Despite the weather, Iêda remembers a warm welcome. “They had a coat and boots waiting for me.” The gift of warm clothes wasn’t the first kind thing she’d received from the Wesleyan community. Methodist missionaries at Izabela Hendrix School in her hometown of Belo Horizonte recognized her potential; they helped her apply for a full scholarship to Nebraska Wesleyan University. She won. Iêda gives to Wesleyan in part because of the gratitude she feels for the welcome she received. She remembers a number of professors who made a difference in her life on campus. Professors Callen, Mickey, Maehl, Snow, and Corfield were especially important to her. Dr. Callen encouraged Iêda to spend a semester studying political science in Washington, D.C. This semester in D.C. fueled a lifelong interest in U.S. politics and international relations, and helped shape a fulfilling career. This year she is helping fund the Capitol Hill Internship Program (CHIP) so other Wesleyan students can study in Washington, D.C., and has made a commitment to provide funds for the endowment to be earmarked for CHIP. She has also supported the Annual Fund and given books to the library. When Iêda graduated in 1960, she stayed in the States, and in 1968 she earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Florida. After teaching at universities both in the U.S. and abroad, Iêda’s career took her to the Library of Congress where she specializes in cultural and political relations between the U.S. and Brazil. She also collects materials for the Library on Portugal and other former Portuguese colonies like Angola and Mozambique. She works with ambassadors, diplomats, and foundations from all over the world. “When foreign diplomats ask to see someone in the American Ministry of Culture, they tell them, ‘We don’t exactly have a Ministry of Culture, but why don’t you go up to the Library of Congress and see Iêda?’” In 1997, Iêda won the Medal of the Rio Branco Order “for services rendered to Brazil in the cultural and diplomatic areas,” the highest such award granted by the Brazilian government. Now Iêda teaches political science at the University of Georgia, a campus she calls “a really big Wesleyan.” She travels to Washington, D.C., about once a month for her work with the Library of Congress, and to Brazil once every other year. As much distance as Iêda covers, her gifts make clear she’s never forgotten that her journey began with a trip to a snowy Nebraska Wesleyan. |
