Vikram Singh, an undergraduate astronomy student from Bangalore, India, enjoys a starry night outside Laramie.
Whether international students need help with their visas, help with financial aid or just want to connect with other students from their home countries, UW’s International Students and Scholars (ISS) office is there to help.
“The ISS office was the first to welcome me to Wyoming,” Nnaji says, adding that the office staff connected him to other Nigerian students on campus. “They also introduced me to available resources on campus for academics and student life.”
Al-Kamal agrees: “I would like to thank the ISS office for making the transition go fast. It is a different culture here, and when I need help, I go directly to the ISS office, and the help is given.”
“The ISS office was instrumental in getting me here and helping me get scholarships so that I could afford an education,” Singh says. “They’ve been phenomenal. They went above and beyond.”
Singh also credits his adviser, Professor Michael Brotherton, and the UW Honors Program. “Professor Duncan Harris, retired Honors Program director, really helped me transition,” he says. “When I came here, I wanted to get involved with as many things as I could. The program really gave me those opportunities. The classes in the beginning helped me take my Eastern ideas and gel that with the Western world—that amalgamation became much easier because of the Honors Program.”
Zambrano found her college equally welcoming. “The engineering college is really good at making you feel like you’re home and helping you in the whole process,” she says.
In addition to welcoming international students and cultural events, UW brings the world to Wyoming in countless other ways, including international library and museum holdings, coursework, speakers and visiting scholars.
“We have a senior visiting scholar in global studies funded by the Wyoming Excellence Fund,” says David Messenger, professor and director of the Global and Area Studies Program. “We ask them to design a class around their real-world experience. Right now we have George Varughese, the country representative in Nepal for The Asia Foundation, which is one of the largest nongovernmental organizations in Asia doing development work. He’s talking about practical elements of development based on his experience.
“The visiting scholars also serve as guest speakers in other classes and give public talks around the state,” Messenger says. “Varughese has been to Cody, Powell, Worland and Casper. We take them around the state to introduce these topics.”
Past visiting scholars have included international journalist Elinor Burkett, Ahmed Rhazaoui of the United Nations and former U.S. ambassador to Chad Marc Wall. Visiting scholars also invite other global leaders to Wyoming to share their knowledge.
UW’s internationalization efforts help students gain the skills needed to succeed in today’s interconnected world.
“Today, we live in a global environment, and I think it’s really important for kids who go to the university to be exposed to different ways of thinking and viewing the world,” says International Board of Advisors member Johnnie Burton, whose career highlights include serving in the Wyoming Legislature, as director of the Wyoming Department of Revenue and as director of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service. “The university is essentially opening their minds to all kinds of possibilities.”
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