The recipients of the 2005-06 International Excellence Awards, sponsored by the University of New Mexico Office of International Programs and Studies, will be honored at a reception on Wednesday, April 12, at 3 p.m. in Hodgin Hall.
Among those to be honored is a UNM medical professor who provides care to orphans in Russia, a community volunteer from South Africa, and a student organization promoting international opportunities for students.
The awards are given annually to members of the UNM community who make outstanding contributions to international education and increase awareness on campus and within the larger New Mexico community.
This year’s recipients are:
Casey Nairn-Mahan, a senior majoring in political science and Spanish, is a UNM Committee on Foreign Affairs and UNM World Affairs Delegation organizer.
Last year the World Affairs Delegation helped send a group of UNM students to the World Model United Nations in Edinburgh, Scotland. They are currently raising funds to attend the upcoming Model United Nations program in Beijing. Nairn-Mahan has also served as a volunteer ESL tutor for Catholic Charities and a member of the Teach for America Corps in New York City.
Quintin Ndibongo is a community volunteer and Albuquerque staff member for International Students, Inc.
Ndibongo, originally from South Africa and an MIT graduate who moved to New Mexico a few years ago, has worked to help international students feel at home in Albuquerque, picking them up at the airport on arrival, providing temporary housing and assistance with apartment hunting, helping find furniture and household supply donations, and arranging special social events during the school year.
Paul Nathanson, associate provost for international relations and retired director of the UNM School of Law’s Institute for Public Law, has worked at UNM since 1983.
For the past two years he has tirelessly promoted international education and research among UNM faculty members, departments, students, administrators and the larger community. Nathanson spent his junior year at the University of Zurich and also studied at the Goethe Institute in Germany. He never forgot the impact of those experiences on his education, and has worked to expand international opportunities for UNM students to study and work internationally. He has also promoted faculty research and service programs. He is currently on the board of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, and is involved in a public education program about HIV/AIDS in Nicaragua.
John Phillips, M.D., associate professor in the UNM School of Medicine, has been at the forefront in developing international partnerships between UNM and Russian organizations working with children with developmental disabilities, many of who are in orphanages.
Phillips has organized international conferences to bring attention to the problems, taken UNM medical staff and students to work directly with affected children and trained professional personnel in a number of Russian cities. As a result of his leadership, Russian children have received food, clothing, shelter, medical care and hope for the future. His work has also led to strong research and educational links between Russia and New Mexico.
Adriana Recalde-Aranda, public relations representative for the Consortium of the Americas for Interdisciplinary Science, is the administrative mainstay of the Consortium, which links UNM to some of the best scientific institutions and talented scholars throughout the Americas.
A native of Paraguay and graduate of the University of Milan in Italy, she has used her skills to organize international conferences at UNM and in a number of other countries, and to arrange visits to UNM by dozens of scientists and policy makers from Latin America. The Consortium of the Americas is one of the premier international programs at UNM.
Dr. Michael Thomas, lecturer, University Honors Program, is a UNM and University of Washington graduate, well-known cultural anthropologist and writer, and one of the founders of the long-successful Conexiones Program, sponsored by Honors and the Spanish and Portuguese Department.
Thomas has taken hundreds of UNM students for summer study programs in Michoacan, Mexico, and Trujillo, Spain. He also developed a popular study tour to the Barranca del Cobre, Mexico’s Grand Canyon and homeland of the Tarahumara Indians in the state of Chihuahua. Thomas has made a life-long commitment to international education and to understanding and teaching others to understand the cultural, historical and linguistic borders between the United States and Mexico.
The UNM Study Abroad Association has earned a special International Excellence Award for working to promote international study opportunities for UNM students. Founded two years ago by a group of students fresh from study abroad programs in many different countries, the group has been very active in support of incoming and outgoing exchange students, and in recruiting for UNM study abroad programs.
Last year the student group worked with the UNM Housing Office to create the Global Learning Community, a residence hall area that paired international students with U.S. roommates and sponsored a number of international activities.
This year the SAA made two presentations to the UNM Board of Regents about their international experiences, and were instrumental in convincing the Regents to fund a new scholarship program for UNM students to study overseas.
For more information, contact Ken Carpenter, associate director, OIPS, telephone 277j-4032, email carpenk@unm.edu.
Contact: Carolyn Gonzales (505) 277-5920
Posted by kwentworth at March 29, 2006 04:10 PM