University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Leanna Escobar (801) 863-8342
For more information: Danny Damron (801) 863-8793
The director of Asia from the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Brett Heimburger, will speak at Utah Valley University at 11 a.m. on Sept. 14 in UVU’s library auditorium, room LI 120.
This lecture is one of many events sponsored by the International Center’s Global Spotlight: China. Click here for more information about Global Spotlight: China and future events. A business executive with 16 years of experience in a variety of industries, Heimburger has managed corporate business development, marketing and global strategy for large international firms. He has lived and worked overseas numerous times, including seven years in Asia. He previously managed strategic planning and mergers and acquisitions in Intuit’s Tokyo office. Prior to that, he worked for Itochu International, Inc., developing global business projects throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Heimburger began his present assignment in October 2005. His focus includes business and diplomatic collaboration between Utah and Asia. He works closely with public and private counterparts abroad to increase Utah exports, solicit foreign direct investment, and promote tourism. He serves on the Utah International Trade Commission, the Confucius Center at the University of Utah, and the Utah-Taihu Institute for Environmental Research, and is an adjunct professor of international business at the Gore School of Business at Westminster College.
“Brett is in a unique position to understand and explain how Utah fits into the U.S.-China economic relationship. I am interested to learn how the people of Utah can take the next steps of engagement with China,” said Steve Crook, assistant director of the UVU International Center. “In my mind, Utah is already ahead of the pack because it has more middle school and high school students learning Chinese than any other state. Also, having former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. as the current U.S. ambassador to China is a bonus.”
A business executive with 16 years of experience in a variety of industries, Mr. Heimburger has managed corporate business development, marketing and global strategy for large international firms.
Mr. Heimburger has lived and worked overseas numerous times, including 7 years in Asia. He previously managed strategic planning and mergers and acquisitions in Intuit’s Tokyo office. Prior to that, he worked for Itochu International Inc. developing global business projects throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.
In October 2005, Mr. Heimburger was appointed by the governor to be Director for Asia in the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. His focus includes business and diplomatic collaboration between Utah and Asia. He works closely with public and private counterparts abroad to increase Utah exports, solicit foreign direct investment, and promote tourism. He serves on the Utah International Trade Commission, the Confucius Center at the University of Utah, Utah-Taihu Institute for Environmental Research, and is an adjunct professor of International Business at the Gore School of Business at Westminster College.
Mr. Heimburger holds an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University; he obtained his BA from Brigham Young University in International Relations. He is an avid skier and tennis player, and enjoys hiking and mountain biking. Mr. Heimburger currently lives in Salt Lake City with his wife and daughter.
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Melissa Hempel (801) 863-6743
For more information: UVU’s Woodbury Art Museum (801) 863-4200
“Art Through the Cultural Revolution,” an exhibition of works by the Yan’an Cave Artists Group, opens Sept. 14 at Utah Valley University’s Woodbury Art Museum.
The opening reception will be held Tuesday, Sep. 14, from 7-9 p.m. Artist Song Ruxin, a member of the Yan’an Cave Artists Group, is traveling from China to attend the opening and participate in events.
Influenced by policy initiatives and utilized for social and political purposes, these works from China incorporate styles ranging from Soviet Socialist realism to traditional folk art. Artist Jin Zhilin directed the Yan’an Cave Artists Group during the many reforms of the Cultural Revolution period. The works were created from the 1950s through the mid-1980s, and reflect collector Dodge Billingsley’s many years of traveling to and from China, searching for rare paintings and prints that survived the Cultural Revolution.
The “Art Through the Cultural Revolution” display is a collaboration of Combat Films and Research, the UVU International Center, and the Woodbury Art Museum as part of this year’s Global Spotlight China program.
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Leanna Escobar (801) 863-8342
For more information: Danny Damron, director of the UVU International Center (801) 863-8703
Utah Valley University’s International Center and the Center for the Study of Ethics will host notable Uyghur leader and businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer from China, on Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 11:15 a.m. in the UVU Library auditorium, room 120.
The lecture is part of UVU’s Global Spotlight: China programming in addition to being connected to the activities of the University’s Ethics Awareness Week.
Kadeer, 61, is a well-known businesswoman, philanthropist, and president of the World Uyghur Congress and the Uyghur American Association. A former laundress, she built up and ran a multimillion-dollar trading company and a department store in Urumchi, the capital of Xinjiang formerly known as East Turkistan. The mother of eleven children, Kadeer was at one time the seventh wealthiest individual in the People’s Republic of China.
She is passionate and committed to helping downtrodden Uyghurs, particularly women and children. In order to educate Uyghur children from poor families, she opened free school classes using space in her department store. She started the “Thousand Mothers Movement” in December of 1997 to encourage and empower Uyghur women to start their own businesses.
Kadeer’s philanthropic efforts have been praised by the Chinese government. She was appointed a member of China’s National People’s Congress as well as the Political Consultative Congress in 1992, and a member of China’s delegation to the United Nation’s Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.
She has since actively campaigned toward the goal of securing greater autonomy for the Uyghur people of China. In 2000, Human Rights Watch awarded Kadeer its highest human rights award, and in 2004, Norway’s Rafto Foundation honored her with the Rafto Award. Ms. Kadeer currently lives with her husband near Washington, D.C.
The University endeavors to provide students and the community with a broad spectrum of opinions and perspectives without necessarily endorsing them.
Click here for a clip from the controversial film The 10 Conditions of Love about the life of Rebiya Kadeer.
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Leanna Escobar (801) 863-8342
For more information: Danny Damron, director of the UVU International Center (801) 863-8703
Utah Valley University’s International Center and Religious Studies Program will present a panel discussion entitled “Competing Loyalties: Religion in Communist China” on Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. in the UVU Library’s Timpanogos Room. The event is part of an ongoing series of programming hosted by the International Center as part of its year long Global Spotlight: China effort.
Religious belief connected to organized religion in China has experienced dramatic growth in the past two decades. With increased religious alternatives to the avowed atheism of the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese government has sought to maintain control over that growth as a way to mitigate the inevitable competing loyalty that arises when believers seek to balance belief with political reality. This panel will focus on how different religions strike that balance while trying to maintain a semblance of religious independence.
The panelists include Lawrence Reardon from the Department of Political Science at the University of New Hampshire who will present “Adapting Relations with the Vatican: China’s Religious Policies Toward the Chinese Catholic Church.” Harvard doctorate student Melissa Inouye will present “Miraculous Christianity in the Contemporary People’s Republic of China,” and fellow Harvard doctorate student Michael Ing will present “Religion and the Reemergence of Confucianism in Modern China.”
“The International Center and Religious Studies are delighted to bring this type of event to the Utah Valley community. It is a valuable opportunity for our students and community members to learn more about the current religious environment in China,” said Danny Damron, director of UVU’s International Center.
For local high school students, Exploring the diversity of China...languages, minority populations, music, traditions
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Leanna Escobar (801) 863-8342
For more information: Danny Damron, director of the UVU International Center (801) 863-8703
The documentary film and discussion of “Helen Foster Snow: Witness to Revolution” will be presented on Nov. 10 at 11 a.m. in the UVU library auditorium, room LI 120.
One of the film’s producers and an associate professor of political science at Brigham Young University, Eric Hyer, will lead a discussion following the documentary’s screening.
Helen Foster Snow (1907-1997) was an American journalist who reported from China in the 1930s under the name “Nym Wales” on the developing revolution in China and the Korean independence movement. She was born in Cedar City, Utah and raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After she attended the University of Utah for a short time, her father, an influential Utah attorney, arranged a job for her in the American consulate in Shanghai. Almost immediately after arriving in 1931, she met Edgar Snow, who had arrived in China in 1929. They were married in 1932. The Snows got to know idealistic and patriotic students, a number of which were in their journalism classes, and some of whom were members of the Communist underground.
For China, the 1930s were a decade marked by profound uncertainty and sweeping change. In the wake of the collapse of the ancient dynastic system, the country fell into political chaos as competing warlords terrorized the countryside. Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalist party was engaged in a mortal struggle against the Communist forces of Mao Zedong for control of the nation. Meanwhile, Japan invaded Manchuria, and threatened the survival of China.
It was in this unstable and dangerous environment that aspiring American author Helen Foster Snow found herself when she arrived in China. She spent the next decade working as a writer, an activist, and a humanitarian. She is one of the few Western eyewitnesses to the gathering Chinese Communist Revolution. She was a personal friend to Chairman Mao, Premier Chou Enlai, and Army Chief Zhu De.
Shot on location in China, this carefully documented film considers her important role during this turning point in the birth of modern China.
The film is available from Combat Films and Research - http://www.combatfilms.com
Click here for "Helen Foster Snow in China" video.
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Jason Grotegut (801) 863-5345
For more information: Danny Damron, director of the UVU International Center (801) 863-8703
Three prominent female academics will discuss women’s issues in China in Utah Valley University’s final Global Spotlight event of the fall 2010 semester. The panel discussion will be Dec. 2 at 10 a.m. in the UVU Library auditorium, room 120.
Participants include Janet Theiss, associate professor of history and director of the Asia Center at the University of Utah; Susan Madsen, associate professor of management at UVU; and Valerie Hudson, professor of political science at Brigham Young University.
The panelists will discuss the historical positions, leadership roles, and modern demographic challenges of women in China.
Theiss, who teaches courses on the history of China, Asia and comparative gender, has conducted research that focuses on topics related to gender and law in 18th century China. She authored “Disgraceful Matters: The Politics of Chastity in Eighteenth-Century China,” and is currently writing about an adultery and corruption scandal from the mid-18th century under the working title “Family Scandal and Family Fortune.”
Madsen is an independent leadership and change consultant. She has been heavily involved for many years in researching the lifetime development of prominent women leaders, publishing titles “On Becoming a Woman Leader: Learning from the Experiences of University Presidents” in 2008, and “Developing Leadership: Learning from the Experiences of Women Governors” in 2009. Currently Madsen is conducting leadership research and consulting in the United Arab Emirates and China.
Hudson coauthored with Andrea Den Boer, “Bare Branches: The Security Implications of Asia’s Surplus Male Population,” in 2004, which won the American Association of Publishers Award for the Best Book in Political Science, and the Otis Dudley Duncan Award for Best Book in Social Demography. Recently named to the list of Foreign Policy magazine’s Top 100 Global Thinkers for 2009, Hudson is one of the principal investigators of the WomanStats Project, which includes the largest compilation of data on the status of women in the world today.
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Karissa Neely (801) 863-6351
For more information: Elaine Englehardt (801) 863-6464
Utah Valley University invites its faculty, staff, students and the community to learn more about how the global economy affects all individuals. Timothy Stratford, winner of the 2011 UVU Kirk Englehardt Excellence in Business Ethics Award, will speak on “Building Trust in U.S.-China Economic Relations,” Jan. 11 at 10 a.m. in the Ragan Theater in the Sorensen Student Center.
In Beijing, China, Stratford is a partner in a major law firm, Covington and Burlington, and a member of a prestigious international trade group. His practice focuses on advising international clients who do business in China, as well as on assisting Chinese companies seeking to expand their businesses globally. Formerly, he was a vice president and general counsel for General Motors’ China operations. He oversaw the company’s legal trade policy work in the region.
Stratford has also worked under President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush, developing and implementing U.S. trade policy toward mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and Mongolia. He worked closely with senior U.S. and Chinese officials from numerous government departments and agencies to address problems encountered by companies engaged in bilateral trade and investment. He co-chaired a number of groups established under the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade and the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue.
Stratford is the seventh recipient of UVU Englehardt Award, which is annually presented by the UVU Center for the Study of Ethics to an individual who displays exemplary ethics in their life, both professionally and personally.
“Exemplary ethics demonstrates a sustained commitment to understanding the necessity of integrity and humanity in business pursuits. This individual demonstrates strengthening business ethics through fiscal responsibility, leadership, civic activity, and personal example,” said David Keller, director for the Center for the Study of Ethics. “We believe that Tim Stratford exemplifies the necessary traits of Englehardt Excellence in Business Ethics Award.”
Stratford’s lecture dovetails with the many events presented this year by the UVU International Center’s Global Spotlight: China program. The year-long focus highlights art, economic development, and a variety of salient issues relating to Sino-American relations.
And because China has emerged as a global presence in the world economy, including here in Utah, UVU President Matthew S. Holland is also leading an initiative in which the University will soon begin offering Chinese language courses and degrees.
The award is named after local businessman Kirk R. Englehardt, who died of cancer in 2003. An astute businessman, he was president of Businessman Planning and Investment Research, Inc. for 24 years, specializing in securities and retirement investing. He also served during that time as a lobbyist and spokesperson for the investment industry and testified before the U.S. Congress. Throughout his life he was known for his integrity, wisdom, intellect, and commitment to honesty. His wife Elaine, children Rich and Kellie, and mother Gloria help the Center for the Study of Ethics sponsor this annual lecture and award in an effort to promote and strengthen awareness in business ethics.
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Brie Joseph (801) 863-8342
For more information: Danny Damron, director of the UVU International Center (801) 863-8703
Utah Valley University has been selected as one of 10 U.S. higher education institutions to participate in the International Academic Partnership Program (IAPP). The IAPP is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), and seeks to increase the number of international partnerships between higher education institutions in the U.S. and those in China during 2011.
The IAPP advisory board was impressed with UVU’s commitment to international education, stating UVU’s “application stood out for its demonstrated support from both administration and faculty, commitment to increasing internationalization on your campus and stalwart desire to foster a partnership with a Chinese institution.”
Participating campuses will form an on-campus task force of faculty/administrators that will work on prospective partnerships with institutions in China, which could include joint programs, student exchanges or faculty linkages for collaborative research and training. Each institution will also conduct an institution-wide inventory of events pertaining to China and develop a strategic plan focused on partnership with China.
Over the next year, these 10 institutions will participate in an integrated series of training activities, focused on implementing and sustaining partnerships with institutions in China, and a study tour to China in spring 2011 to meet with potential partner campuses. Each participating institution has committed to forming a campus task force to work on prospective partnerships, conducting an institution-wide inventory of activities pertaining to China and developing a strategic plan focused on partnership with China. Partnership activities may include joint programs, student exchanges or faculty linkages for collaborative research and teaching.
“It’s a great honor to be selected,” said Danny Damron, director of UVU’s International Center. “This program is a natural next step, building upon the International Center’s Global Spotlight: China program and UVU President Matthew S. Holland’s Strategic China Initiative. Developing international partnerships with higher education institutions in China will move UVU further along in building more rigorous China-focused academic programming.”
This partnership opportunity comes at a time when UVU has introduced a number of initiatives to shed light on China’s growing influence as a world cultural, social and economic power. In addition to the International Center’s Global Spotlight: China program presented during the 2010-2011 academic year, the institution’s Business Engagement Strategy, which was developed in late 2010, includes initiatives aimed at better understanding China’s relevance in the world economic and business arenas.
“This institution’s selection as a participant in the International Academic Partnership Program with China underscores UVU’s dedication to offering programs and degrees that are in demand and that will help our graduates find employment in an ever-changing world market,” President Holland said. “It speaks to the serious nature of our students and academic programs and the emphasis on community engagement at this University. Our community leaders indicated a need for a more robust commitment to Chinese education. This is evidence of our effort to meet that commitment.”
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Brie Joseph (801) 863-8342
For more information: Danny Damron, director of the UVU International Center (801) 863-8703
An award-winning Washington Post reporter John Pomfret will speak at 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 1 in the Utah Valley University Library auditorium, room 120. His lecture, “Then & Now: A China Watcher’s Tale,” will discuss the book, “Chinese Lessons,“ and Pomfret’s experience as one of the first Americans students to go to China and study at Nanjing University.
Pomfret was raised in New York City and educated at Stanford and Nanjing universities. He has been a foreign correspondent for 15 years, covering wars in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Congo, Sri Lanka, Iraq, southwestern Turkey and northeastern Iran. Pomfret reports on U.S.-Asian relations and has spent seven years covering China including during the Tiananmen Square protests, and then from 1998-2003 as the bureau chief for The Washington Post in Beijing. In 2003, Pomfret was awarded the Osborne Elliot Award for the best coverage of Asia by the Asia Society.
“Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China” is Pomfret’s first book. His portrait of the Chinese people will change how we think of China as well as challenge perceptions of the way fate can reshape the course of nations.
Click here for "Conversations with History: John Pomfret" video.
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Brie Joseph (801) 863-8342
For more information: Danny Damron, director of the UVU International Center (801) 863-8703
Minqi Li, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Utah, will present remarks entitled “China, Peak Oil and Climate Change” on Feb. 11 at noon in the UVU Library auditorium, room LI 120.
A Chinese political economist, world systems analyst, and a historical social scientist, Li’s research interests include political economy, macroeconomic imbalances, the global environmental crisis, and the long-term historical dynamics of the capitalist world system. His book “The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World-Economy” was published in 2009.
Minqi Li received his doctorate in economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2002. He taught political science at York University, in Canada from 2003 to 2006, and has been teaching economics at the University of Utah since 2006.
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Brie Joseph (801) 863-8342
For more information: Danny Damron, director of the UVU International Center (801) 863-8703
Brad Dearden, an associate professor of geography at the University of Maine Farmington (UMF), will discuss “Commerce in Motion: Images of the Economic in Beijing Transport City-Space” on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in the Computer Sciences & Engineering Building, Room CS 404.
Dearden will examine the incidence of advertisements in and around several forms of transportation in Beijing, China. His research addresses how various forms of media afford opportunity for visual expression of particular subjects in geographic fieldwork. Photographs provide a means to convey both literal as well as nuanced meanings of contemporary human activities and place. His research helps to contextualize this phenomenon, namely the positionality of such commercial representations within China’s expanded free-market economy and amidst its socio-political backdrop.
Dearden teaches about issues in developing regions, the global economy, and political geography, with regional specializations in East Asia and Latin America. He is a member of the International Studies Council at UMF and serves on the steering committee of the Maine Geographic Alliance. He was a fellow in 2005 at the Japan Studies Institute and in spring 2010 participated in a faculty exchange program at Beijing University of Technology.
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Brie Joseph (801) 863-8342
For more information: Danny Damron, director of the UVU International Center (801) 863-8703
Stephen Yates, senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and president of DC International Advisory, will discuss “Contending Visions in U.S.-China Relations: From Nixon to Obama” on March 10 at noon at the International Center in the Woodbury Business Building, Room WB 147.
Forty years ago Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger placed a bet on China’s future direction and the U.S. ability to shape it. In essence, the bet was that with increased deference to Chinese leaders and expansive bilateral engagement, over time the differences in our national interests would narrow and opportunities for strategic cooperation would expand. This approach is now firmly entrenched in the American foreign policy establishment and both major political parties. This perceived continuity, however, hides significant tension among contending visions and expectations for U.S.-China relations. Yates will assess these contending views and identify alternatives that are likely to challenge establishment thinking in the not too distant future.
Yates is president of DC International Advisory, a business and public policy consultancy established in 2006. He received a master’s degree in China studies from the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He previously served as an international affairs analyst at the U.S. Department of Defense from 1991 to 1996, and as a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation from 1996 to 2001. As the deputy assistant to the vice president for national security affairs from April 2001 to September 2005, Yates was involved in the development and execution of U.S foreign policy priorities in Asia, Latin America and Africa. He currently is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and a regular Fox News commentator on U.S. foreign policy.
Chi-Chi Zhang worked in the AP's Beijing bureau covering education, China's dynamic post-80s generation and various breaking news stories. Worked on big stories such as the riots in Tibet, the devastating Sichuan earthquake, China's 60th anniversary, the Xinjiang massacre, and 2008 Summer Olympics. Memorable enterprise stories include covering China's trash crisis, where I visited a village in Henan overwhelmed with garbage (I also edited and did a voiceover for APTN), and covering China's "ant tribe" generation by visiting groups of young people over the course of three months in slums and telling of their struggle to find jobs after college. Used social media in Chinese to stay afloat of the latest protests, events, perspectives and dissident actions.
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Brie Joseph (801) 863-8342
For more information: Danny Damron, director of the UVU International Center (801) 863-8703
Utah Valley University’s School of the Arts, along with the International Center, invite you to attend the world premier of “Mountain Ghost” composed by Zhou Long for the UVU Chamber Choir, and world-renowned Chinese pipa artist, Jie Ma. The event will take place April 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Sorensen Student Center’s Ragan Theater.
The pipa is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, sometimes called the Chinese lute. First appearing in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.) the pipa was developed during the Han Dynasty and is now one of the most popular Chinese instruments. During the Ming (A.D. 1368-1644) and Qing (A.D. 1645-1911) dynasties, various pipa schools with different styles flourished. The present day pipa techniques are mostly the fusion of those different schools.
Many of the compositions that make up the traditional repertoire, which were handed down from generation to generation through individual artists and scholars, date back hundreds of years, while others are part of a body of compositions that are dynamic and growing. In more recent times, composers have explored the possibilities for the pipa and other Chinese and Western instruments, even with orchestra.
Zhou Long is one such composer. He was born into an artistic family and began piano lessons at an early age. In 1973, after being forced to abandon his music studies during the Cultural Revolution, he resumed his musical training and studied composition, music theory, and conducting, as well as Chinese traditional music. In 1977, he enrolled in the first composition class at the reopened Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Zhou Long attended Columbia University, where he received a doctorate of musical in 1993. Zhou is currently a visiting professor of composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and has composed “Mountain Ghost” specifically for Jie Ma to perform at UVU.
Jie Ma comes from a long line of traditional Chinese musicians, and began studying music and playing the pipa at age 5. She became a professional musician at age 14. Jie received a bachelor’s of music degree from the Tianjin Conservatory of Music in 2001. She was an adjunct professor in the music department at Liao Ning Normal University, and she has taught pipa to a wide range of students in China and the United States. After coming to the U.S., much like Zhou Long, Jie began exploring the possibilities of blending traditional pipa technique with Western and other sounds.
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
For more information: Danny Damron, director of the UVU International Center (801) 863-8703
The Utah Valley University campus community and local fine arts aficionados will be treated next week to a free concert from one of China’s more prestigious musical groups.
Fifty-two members of the Shanghai Xuhui Orchestra and Chorus will perform on May 11 at 7 p.m. at UVU’s Centre Stage venue in the Sorensen Student Center. There is no fee for admission.
“This is a top-notch fine arts orchestra and singing group,” said Gwen Anderson, director of UVU’s Multicultural Center. “These musicians are every bit as good as those from the top orchestras out of New York. They are quite prestigious. This will be the first time this group has visited Utah and the first time Utah has hosted a group of this caliber from China.”
The UVU concert will be one of two the orchestra and chorus will perform in Utah. The tour is being funded by the Chinese government and Sinolink Foundation, a Utah-based non-profit organization that promotes cultural and educational exchanges between the two countries. UVU behavioral science lecturer and Sinolink chairman Ron Liang has been working to bring the group to Utah for nearly three years.
“This group is coming here to improve public relations and to foster relationships with the educational institutions here and the Chinese communities here in Utah,” Anderson said.
The concert is in conjunction with the Woodbury School of Business’ “Doing Business With China” conference scheduled for May 12 on UVU’s campus.
It also underscores recent efforts by UVU President Matthew S. Holland and UVU to create greater engagement opportunities with China as an emerging world economic and cultural power. These include the International Center’s Global Spotlight: China program during the 2010-2011 academic year, UVU’s seven initiative Business Engagement Strategy part of which will offer Chinese language and cultural programs to students, and UVU’s selection as one of 10 U.S. higher education institutions to be selected for an educational exchange programs with peer institutions in China.
“One of President Holland’s big goals for the University and the community is to embrace and have a strong focus on understanding the Chinese culture and the importance of doing business with China,” said Elaine Englehardt, special assistant to the president. “This concert and conference are ways to help accomplish those goals.”
University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
For more information: Danny Damron, director of the UVU International Center (801) 863-8703
Utah Valley University’s Woodbury School of Business will bring together Chinese officials, international experts and the business community for a one-day conference developed to provide an educational and networking resource for those interested in conducting business in the Asian Pacific. The inaugural “Doing Business with China” conference will take place on Thursday, May 12, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Sorensen Student Center.
“The Woodbury School of Business is sponsoring this first in a series of ‘Doing Business in China’ conferences to create an annual forum for local business men and women to learn about current issues in China from local and national experts with years of experience of doing business in China,” explained Norman Wright, dean of the Woodbury School of Business. “This conference will also provide a networking opportunity for business managers from Utah to interact with VIPs, enterprises and organizations from the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, one of the largest institutions for the promotion of foreign trade in China. UVU welcomes the local and international business community to campus for this outstanding event.”
The conference will cover a wide variety of international business topics including financial logistics, franchising/licensing, import/export, legal issues and small and medium business outsourcing. Featured presenters include visiting officials from the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), a trade body of the Chinese government. Founded in 1952, CCPIT, which also goes by the name of the China Chamber of International Commerce, promotes China’s international economic and commercial interests.
“As we establish greater ties with institutions in China through international university partnerships and offer Chinese language and culture programs at UVU, the conference is a logical next step of engagement,” said UVU President Matthew S. Holland. “It will help connect Utah businesses with industries in China and facilitate greater economic opportunities to the communities served by UVU. This is just the kind of event we want to be hosting as an institution committed to community and global engagement.”
The morning keynote address will feature Manuel “Manny” Menendez III, a veteran international businessman, entrepreneur, humanitarian and founder of MCM Group Holdings, Ltd. MCM is an organization specializing in international business and trade, and whose activities are focused on the Asian Pacific region with special emphasis on the People’s Republic of China.
Joining Menendez on the conference program are session presenters Mark Garfield, Zions Bank; Nick Stewart, Tai Pan Trading; Jonathan Watts, Watts Baggs USA, Inc.; David Covey, Not a Me 2; Jim Higbee, Higbee Consulting International; and Mike Mangelson, Stole Rives, LLP.
