Reflections Magazine Issue #68 - Fall 2008 | Page 16

Editorial visit our alumni website at www.sienaheights.edu from the alumni office President Louis Vaccaro. In recent years, our Lake Michigan Center in Benton Harbor has been enriched by students from many African countries. It is exciting now for the Adrian campus, once again, to nurture a diverse mix of cultures, nationalities, languages and perspectives. Faraway Places At Home At Siena Heights When Sister Peg Albert, OP, became President two years ago, she immediately set a goal of increasing international enrollment and global awareness at Siena Heights. Right away, things began to happen. Last year, Siena welcomed 15 new students from 10 different countries. This fall, Jennifer Hanson, Coordinator of International Student Services, expects about 50 international students from Africa, Asia, South America, the Middle East and the Caribbean. Without a doubt, the internationalism of our community is on the rise! This is not a new thing at Siena Heights; it’s a revival of a cherished value. The University has a wonderful history of enrolling students from faraway places. In the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, many young women came to Siena from places like Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Guam. The 1980s saw a surge in international enrollment, thanks especially to the efforts of then 16 Reflections Fall ’08 As alumni director, I have had the opportunity to meet many of our international alumni and I have been impressed with positive impact these Siena graduates are having in our world: Marco Pinheiro ’82 is a successful businessman in Brazil; he returned to campus last fall for the first time in 25 years, accompanying his son, Raphael, to freshman orientation at Siena Heights. Marco’s son returned this year—bringing a friend from Brazil. Canadian entrepreneur Iqbal Roshd ’83 travels often between Toronto and his native Bangladesh. Known for a leadership style that is sensitive, humane and wildly successful, Iqbal shared insights with SHU students two years ago while on campus to receive the Outstanding Alumni Award. Another alumni award winner, Iranian Seyed-Jalal Hosseini ’96, is working with the Harvard School of Public Health to fight the spread of AIDS in Nigeria; he inspired our students as a speaker at a recent Common Dialogue Day. This spring, I crossed paths with two other inspiring alumni. On a Siena Heights service trip to Jamaica in May, I spent nine days with our students volunteering at a residential school for homeless and delinquent boys—and I had the opportunity to meet Jamaican native Marjorie Tulloch Hobbs ’58 for the first time. She and her husband live part of the year in Florida and the rest of the time in Kingston, her childhood home. Marjorie is an active lay leader in the Jamaican Catholic Church working to address some of Jamaica’s complex socio-economic problems. We spent a delightful day discussing everything from Caribbean politics and Jamaican fast food to scholarships and theological studies at Siena Heights. Later in May, I received two heart-rending poems from Maurice Chi ’84, of Wrentham, Mass. Maurice, now a Boston businessman, and his brother, Jacob ’85, now a symphony conductor, came to Siena from China, following in the footsteps of their aunts, Margaret ’82/MA and Jane ’82/MA. (The Chi sisters’ journey to Siena Heights began with a scholarship offer in the late 1940s that was delayed 30 years by China’s Cultural Revolution.) Following the tragic earthquake in China, Maurice was so moved by reports of the devastation that he found himself crying on a bus, composing poetry. His powerful imagery reminded me, again, of the importance of global diversity at Siena. Without a personal connection to the rest of the world, international news is just words. Without a reminder that people—people we could know— are part of those news stories, we risk treating foreign affairs as no more than a board game. Maurice’s two poems are on our website and one, “You May Go Now, My Children,” is printed on page 21. Reading that poem changed my perspective. Knowing Marco and Raphael, Iqbal, Jalal, Marjorie, the boys in Jamaica—and many other alumni from backgrounds unlike my own—has broadened my perspective, too. For the better. Nurturing a global community is good for Siena Heights—and good for the world we share. Jennifer A. Hamlin Church Associate VP for Advancement & Director of Alumni Relations [phone] [email protected]