The newly renovated Clairmont Campus soon will be filled with lively debate on world affairs, strains of Indian music and the aroma of Middle Eastern and Asian cuisine—all part of the Center for International Living (CIL) to be housed there.

Originally proposed by the Institute for Comparative and International Studies (ICIS), the CIL is a project jointly supported by ICIS, Emory College and Campus Life. It is the first of what will be a series of thematically designed residence halls developed for Clairmont.
Gordon Newby, executive director of ICIS, said the center is an embodiment of Emory’s internationalizing spirit, as well as the ideal of a liberal arts education.

“I worry that modern education has become disjointed and compartmentalized,” Newby said. “The CIL will provide for integration of what people study, where they live and what they do in their spare time. The idea is to have faculty, graduate students and undergraduates come together from a variety of disciplines, all with a common interest in living in the wider world.”

CIL “members” will be able to take advantage of a host of special programming, including lectures on global issues, panel discussions, communal meals with faculty and visiting scholars, foreign film screenings, musical performances, and academic courses especially designed for residents. Members also will have opportunities to connect to Atlanta’s burgeoning international community through outreach projects.

Anthropology Professor Bradd Shore will serve as the first faculty-in-residence and director of programming. Already comfortably ensconced in his family apartment at Clairmont, Shore is very excited about developing a space where various regional interests can interact.

“We wanted to find programming that would increase the global awareness of students and that would help in this long process of converting Emory from a major national university into a major international one,” Shore said.

Though the CIL does not yet have residents, programming will begin this year to build interest in the concept, with the expectation that applications will be accepted this spring. Membership will not be restricted to residents; Newby hopes to attract a wide range of international students, study abroad returnees, American students with international heritage and anyone interested in international politics, economics, religion and culture. His long-term goal is to build a network of CIL alumni who will act as resources for each other and Emory’s future international programming.

The Office of International Affairs (OIA) is enthusiastic about this important project and looks forward to covering its future development. For more information on the CIL, contact Alta Schwartz, ICIS outreach coordinator, at alta@emory.edu.


Call for Sheth Award nominations
The OIA is seeking nominations for the 2003 Sheth Distinguished International Alumni Award, created last year by a generous gift from Jagdish Sheth, the Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing at Goizueta Business School, and his wife, Madhu. The award seeks to recognize Emory’s international students who have gone on to achieve
prominence in their life’s work, either in their home country or abroad.

Sheth, who established a similar award at the University of Illinois, said he was inspired to highlight the importance of internationals on U.S. campuses and to encourage Emory to keep better track of its own international students.

“A formal recognition program like this will make us focus more intently on Emory’s international dimensions,” Sheth said.

The award will be presented this spring at OIA’s annual International Awards Night. Nominees must have been citizens of another country at the time they were enrolled at Emory. If you would like to nominate someone, visit the “International Awards” page at www.emory.edu/OIA/ for a full list of criteria and nomination forms.