Updates on international recruiting activities

Lupita Garza-Cienfuegos, director of International Recruiting, has been traveling in the Middle East and Asia promoting SMU programs. She has visited Dubai and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and Kuwait, Kuwait. A stop in Bahrain was deleted from the seven-city tour for security reasons. In Asia, Lupita will be recruiting in Bangkok, Thailand; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Shanghai, China.

The is one of several trips she makes across the globe each year promoting the DeLaSalle Language Institute, the Winona undergraduate programs, and the SGPP University Programs. She left on Feb. 24 and will return March 13. She is traveling with the International Student Network, an organization that arranges international recruiting fairs each year.

Jim Bedtke, vice president of the College, and Dr. Marcel Dumestre, vice president of SGPP, are currently in China to meet with Saint Mary’s partner university, Northwest University. Bedtke and Dumestre are in Xi’an to discuss future cooperation and collaboration with Northwest University. More information on the meetings and negotiations will be forth coming in a future President’s Update.

While in Xi’an they met and had dinner with 20 graduates of SMU. The undergraduate and graduate alums spoke of how their time at SMU had changed their lives and the wonderful memories they have of their time in Winona. The alums spoke of the exceptional faculty and staff, by name, from across the university that had contributed to their great experience. Students used phrases like “awesome, life changing, professional, and caring” to describe the faculty and staff. A number of them continue to keep in contact with Saint Mary’s via Skype.

Between the negotiation sessions, time was scheduled for Bedtke and Dumestre to meet with prospective students and parents. They presented and answered questions for more than two hours for more than 50 individuals who are interested in undergraduate and graduate programs.