The Brown & White

The Global Union, with the help of a variety of different clubs, will host the seventh annual International Week, from Nov. 9 to Nov. 15.

The week will include 32 different activities, all of which contribute to the "Celebration of Diversity."

Clubs and organizations from across campus are contributing to the week of programming.

"Clubs really step up to International Week," said Veronica Demkin-Dick, '11, vice president of educational programming for the Global Union. "It's really great when we come in and we are there for three hours reading proposals."

Between 1,000 and 1,500 students are expected to participate in International Week, said Bill Hunter, director of the Global Union.

Hunter said even as a small school, Lehigh is a large national provider of international education.

"Last year, we were one of the largest national producers of International Education Week," Hunter said. Lehigh was the third largest provider of international education in the United States, beating out Harvard, Cornell, Georgia Tech and MIT. "Lehigh is way ahead of them; it truly is a national distinction for Lehigh to be at the top of its game through International Week," Hunter said.

Hunter says there is no way to know where Lehigh will place on the rankings of international education, but based on past success, his hopes are very high.

International Week aims to teach the Lehigh community about diversity, international issues and cultures.

Events include the Global Citizenship photo exhibit, sponsored by the Global Citizenship program and the College of Education and Comparative and International Education Brown Bag Discussion Lunches all week in Iacocca Hall covering a variety of topics.

There is also a trip to New York City to meet with a German Ambassador from the UN. The week ends Saturday with the annual Fusion Festival, "Fusion Fest: Jazz from Brazil."

"I'm particularly excited about the meeting with the German Ambassador, which I signed up for," Demkin-Dick said. "I am also in the Global Citizenship program, so I have been working on the photo exhibit we are doing with the College of Education, so I'm excited to see it come together."

Hunter and Demkin-Dick said they hope the events planned for International Week will draw a large audience interested in learning about diversity and the different cultures of the world.

They also hope the Lehigh community will learn from all these events and become more globally aware.

Hunter said he hopes people will go to both events they would normally be interested in and ones they are completely unfamiliar with, which will open people's minds to new things.

A list of events is available at www.lehigh.edu/~inglobal. Schedules of events are also posted around campus.