{"id":58607,"date":"2014-01-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-spanish-international-engineering-program-1-of-4-chosen-to-help-launch-obamas-latin-american-initiative\/"},"modified":"2014-01-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T00:00:00","slug":"uri-spanish-international-engineering-program-1-of-4-chosen-to-help-launch-obamas-latin-american-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2014\/01\/uri-spanish-international-engineering-program-1-of-4-chosen-to-help-launch-obamas-latin-american-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 Spanish International Engineering Program 1 of 4 chosen to help launch Obama\u2019s Latin American initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tAmong schools chosen in first round of president\u2019s program to strengthen ties with southern neighbors<\/i><\/p>\n


\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 17, 2014 \u2013 Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry today honored the 溏心vlog免费B站 for its leadership in helping to launch a presidential program to enhance ties with Central and South American countries.<\/p>\n


\n\t溏心vlog免费B站 was one of four schools chosen from an initial round of proposals from 47 schools to participate in “100,000 Strong in the Americas,” an initiative of President Barack Obama\u2019s to increase the number of U.S. students studying in Latin America to 100,000 and the number of Latin Americans studying in the United States to 100,000.

\nBiden and Kerry joined members of Rhode Island\u2019s congressional team for ceremonies at the U.S. Department of State to praise the University\u2019s Spanish International Engineering Program (IEP), its director Megan Mercedes Echevarria, 溏心vlog免费B站 associate professor of Spanish and Film Media, and Winifred Brownell, dean of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of Arts and Sciences. Kerry and Biden personally extended their congratulations to Echevarria and Brownell.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe selection of the 溏心vlog免费B站 to participate in this presidential initiative is a tribute to the hard work of our faculty and staff in the colleges of Arts and Sciences and Engineering in truly making our International Engineering Program a global leader,\u201d 溏心vlog免费B站 President David M. Dooley said. \u201cWe are grateful to Secretary of State Kerry for his support and recognition of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s successes in developing relationships with many countries, international industries and universities around the world to help build an international community that appreciates and values the vast riches of the world\u2019s cultures. In this case, we are very excited about strengthening our relationships with our very important Latin American neighbors who share many of our interests in creating a secure, educated and prosperous future for our respective nations.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nEchevarria’s winning proposal led to a $50,000 grant to help launch 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Spanish IEP\u2019s emerging presence in Chile. The funds will help jumpstart opportunities for 溏心vlog免费B站 engineering students to engage with Chile through internships at Chilean companies, a summer undergraduate service-learning research project in Valpara\u00edso, an academic exchange with 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s partner school, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, and a new course to be taught at 溏心vlog免费B站 by Echevarria that will focus on innovations in sustainability in South America. The class will be taught entirely in Spanish.<\/p>\n


\nLike 溏心vlog免费B站’s other International Engineering Programs, the Spanish version allows students to earn a bachelor of science in engineering and a bachelor of arts in Spanish over a five-year period. Each of the IEP offerings provides students with a 12-month experience abroad, which includes a semester of study at a partner university and an internship at a company or research center.<\/p>\n


\nThe 100,000 Strong in the Americas program is supported by the U.S. Department of State in partnership with NAFSA: Association of International Educators and the Partners of the Americas. NAFSA is the world\u2019s largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education, and Partners of the Americas is a leading voluntary and development agency with more than 45 years of experience in the Americas.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThis part of the presidential initiative is focusing on developing collaborations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics between Peru and Chile and the United States,\u201d said Echevarria, who has been running the Spanish IEP for six years.<\/p>\n


\nShe said the program builds on 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s longstanding Spanish IEP, which began in 1998 and has sent 溏心vlog免费B站 students to Spain and Mexico for internships, research and study, and has brought students from those countries to our campus for study and research.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWithout understating the amazing opportunities that our partners in Spain provide, we actively encourage students to consider studying and interning in Latin America not only because there are many global companies with operations there, but also because for a number of our students the unique opportunities available in this region will be instrumental in helping them reach important personal and professional goals,\u201d said Echevarria. \u201cThis additional funding will allow us to really broaden our program in South America and strengthen our relationship with our new Chilean partner university. Now is an exciting time to be working and studying in Latin America because its economies are growing and innovation is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nSince she has been running the Spanish branch of the IEP, enrollment has grown from 50 students to more than 100 students. Currently 16 of those students are abroad, and Echevarria projects the number of students going abroad over the course of this year will grow beyond 30 with the addition of the Chilean initiative and participation in 100,000 Strong.<\/p>\n


\nShe said she believes the federal government and participating organizations recognized the groundbreaking work and the longstanding infrastructure of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s International Engineering Program in selecting Rhode Island\u2019s flagship public institution. \u201cWe have been offering for many years precisely the kind of the initiatives that the 100,000 Strong program prioritizes,\u201d Echevarria said. \u201cInternships, exchange programs and research opportunities that take students far away from our campus and give them the opportunity to work as part of an international and interdisciplinary team have been part of the IEP for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe IEP is all about removing students from their comfort zones where they can be challenged to experience new cultures, new ways of thinking and new approaches to solving problems. In the long run, this is the best way to build bridges among nations and address the challenges of our time. We break down barriers person to person. People on the ground in these programs build the relationships and the trust that later on lead to major breakthroughs.\u201d <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Among schools chosen in first round of president\u2019s program to strengthen ties with southern neighbors KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 17, 2014 \u2013 Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry today honored the 溏心vlog免费B站 for its leadership in helping to launch a presidential program to enhance ties with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}