UMN alum returns as Hanyang University president

Since completing his master’s and Ph.D. in linguistics in 1992, Ki-jeong Lee has been to Minnesota for several visits, but in August he returned for the first time in an official capacity. Now president of Hanyang University in South Korea, Lee met with University of Minnesota leaders from the Technological Leadership Institute, the Minnesota Nano Center, the Research and Innovation Office, and the College of Liberal Arts to discuss possible collaborations.

SHE-CAN Scholar finds community at UMN

Nita Touch chose the University of Minnesota from a list of SHE-CAN Global partners. The nonprofit supports high-achieving young women in Cambodia, Liberia, and Guatemala on their path to leadership, providing scholarships to select colleges and universities in the United States.

Touch liked UMN’s reputation for research excellence, and she was also excited by its diversity.

“When I looked it up on the internet, UMN seemed so diverse with so many people from around the world,” she said. “So I guessed it would be a very welcoming community.”

Determined to Pay It Forward

Millicent Adjei believes in paying it forward. She is using her experiences as a first-generation, low-income student and as a mature international student to inform her work as director of the Office of Diversity and International Programs at Ashesi University in Ghana.

“Many of the things I do is because I have walked in [the students’] shoes before,” Adjei said. “I didn’t get that much advising or guidance because I was the first to go [to university] in my family. I couldn’t go ask my mom, ‘OK, which courses should I read at the university?’”

Three Students Receive Award for Contributions to International Education

The Josef Mestenhauser Student Award for Excellence in Campus Internationalization has been awarded to three University of Minnesota students for outstanding contributions to international education.

Dongting Cai, Vishal Jamkar, and Washington Galvão have each held leadership roles in programs and activities that contribute to the University of Minnesota’s mission of fostering global competence and developing global citizens.

Four International Students Receive Mestenhauser Award for Excellence in Campus Internationalization

Two students from the Twin Cities campus and two students from the Crookston campus of the University of Minnesota have been awarded The Josef Mestenhauser Student Award for Excellence in Campus Internationalization. This award recognizes outstanding student contributions to international education. It acknowledges important work being done by students at the University of Minnesota to internationalize the curriculum and campus.