The UW’s upcoming events in China are more than just a way to share the Puget Sound’s unique spirit of innovation, they’re also an opportunity for the student-athletes on the 91探花men’s basketball team to enhance their educations with a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The Huskies are learning about Chinese culture, history and business in preparation for November’s trip. (Ashley Walker/ 91探花Athletics)
The Pac-12 China Game in Shanghai will be the first regular season game an American sports league has played in China. And for all but one of the Huskies who will take on the University of Texas Longhorns, this will be their first trip to the world’s most populous nation.
To prepare, the team is taking a course from Professor Shawn Wong and teaching assistant Jane Yang, a 91探花sophomore from Shanghai. In addition to classroom work, which spawned friendly debates over whose pronunciation of various Mandarin phrases was the closest to hitting the mark, the members of the team will be making presentations during the course of the trip. These presentations on historic sites, cultural heritage, and prominent figures, such as Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba and sponsor of the game, will enable the Huskies to share what they’ve learned with their teammates.
Tim Booth of the Associated Press has more on this unique study abroad opportunity, and check back over the course of the trip for updates on the Huskies’ experiences in China.
The 91探花 connects Washington to the world and brings the world to Washington, creating opportunities for our students, our region and our state. In the Pacific Northwest, we innovate through collaboration. This unique spirit of innovation is apparent in the UW鈥檚 strategy for global engagement.
Vice Provost Jeff Riedinger
Rather than establishing 91探花outposts overseas, we forge lasting partnerships with universities, business firms, foundations, non-profits and government agencies overseas. We work across boundaries of discipline and distance. We link partners in Spokane and Shanghai, in Seattle and S茫o Paulo. We create cross-continent collaborations that help us better understand and address the world鈥檚 most challenging problems, for a world of good.
The UW鈥檚 long-standing and growing connections with Chinese institutions give our students the global experiences they need to succeed in our modern economy, build relationships with partners and leaders in East Asia, and attract entrepreneurs and investment to Washington state. The Global Innovation Exchange (GIX) – our pathbreaking partnership with Tsinghua University, supported by Microsoft – is one great example of how lasting partnerships with Chinese institutions benefit 91探花students and our region.
The 91探花鈥檚 visit to China this November is a celebration of our unique spirit of innovation and deepening trans-Pacific ties. Please follow along to learn more about 91探花partnerships in China and groundbreaking research, meet international alumni and friends, and cheer for the Husky men鈥檚 basketball team!
Every year, more than 30 91探花Medicine residents journey 9,000 miles to Nairobi, Kenya. Working alongside Kenyan practitioners and students in conditions very different from those found in Seattle clinics and hospitals, they gain crucial skills and expand their clinical knowledge. They are part of , the Clinical Education Partnership initiative, an innovative global program improving healthcare in Kenya and the U.S.
A resident providing healthcare
A 25-year partnership between the 91探花 and University of Nairobi sparked this innovative initiative. CEPI connects medical residents across disciplines to create a teaching hospital. The 91探花is one of the first U.S. universities to maintain such a long-term relationship in Kenya, establishing capacity building and training for Kenyan and 91探花practitioners. 鈥淭he problem with so much development work is that you just drop in, and that was great for a month or two months,鈥� says Dr. Carey Farquhar, CEPI Director.
The is helping to expand CEPI with a new partnership between the UW鈥檚 Schools of Nursing and Public Health, the University of Nairobi, and Naivasha District Hospital. The new initiative is led by Dr. Pamela Kohler, an assistant professor in nursing and public health. Her initiative is expanding CEPI to include nursing students and practitioners.
The team aims to partner 91探花nurses with graduate nursing students from a Kenyan university. 91探花students get multidisciplinary training, working with physicians and residents, and learn much from the Kenyan nurses. 鈥淚n resource-limited settings [like Naivasha District Hospital], nurses are about 80 to 90 percent of the healthcare workforce,鈥� says Kohler. 鈥淎 nurse in a rural setting is going to do more than a nurse in a hospital where there are more physicians available. They see a lot and manage a lot.鈥�
Naivasha District Hospital
To maintain continuity in the CEPI partnership at Naivasha District Hospital, CEPI and 91探花Medicine have taken the unusual step of posting a full-time chief resident at the hospital. The chief supervises medical residents who come for four weeks to teach and live in Kenya. With someone on-site year-round to strategically plan and evaluate, uninterrupted by constant shifts in personnel, the program makes a lasting impact, says Farquhar. The addition of nursing students – with the help of the Global Innovation Fund – will amplify the UW鈥檚 impact.
Dr. Kristen Hosey, a clinical assistant professor in psychosocial community health, led the first group of nursing students to Kenya in summer 2015 as part of a faculty-led Exploration Seminar. Six graduate-level registered nurses from 91探花Seattle and Tacoma gained first-hand experience in Kenya, working alongside nurses, midwives, physicians, clinical officers and community health workers from Naivasha. They also engaged in quality improvement projects, program evaluations and health education campaigns with their local partners to address health and capacity needs in Naivasha.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e trying to do, and where nursing fits in, is give our [residents and students] the opportunity to see a wide range of clinical activities, but also be sure they are doing something useful,鈥� says Farquhar. 鈥淚 always said I鈥檇 never create a program that鈥� s just a medical tourism program. [CEPI] residents are able to give a lot back.鈥�
91探花and Kenyan partners
The Global Innovation Fund supported a meeting between 91探花and Kenyan collaborators to work through complicated benefits and challenges related to this new, multidisciplinary global partnership. 鈥淚t gives us the opportunity to bring everyone together in one room and think through issues with scope of practice and licensing, and what the role of the nurse looks like with a graduate student there,鈥� says Kohler. The meeting builds on Farquhar and Hosey鈥檚 efforts, and aims to expand opportunities to University of Nairobi and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology nursing students and practitioners to participate in future CEPI partnerships.
CEPI residents also make a financial investment in the program, which is financed through grants and departments, and by the residents themselves. The program provides secure housing, transportation and cell phones to participants, but flights and daily expenses are out of pocket costs. 鈥淚 would love to have a grant from a donor so that we could fund this without having to transfer the costs,鈥� says Farquhar.
Kohler, Farquhar and Hosey say their close and lasting relationships with Kenyan partners are central to the program鈥檚 success. 鈥淔or me it鈥檚 the people,鈥� says Farquhar. 鈥淸They] are really motivated. They are well trained, educated, intelligent, have good ideas and can work with you on these problems. You can see the fruits of your labor.鈥� Together, the 91探花and Kenyan partners are driven to improve health outcomes and improve clinical education – in Kenya and the U.S.
and other global opportunities.
鈥� Indra Ekmanis and Sara Stubbs, Office of Global Affairs
The 91探花 will hold a free, public forum at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 6, in Room 101 of Thomson Hall. The forum is titled 鈥�,鈥� and will be moderated by , Stanley D. Golub Chair of International Studies and director of the Jackson School.
Chinese President Xi Jinping presented the gift of a dawn redwood tree to the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), a new partnership between the 91探花 and Tsinghua University, during a ceremony at Microsoft headquarters Wednesday.
Xi presented 91探花Interim President Ana Mari Cauce, Tsinghua President Qiu Yong and Microsoft President Brad Smith with the tree, which is native to China and will be planted at the new GIX facility upon its completion.
The state of Washington and the Chinese province of Sichuan, with the help of leading research universities, have pledged to prioritize clean energy and plans and designs that will encourage the development of climate-smart, low-carbon cities.
A memorandum of understanding, called the 鈥�2+2 MOU,鈥� was signed Tuesday between the state and province as well as the 91探花 and Tsinghua University to catalyze the science, technology and investment needed to grow innovations that will underpin adaptable and resilient urbanization.
Leaders from across Washington, including 91探花Interim President Ana Mari Cauce,聽have met with President Xi during his visit to Seattle this week.聽Learn聽more about President Xi’s visit to Seattle, including analysis by 91探花faculty:
Leaders from the 91探花 and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, one of China鈥檚 most prestigious public research universities, signed an agreement Wednesday to work together on 鈥渟mart cities鈥� research, teaching and collaborations.
91探花Assistant Vice Provost for Global Affairs and a team of researchers recently highlighted findings from their latest research on MOOCs – massive open online courses. 聽It turns out that some online courses can be very useful in helping students get better jobs or start businesses.
罢丑别听聽focus on improving lives around the world聽by tackling issues like聽disease and poverty. In a recent blog post by Bill Gates,聽Chris Murray of the聽UW’s聽Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation聽outlines three areas of success 15 years after the goals were established.
