Would you like to be able to invite international speakers from over forty countries to visit your class? What sorts of cultural resources do you need in your classroom? The International Classroom Connection, a program of the Minnesota International Center, provides access to a variety of international speakers, visitors and resources.

ICC teacher training introduces you to the books, artifacts and speakers available to you as a teacher partner. The workshop also provides an introduction to the Minnesota International Center, which extends free membership to all teacher partners. After the ICC training workshop, you will be able to request international speakers a a cost of $33 per visit, receive our newslwetter and make use of ICC's library of materials and cultural artifacts. You will also receive a certificate for two and a half hours of teacher training.

The cost is $50 per teacher and can be billed later. If the price of this workshop is too high for your school, then call to request a scholarship application form. Enrollment is limited so sign up early.

Thank you for your interest in offering exciting multi-cultural experiences to the children in your care.

*Mr. Mitoji Yabunaka, Consul General of Japan, Chicago
*Dr. David McConnell, College of Wooster, Ohio and author of Importing Diversity: Inside Japan's JET Program.
*Dr. Roberta Wollons, Indiana University Northwest and contributor to Transnational Competence: Rethinking the U.S. Japan Educational Relationship.
*Dr. Sarah Pradt, Macalester College, Minnesota
*Mr. Masahiro Oji, Japan Education Center, New York
*Dr. Richard Leitch, Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota

The Kobe College Corporation's (KCC) symposium series provides an opportunity for interested and informed people -- both Japanese and American -- to come together to explore the dynamics of the partnership between Japan and the United States. The media's focus on conflict between our two countries damages our ability on both sides of the Pacific to develop our partnership opportunities in business, arts, literature, politics and education. Based on Ambassador Walter Mondale's conviction that the relationship between Japan and the United States is of primary importance, KCC seeks to deepen our understanding of partnership and stimulate innovative work together.

This public symposium is co-sponsored by the Cross Cultural Institute of Kobe College Corporation, Minnesota Independent School District 197 and the Minnesota International Center. For more information on the Cross Cultural Institute, visit their website at www.crossculturalinstitute.org.

To register, please contact Laura McGlone at the Cross Cultural Institute directly at
1-800-659-4919. You may also send your contact information with credit card number via fax to 312-364-9337, or e-mail kobecollegecorp@prodigy.net.

Advance registration is due by February 12.

In the Information Age, the rapid increase in electronic communication poses new opportunities and challenges. It is plausible to envision a world that is completely connected. Yet, as borders and boundaries fade in cyberspace, will national sovereignty fade as well? Is this desirable? What does increased electronic communication mean for the power of the individual, especially in more controlled societies such as China?

Michael Maibach, vice-president of government affairs with Intel Corporation, will explore these issues in a MIC forum on Tuesday, February 20. Mr. Maibach joined Intel Corporation in 1983 and established the government affairs department and the Washington DC office where he is based. His previous positions include government affairs manager at Caterpillar Inc. and member of the Illinois State Senate legislative staff. He currently serves on the national board of the World Affairs Councils of America, among other organizations. Mr. Maibach holds undergraduate degrees in political science, American and Latin American history, and international business, as well as graduate degrees in constitutional law and liberal studies.

This program is cosponsored by the Minnesota International Student Association and the University of St. Thomas' Master of International Management Progam. Funding for this program has been provided by the U.S. Department of State, through a grant from NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

With Kabuki's spectacular effects and Butoh's anti-establishment sensibilities, Tokyo-based Dai Rakuda Kan (meaning Great Camel Battleship) remounts its epic Sea-Dappled Horse in a rare U.S. visit. This 25-member troupe engages a world of fantasy on a stage with 500 cedar poles and 200 doors. Its dance images begin with the creation of the world and end with hell and spirit figures dear to Japanese ghost stories.

For tickets: MIC Members, call Elaine at 612-626-4987 or e-mail egarbe@globe.mic.umn.edu by Monday, February 5th. Non-members, call the Northrup directly at 612-624-2345.

Join MIC on Thursday, March 1 as Dr. Tom Emmert, professor of history at Gustavus Adolphus College, offers a view of Serbia and the Serbs, their history, their tragic fate since the mid-1980's, and the prospect for the future after the recent political defeat of Slobodan Milosevic.

Dr. Emmert has taught history at Gustavus since 1973. He is the author of Serbian Golgotha: Kosovo, 1389, a study of the battle between the Serbs and the Ottoman Turks and its role in the evolving historical consciousness of the Serbian people. He is currently completing a one-volume History of Serbia for the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Dr. Emmert has been a frequent commentator on MPR and NPR during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. He holds a B.A. in History from St. Olaf College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Balkan and Eastern European History from Stanford University.

This program is cosponsored by the University of St. Thomas' Master of International Management(MIM) program.

MIC is a cooperating organization of this forum. For conference details and registration, please call 319.387.1343, e-mail nppf@luther.edu, or visit www.peaceprizeforum.org.

Would you like to be able to invite international speakers from over forty countries to visit your class? What sorts of cultural resources do you need in your classroom? The International Classroom Connection, a program of the Minnesota International Center, provides access to a variety of international speakers, visitors and resources.

ICC teacher training introduces you to the books, artifacts and speakers available to you as a teacher partner. The workshop also provides an introduction to the Minnesota International Center, which extends free membership to all teacher partners. After the ICC training workshop, you will be able to request international speakers a a cost of $33 per visit, receive our newslwetter and make use of ICC's library of materials and cultural artifacts. You will also receive a certificate for two and a half hours of teacher training.

The cost is $50 per teacher and can be billed later. If the price of this workshop is too high for your school, then call to request a scholarship application form. Enrollment is limited so sign up early.

Thank you for your interest in offering exciting multi-cultural experiences to the children in your care.

His Excellency Yang Sung Chul, South Korea's ambassador to the U.S., will speak to an MIC audience on Wednesday, March 28, about these and related issues. Ambassador Yang is a well-known political scientist and author with a long and distinguished career in academia and politics. He was a professor at Eastern Kentucky University from 1970-75 and the University of Kentucky from 1975-86. Ambassador Yang served as Dean of Academic Affairs at Kyung Hee University's Graduate Institute of Peace Studies in Seoul from 1987-94. He has been a member of the advisory committees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, and the National Unification Board. Most recently, Ambassador Yang served as a member of the Korean National Assembly from 1996 until his appointment as ambassador this year.

This program is cosponsored by the Korea Economic Institute in Washington, D.C., the Korean Association of Minnesota, the Korean Chamber of Commerce, the Minnesota Trade Office and the University of St. Thomas' Master of International Management program.