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History of SVSU: 1989-2013
Woody Pelton
from 1992 to 2002. Others who have headed the office have been Stephen Kazar (2006 to 2008), Jim Dwyer (2008 to 2010) and Stephanie Sieegreen (2010 to 2014).3 When Pelton arrived, he felt that the best way to provide international experiences for students was to get them to study abroad. “Our students travel better in a pack, rather than individually, and with someone they know,” said Gilbertson. Beginning in winter 1993, several SVSU faculty took students to England for a full semester. But the realization was that most SVSU students could not come up with the financial resources or the time to devote a full semester abroad. The solution was to encourage faculty to create more opportunities that would take students abroad for a couple of weeks rather than two or three months.4
Student and Faculty Exchanges
Another attempt to promote a sense of global community stemmed from the international student and faculty exchange initiatives the university had forged. Many of these partnerships were with Asian institutions. SVSU was lucky to have people with connections there. Michigan Gov. James Blanchard had sent Yien to Japan in 1989 to help establish a Michigan center for study at Hikone, in Shiga Prefecture. Yien also was instrumental in developing SVSU’s oldest exchange relationship—with Shikoku University in Tokushima, Japan.5
SVSU’s oldest exchange relationship is with Shikoku University in Tokushima, Japan. Students from Shikoku first arrived on campus in 1979. This cohort made the trip in August 1990.
