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News Release

Last modified: Friday, November 2, 2007

Celebrating world cultures in Bloomington

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 2, 2007

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University Bloomington will celebrate its international diversity on Nov. 8 with the IU World's Fare. Ethnic food from every continent (except Antarctica) and performances by 22 international student groups highlight this first-time-ever event.

Festivities begin at 5 p.m. in Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 E. Seventh St. The event kicks off International Education Week.

IU Union Board and the Office of International Services have designed the IU World's Fare to give the university community and greater Bloomington community the chance to share the cultures that more than 4,000 international students and 1,500 international scholars bring to the area. In addition, a poster exhibition will permit many of those scholars to showcase the research that they came to Bloomington to complete.

"IU's international students and scholars provide the campus and community with a remarkable resource -- they bring the world to our doorstep," said Christopher Viers, associate vice president for international services. "The IU World's Fare is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate their contributions to our vibrant intellectual community."

International Education Week is celebrated worldwide by colleges, universities, embassies, international organizations, businesses and community organizations. It aims to recognize the value of exchange and interaction of students and scholars around the world. This year's theme is "International Education: Fostering global citizenship and respect."

IU Bloomington's celebration includes a concert by the Latin American Ensemble at Auer Hall, International Family Night (co-sponsored by the City of Bloomington), and performances at the Monroe County Library Auditorium, as well as lectures, discussions, and exhibits. The complete schedule is available at https://www.indiana.edu/~intlserv/.

IUB has special reasons to celebrate this year. For the first time, international students comprise 10 percent of the student population. The number of new international students that International Services oriented to study at IU and in the U.S. exceeded 1,000, also for the first time.

"When Union Board contacted us last year and said they wanted to develop a cultural event that would feature the international diversity we have on campus, it meshed with our hopes to find a good and exciting beginning to International Education Week," said Sandy Britton, director of the Leo R. Dowling International Center. "It's been great working with them, and we think the event will be fun for everyone."

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