RADFORD – Ten Radford University students will each receive a $6,000 scholarship to participate in a cutting edge foreign-language training and international internship program.

The university’s International Education Center (IEC) recently received a two-year $136,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop an international internship program for students with a business-related major. This new initiative will augment RU’s array of resources already available for students to become confident entrepreneurs.

Combining foreign language training and business skills enhancement, the grant will provide assistance to RU students who will participate in the Radford International Business Ambassadors (RIBA) program. The following students will participate in an RU sponsored language program abroad and an approved internship program.

Chinese program:
Aysha Bodenhamer, a junior sociology major from Mt. Airy, N.C.
Stefan Dreesch, a sophomore management major from Virginia Beach
Sean LeDoux, a junior industrial psychology major from Fredericksburg
Donna Loughran, a sophomore interior design major from Fredericksburg

French program:
Marian Majzoub, a freshman political science major from Leesburg
Nicolas Wood, a freshman French major from Purcellville

Spanish program;
Megan Rhodes, a freshman Spanish and education major from Blacksburg
Chelsea Webb, a sophomore marketing major from Virginia Beach

German program:
Hiromi Hori, a sophomore marketing major from Yokohama, Japan
Justin Shelton, a junior information technology major from Raven

"Our goal is to encourage students to explore international options earlier in their academic careers. This program will allow them to combine language study and international experience with other majors in their first year at RU," said Jon Stauff, director of the IEC and RIBA coordinator. "Basic language skills can make our students more competitive for great career opportunities abroad and at home."

Stauff hopes to expand the program to include Latin American countries after the first two years. Eight to 10 students can participate each year in one summer of language training abroad as a freshman or sophomore and one semester of study abroad as a junior or senior. Career orientation activities and cultural competency workshops are part of the grant program.

Aysha Bodenhamer will utilize her scholarship to return to China in 2009 and 2010 and network with international leaders. “I was a Kirk Scholar last year and had the opportunity to travel to various parts of China for a month,” she said. “I had a wonderful time in China, and I saw it as an important experience that allowed me to grow as a person. I wanted to go back, but I didn’t know if I would have the opportunity. Now I do.”

Marian Majzoub, whose background in the French language led her to choose an international program in France, wants to “learn about how people conduct business, work with other people and, most of all, experience how the rest of the world works outside of the U.S.”

Megan Rhodes hopes to become fluent in Spanish during her time abroad and boost her qualifications as a future teacher. “Studying abroad is viewed as a very admirable trait to potential employers, and I believe that, if I can learn to speak Spanish fluently, I will be much more appealing as a potential teacher. I would also love to live abroad and teach the English language to Spanish-speaking children.”

“This scholarship means everything to me,” said Justin Shelton, whose brothers were born in Germany and where he lived for four years as a child. “I will be able to broaden my horizons and see another part of the world at such a young age.”

As part of the scholarship, students will also be assigned to a local or regional business mentor and will experience job shadowing.

“We hope that these relationships will be mutually beneficial, with the RIBA students bringing back some knowledge for the local business community after they return from their language adventures and internships,” explained Stauff.

The RIBA program was developed through a collaboration between the IEC, RU faculty, Academic Outreach, and Experiential Learning and Career Services. 

Beginning in the summer of 2009, students will be able to take advantage of another international education opportunity. On Dec. 16-17, a faculty representative from Aichi Prefectural University (APU) in Nagoya, Japan, visited RU to present information about a newly formed exchange agreement between APU and RU. Takashi Okuda, a professor in APU's Department of Applied Information Science and Technology and a specialist in the field of robotics, met with representatives from RU’s College of Business and Economics, university administration, School of Communication, Honors Academy, English department, IEC, Foreign Languages and Literatures, and the College of Science and Technology to discuss the first student exchange between APU and RU.

(In the photo: Takashi Okuda of APU meets with RU professor Grace Toney Edwards.)

To learn more about RIBA, APU, and other exciting international education opportunities in which students may participate as early as their first year, contact the International Education Center at (540) 831-6200 or email jwstauff@radford.edu.