Global Studies

Two Nebraska Wesleyan University students are studying in Rwanda this summer thanks to a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.

Kerry Worley, a junior social work major from Omaha, and Rachel Konvalin, a first-year global studies and modern language studies major from Boise, Idaho, have each been awarded the prestigious scholarship.

Alexis Rodriguez-Garcia grew up traveling the globe — Mexico, Spain and France just to name a few.

So when it came time to meet the study abroad requirement for his global studies major, he wanted to study somewhere unfamiliar.

“Estonia was that place,” said Rodriguez.

He attributes his passion for travel to growing up in a bilingual and bicultural home and having opportunities to meet foreign exchange students while in high school.

Nebraska Wesleyan University professor Gerise Herndon has conducted extensive research on Rwandan genocide survivors and through that research she’s learned the role of art in their healing.

Herndon will share her research and experiences during the Faculty Scholarship Presentation on Wednesday, January 24 at 6 p.m. The annual presentation highlights the scholarship of NWU faculty.

Kaitlin Dugquem, a 2017 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University, has been awarded a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to study Korean in Gwangju, South Korea.

The Critical Language Scholarship is part of a U.S. government effort to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. Dugquem is one of approximately 550 American students who received the competitive, national scholarship.

Carlo Bahe used his Nebraska Wesleyan University career to see the world.

A faculty-led trip to Ireland and Rwanda. A student-led trip to Mexico. A semester abroad at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

But one particular experience — an intensive language program at NWU’s sister school, Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan — made him want to learn more about the country’s history, politics, art and language.

Nebraska Wesleyan University was closed for Martin Luther King Day. But January 18 was most certainly a workday for one NWU alumna. In fact, it’s her biggest workday of the year.

Tracy Lauritzen Wright (’93) is director of museum partnerships and compliance at the National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM) in Memphis, Tenn. The museum occupies the Lorraine Motel, where King was assassinated on the evening of April 4, 1968. His room, 306, is preserved, and a wreath hangs on the balcony where he last stood.

Brenda Maldonado had never taken a French class before her arrival at Nebraska Wesleyan University four years ago.

Four French classes later she boarded a plane for Switzerland where she would spend her junior year abroad. Add to that a return trip to Switzerland this year for some additional research for her senior thesis.

“I think it is probably one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done,” Maldonado said of her year abroad. “The first time I ever heard someone go up and teach a class all in French was very intimidating.”

Waste not, want not.

It’s an old expression that senior Lucy Sjulin has long been familiar with. Little did she know that a simple volunteer experience would lead her to completely embrace the phrase.

Sjulin, a Spanish and global studies major from Omaha, joined members of Nebraska Wesleyan’s Global Service Learning and volunteered at FoodNet, a local organization that collects un-purchased perishable food items from grocery stores and distributes it to the hungry in the community.

Beijing China is more than 6,300 miles from Grant Nordby’s hometown of Stanton, Neb.

But the miles don’t matter to Nordby. He understands the growing importance of a strong United States and China relationship.

The senior global studies and English major has read about it in text books, heard about it from his professors in the classroom, and lived it while studying abroad in China for nearly a year.

Nebraska Wesleyan University will screen the documentary "Komora: To Heal." The film follows orphan survivors of the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda and the people who stepped in to raise them.

The documentary screening will be held Wednesday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Callen Conference Center.