypt Maymester course.

Confident, poised, and gracious, U.S. Ambassador Margaret Scobey appeared ever the eloquent diplomat during her speech to the Vanderbilt community on the Arab Spring and Egypt’s political situation since the series of protests in 2010 that shook the world. Serving as U.S. ambassador to Egypt from 2008 to 2011, Scobey addressed the monumental nature of the changes that swept through the Middle East in addition to emphasizing the United States’ commitment to ensuring peace, security, and reform in a country faced with a suddenly uncertain future.

“I can honestly say, without any hesitation… what happened in Egypt was the most exciting event of my foreign service career,” Scobey stated as she opened her address. “Watching 82 million people rise up and say ‘enough’…was akin to seeing political science in action.” Scobey described the build-up of frustration and stalemate with the progress among leadership as intrinsic to the citizen action that instigated the ultimate fall of the reigning dictatorship.

Scobey identified telltale warning signs of an impending revolt from a 2002 U.N. Human Development Report, which highlighted the deficits of freedom, knowledge, and the empowerment of women as a hindrance to success among Arab countries. Carried out by the region’s own scholars, the report showcased an educated populace without access to opportunity for growth. Coupled with the fervor of youthful advocates and a burgeoning social media revolution, the conditions proved right for a simple act of protest to set off an uprising.

“You cannot underestimate the decades-long denial of human rights that wore away at the soul…it was a want for dignity and social justice,” Scobey stated, referring to the underlying bases of the revolt. “Issues of presidential succession, economic grievances…lead to indigenous and spontaneous citizen action demanding a change from a corrupt government.”

It was an explosive combination that citizens themselves were not fully cognizant of until the events of Arab Spring proved otherwise. Sherif Barsoum, director of International Student and Scholar Services at Vanderbilt and a native of Egypt, echoed the discontent of his fellow countrymen and emphasized the volatile nature of the protests that shook his country.

Two old men debating politics underneath revolutionary graffiti, Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt.

“People were ready for a change and had reached a boiling point. However, these events had been tried before…and we thought things would return to normal.” Barsoum described the astonishment of most Egyptians when what was supposed to be a small revolt instead transformed into revolution that changed the world.

He reiterated the causes behind Arab Spring, and underscored the importance for Americans to be invested in the future of the Middle East. “Egypt is one of America’s oldest allies,” he stated passionately. “It’s the center of the Arab world and historically, a center of civilization.”

Like Barsoum, Scobey emphasized the significance of the relationship between the United States and Egypt. “Times are changing,” she stated, “and the United States is doing what it can to support elections and institutional reforms that will bring around rule of law and democracy.” The ambassador drew on speeches by President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, both of whom support a policy of cooperation, communication, and mutual respect between both countries. However, she made sure to clarify that the revolutions now known as the Arab Spring, “…are not ours, or by us, or for us, but the outcomes are important to us.”

Cairo, Egypt

Ultimately, the ambassador framed the current situation of the Middle East as one characterized by progressive change, democratic reform, and hesitant hope. “These challenges and opportunities are historic and transformative,” she summarized. “It will take patience to sort out these complex problems, and we just don’t know how things will turn out.”

Many in the audience agreed with the ambassador’s optimism and wait-and-see attitude. “It is amazing to see history in the making,” said Chris Fink (B.A.’14). “Things will change, but there is just so much uncertainty.”

While many watch the Arab world with caution, it is those with the deepest roots who remain firmly faithful to their country’s future.

“Egypt has a long history, strong national identity, and wonderful cultural assets,” said Barsoum. “We have survived for the past 7,000 years, so we will survive this and can for the next thousand years.” With fortitude as unshakable as Barsoum’s, one thing remains certain for the Middle East—the enduring strength, loyalty, and courage of citizens who began a revolution will continue to ensure the longevity of a region that desires a lasting peace and dignity for its people.