Three professors from Cubas University of Havana will visit West Virginia University next week, March 13-14.
The scholars will speak on contemporary Cuban issues, and their talks are open to the public. A panel discussion on Cuba and the United States is scheduled for the first day of their visit March 14 at 7 p.m.
WVU has been developing a relationship with the country since 1995, when WVU faculty in the College of Human Resources and Education began participation in the Seminar on the Quality of Education with U.S. and Cuban educators held in Cuban.
Two years ago, an interdisciplinary group of WVU faculty formed a Cuba Area Studies Group to establish professional linkages with the Cuban academic community. These initiatives have been supported by the WVU Office of International Programs, with an official linkage visit by its director, Dr. Dan Weiner and Cuba Area Studies Group Chair Dr. Elizabeth Iglesias.
Recently College of Creative Arts Dean Phil Faini visited Cuba with Dr. Iglesias and Dr. Esther Gottlieb, Research Office director of program development in the humanities, to explore potential for student and faculty exchanges.
WVU has obtained an institutional license under which all students, faculty, staff and administrators can go to Cuba for academic visits and research. Last summer, the first group of students attended a course at Havana University, and this year two courses are being offered _ one from HR&E: Cross_cultural learning: A field experience in Cuba, and the other from the College of Business and Economics: History and Economics in Cuba. For more information call the Office of International Programs at 293_6955 or visit the web sitehttp://www.wvu.edu/~intlprog/SA.oip.htm/SAMenu.html.
The visit is sponsored by the Office of International Programs, Center for Womens Studies, College of Business and Economics and the College of Human Resources and Education.
Cuban Scholars: Schedule of Events
Monday March 13
Norma Vasallo
2-4 p.m.
218 Eiesland Hall
Informal conversations
Lazaro Luis Gonzalez and Esteban Morales Dominguez
12- 2 p.m.
Mountainlair Greenbrier Room
Regional Research Institute Luncheon Presentation:
Regional Economic Development in the Cuban Context
Lazaro Luis Gonzalez Esteban Morales Dominguez and Norma Vasallo
7- 9:30 p.m.
Mountainlair Rhododendron
Panel Presentations: Cuba and the U.S.: Voices of the present, challenges of the future
Tuesday March 14
Norma Vasallo
9:30-11:30 a.m.
Jean Benson lounge Towers
Cuban women: Echoes of the Past, Voices of the Present