Congressman Benjamin Gilman

Congressman Benjamin Gilman, who served as Chairman of the House of International Relations Committee, visited the International College in September 2003, where he presided over a ribbon cutting ceremony marking the opening of the Carlson Wing of the International College. Congressman Gilman was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University in this occasion and was also named an honorary fellow of the college. Here he is meeting with Dean Ward and Professors Yu and Associate Provost van der Giessen.

PSCI 299 Development, Diplomacy and the UN; A class at the UN

Students from the University of Bridgeport had a chance to study at the United Nations through the course Development, Diplomacy at the UN. The course was meant to provide an orientation into the work of United Nations and the role that diplomacy plays in dispute settlement, protection of human rights, furthering sustainable development, and protecting the environment. The course introduced students to the unique dimensions of the United Nations, including its universality, the nature and scope of its operations, and the unavoidable tension and strain that it addresses in adapting to globalization.\

 
Students at the UN Headquarters

Dr. Noel Brown introducing a UN representative

The course provides participants to hear from UN senior officials, meet key delegations, and observe selected sessions and proceedings of the United Nations and United Nations-related entities such as encounters with representatives of Permanent Missions and non-governmental organizations. In keeping with the spirit of inquiry and engagement, students were able to observe the United Nations at close range.

Martial Arts Center opens in Wheeler Recreation Center

Fifteen grand masters in Tae kwon do and scores of youngsters and young adults joined the university in formally opening its new Martial Arts Centre in the Wheeler Recreation Center.

The center will provide a home for a martial arts program that is in its early stages of development at UB.

President Neil Albert Salonen welcomed a crowd of 150 people to the center and explained the university's commitment to martial arts and its exploration of offering an undergraduate major in Tae kwon do. He noted that the university offers three martial art courses (Tae kwon do, Won ha do and Tai chi), with more than 100 students enrolled. In South Korea, he said, 13 universities offer the program as a major course of study.

Professor Yong Bum Kim is director of the martial arts program at UB and is leading the effort to fully establish the program. Grand Master Yeon Hwan Park, who is president of the Advisory Board for the UB Martial Arts Program and president of the New York Tae Kwon Do Association presented the university with a check for $10,000 to support the program. Other support comes through a grant from the Chung Shim Hospital Foundation in Korea.

Chinese journalists speak on China in lecture at UB

Two distinguished Chinese journalists and academics spoke on recent developments in business and the media inside the Peoples Republic of China in a public lecture Tuesday evening at the University of Bridgeport.

Nanjing University Professors Ding Boquan, director of Department of Journalism and Communication, and Zhang Wei, director of the Institute of International Communication Studies, spoke at 6 p.m. in Room 216 in Mandeville Hall at the UB School of Business.

The university's Mass Communications Department and the International College are hosting the visitors, who also will lecture to classes of students during the day. Ding is a counselor of China Journalism Education Society and editor of the journal, Journalism & Communications Forum. Zhang worked for many years as a journalist and an editor for the Beijing Review, the most prominent news weekly in China. He won several Chinese national literary and journalistic awards. Here is a link to the event.

Life after Death: Intimations of Immortality
November 21, 2002

On the evening of November 21 the International College of the University of Bridgeport (the University's UN College) sponsored a symposium on the topic Intimations of Immortality: Perspectives on Life After Death. About 60 students and faculty participated in the seminar. It consisted of several speakers:

Reverend Yang, a Seminary Trained Unificationist Pastor, represented the Unification Perspective. He shared about the Unification view of the importance of experience love as parents, children, spouses, and siblings in order to resemble God and to be able to dwell with God in the spirit world.

The second speaker was Dr. Larry Phillips who spoke from a Humanist perspective. Professor Phillips shared about what he felt about life after death and explained his understanding that after death there is nothing. His talk stirred a lot of discussion and an intense series of questions following the presentation.

The Third speaker was International College Visiting Professor, Dr. Kim Setton, who provided some insights into how Confucianism, in spite of Confucius never having articulated his views on life after death, prepares people through living and acting properly on earth to live properly in the spiritual world.

Reverend Douglas House who teaches Public Speaking in the International College is also a Congregationalist Minister. He spoke on the Christian view of life after death. He is the only speaker who spoke about Near Death Experiences. He spoke of a man whom he had known who throughout much of his life had had a very negative outlook. In his presentation, he shared a very interesting experience about a man who had had a negative outlook throughout his life. As he faced death he had a near death experience. He returned from the experience very pleased and said, "So that is what death is like?" From that point on he never complained and developed a positive outlook on life.

The final speaker, Dr. Michael Grant, a former Provost of the University and an Ambassador for Peace, shared about a book that he is writing on the spirit world. It was a very interesting presentation emphasizing that unless we prepare while on earth we cannot go to where we need to go in the spirit world. Dr. Grant concluded his presentation by distributing a questionnaire that he has developed to solicit people's views on life after death. He is utilizing this questionnaire as an additional source for his book.

Dr. Kurt Frey, Professor of Psychology, served as moderator of the program and Dr. Tom Ward, the Dean of the College, offered the closing remarks, thanking everyone, particularly Mr. Jory Cook, the International College Senior who organized the event.

UN Day
October 26, 2002

On Saturday, October 26, 2002, the International College celebrated United Nations Day, in conjunction with the University's Open House that was also taking place that day. Prospective students and their families, as well as the students, professors, and faculty of UB who volunteered to assist with the Open House gathered at around 9 am in the Social Room of the Student Center. At around 10:30 am, all the participants of the Open House welcomed the President of the University, President Neil Albert Salonen, and in his opening remarks he extended his warmest welcome to everyone who was visiting the University.

After his remarks, he invited Dr. Thomas Ward, the Dean of the International College and Vice President of the University to commence the ceremonies for United Nations Day. Dr. Ward commented on the University's strong ties with the United Nations, ranging from former Professors who were once Presidents of the General Assembly to students who are now employed at the United Nations. He also read a letter of gratitude sent by the Permanent Representative from Nepal, who thanked the University for never failing to commemorate United Nations Day on our campus. The commemoration ended with the cutting of a cake that was decorated with the flag of the United Nations, and this was done by President and Mrs. Salonen, Dr. Ward, and five student representatives of the International College.

Some History on the United Nations: The name "United Nations" was devised by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was first used in the "Declaration by United Nations" of January 1, 1942, during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their Governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers.

The United Nations Charter was drawn up by the representatives of 50 countries at the United Nations Conference on International Organization, which met at San Francisco from April 25 to June 26, 1945. Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks (Washington, D.C.) in August-October of 1944. The Charter was signed on June 26, 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States.

The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October each year.
(Source: http://www.un.org/Overview/origin.html)

September 11th Personal Reflections and Social Commemoration
September 12, 2002

On September 12, 2002, one year and one day after the tragic events of September 11, the International College, the Psychology Department, and SCUBA sponsored an event entitled, "September 11: Personal Reflections and Social Commemoration." The event consisted of two parts: the first part focused on the sharing of people's individual testimonies about how they felt on the actual day as well as after, and the second part focused on how to best commemorate September 11.

The moderators for both discussions were Professor Kurt Frey (representing the Psychology Department) and Professor Thomas Lamont (representing SCUBA). During the first session, a group of students from all different backgrounds and several faculty members shared their hearts, and though many testimonies were wrought with shock and sorrow, the general atmosphere was that of love, caring, and understanding, rather than anger and hatred. In fact, there was a mutual agreement that anger and hatred in retaliation for the attacks were not the best ways to better the situation of America, and that the war against terrorism could never be won without truly understanding the complexity of the situation.

Many people expressed distress over the outbursts of violence and bigotry against people of Arabic/Muslim descent and the commercial patriotism that took place in America after the attacks. To be brief, most people felt that it did no good to show the strength of America through its fear-based extreme patriotism, because the strength of America shines through only in its ability to understand the complex nature of the situation, and be mature enough to take time to learn how to better the circumstances through a means other than acts of anger and hatred.

After a brief refreshment break, the discussion became more intimate as a handful of students and faculty stayed behind to relate their feelings as to how to best commemorate September 11. People continued with the idea that America should learn how to love and understand, and other than these sentiments, there was not much in terms of how to best commemorate the tragedy. One substantial idea was putting a commemorative statue in the bare circle located in the middle of the Pedestrian Mall. The statue would be made up of four or five different people, each of a different nationality (painted a different color, similar to the Olympic rings), and each person would have a hand stretched outward to hold onto a torch. This torch would represent not only the "lamp of knowledge" as depicted in our UB insignia, but also the light of hope for tolerance and understanding of the differences in humankind. The statue would commemorate September 11, as well as the tragedies of the past and would stand as a reminder that we must love understand each other to prevent future tragedies.

The event ended with enthusiastic approval of the idea as UB is such an international school, providing a great environment in which to set the example for peace. Professors Frey and Thomas encouraged us to make our opinions promoting tolerance and understanding through writing editorials to the Scribe. All in all, it was a wonderful event, where people really could connect through sharing their hearts about the shock, the sorrow, and most of all, the hope for peace.

Pictures of Past Events and Guests

Cake cutting with President and Mrs. Salonen, Hon. Ambassador Sharma, Vice-President of General Assembly & President of the 6th Committee of the General Assembly (2001), his wife and a student.

Hon. Ibrahim Gambari UN Under Secretary-General & Advisor to the Secretary General for Special Assignments in Africa (2000)

Hon. Victor Chernomyrdin, former Prime Minister of Russian Federation (1999)