EIU Media Relations

EIU to celebrate International Education Week Nov. 18-21

[CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR: MORGAN AUSTIN]

(Charleston, IL) – Eastern Illinois University will celebrate International Education Week beginning November 18 with a variety of events taking place through November 21. The events will celebrate diversity, cultures, beauty, and scholarship in and around the EIU community.

“EIU has approximately 330 international students on campus, and the students are citizens of 60 countries,” said EIU International Student Coordinator Bethanny Cougill. “Thirty students are the sole representatives of their own countries.”

This is one of many reasons, Cougill said, why the EIU community feels that International Education Week is a valuable celebration, helping Americans to collaborate with people from other countries and to show appreciation for international students and their homes through celebrations of dances, food, music and more.

Cougill emphasized how International Education Week helps to celebrate diversity as well.

“Diversity is essential in any community so that there is representation of those who may otherwise feel marginalized,” Cougill said. For example, one student who will be sharing glimpses of his homeland of Angola is Luntadila Paulo, an EIU MBA candidate. Paulo is one of two Angolan students at Eastern and has participated in many of the events that the Office of International Students and Scholars and the Association of International Students have sponsored.

Paulo said as an international student, EIU’s International Education Week events have given him the opportunity to connect with peers, make new friends, and experience a variety of cultures, lifestyles, and customs that he could never have imagined.

“I am grateful for being here, said another EIU student, Denver Daniels. Daniels is a graduate student in College Student Affairs from Illinois, says, ‘As a domestic student, International Education Week gives me the ability to interact with people from places I've never been. I can meet new friends, find new food, and have fun!’”

Events taking place during International Education Week at Eastern Illinois University are open to the public, and include:

Thursday, November 14 (Pre-event)

• Global Culture Night

Red Carpet Arrivals; from 6 to 6:30 p.m. in the MLK Union University Ballroom. Program events will take place from 7 to 9 p.m.

Monday, November 18

• International Flag Parade; 11 to 11:30 a.m. from Blair Hall to the University Union
• Week-Long Flag Display; beginning at 11:30 a.m. in the Union Bridge Lounge
• Asian-Inspired Lunch; from 11 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. in Taylor Dining Hall
• Immigration Conversation; from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the Arcola/Tuscola Room in the Union

Tuesday, November 19

• International Student Enrollment in the U.S. Presentation; from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Charleston/Mattoon Room in the Union
• Glimpses of Angola; from 2 to 2:30 p.m. in the Martinsville Room in the Union
• Glimpses of Dominica; from 2:30 to 3 p.m. in the Martinsville Room in the Union
• International Students Q&A; from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Effingham Room in the Union
• Mexican-Inspired Dinner; from 4 to 8 p.m. in the Thomas Dining Hall

Wednesday, November 20

• Greek-Inspired Meals; from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Stevenson Tower Deli
• Global Women’s Rights; from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Martinsville Room in the Union
• Study Abroad Students’ Stories; from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Arcola/Tuscola Room in the Union

Thursday, November 21

• Indian-Inspired Lunch; from 11 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. in the Taylor Dining Hall
• International Poetry Reading; from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Bob’s Bookstore, 303 Lincoln Avenue in Charleston
• Glimpses of China; from 2 to 2:30 p.m. in the Martinsville Room in the Union

For more information about International Education Week at Eastern Illinois University, call (217) 581-2321 or visit https://www.eiu.edu/international/InternationalEducationWeek.php.

For more information about EIU, or to learn more about its growing assortment of programs and services, visit the university’s website at www.eiu.edu, or call EIU’s public information office at (217) 581-7400.