Earlier this semester a University of Kentucky delegation led by Interim Provost Tim Tracy visited Jilin University – one of the most prestigious “Top Ten” universities in China – with an aim to expand UK’s name recognition in China, and create new collaborative opportunities. This trip builds upon President Capilouto’s trip to Jilin University last May.

Like the University of Kentucky, Jilin University is a large comprehensive institution that includes several health care colleges, creating numerous opportunities between the two institutions.

The University of Kentucky has increased its ability to engage in smart, innovative agricultural development work in countries like Burma, through the return of Brent Rowell as the Extension Specialist in International and Sustainable Horticulture in the UK College of Agriculture.

Rowell began his career at UK as the state extension vegetable crops specialist in the College of Agriculture in 1994, becoming a full professor by 2005. 

A group of University of Kentucky faculty, staff and administrators recently traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan, to sign new partnerships and conduct an intensive three-day workshop with a consortium of five business schools from Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province, located in the northwest of Pakistan along the Afghanistan border.

George Blandford, chair of UK’s civil engineering department, and Gary Gaffield, assistant provost for international partnerships, led workshops for the Iraq University Administration Support Program’s (UASP) University Management Training Course in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Kay Roberts, community liason for the UK International Center, was the subject of a Lexington Herald-Leader letter to the editor about her work promoting cultural understanding in K-12 education:

UK Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Alan Fryar was recently featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education; his essay describes his experience with 11 students from the arid Middle East and North Africa who convened in drought-stricken San Angelo, Texas, to learn about water.

The Gatton College Graham Office of Career Management is working to transform traditional thinking among Iraqi business students into an edgy, competitive, capitalistic and Westernized mindset, says Career Coach Meredith Boyd. This October, she traveled to support efforts for a new career center at Kufa University in Najaf, Iraq.

“They’re changing into a free market economy, and it’s a slow process. I’m taking specific Western style programming to them in hopes to replicate that in Iraq,” she says.

Brazil, “B” in the “BRIC economies,” just overtook the United Kingdom to become the world’s 6th largest economy, establishing itself as a global leader. The University of Kentucky is doing its part to work with this new economic powerhouse through institutional partnerships, working groups and student exchanges.