President William N. LaForge, left, recently met with Rector Igor Makarikhin, IEO of Perm State University in Russia, to discuss partnerships between the two universities.Delta State University President William N. LaForge recently tweeted live from Russia “Great 1st day of classes w/ Perm State University law students!”
For the third time, LaForge is serving as a visiting professor at Perm State University in Perm, Russia. His most recent stints have been through the Fulbright Fellow program.
LaForge is currently oversees teaching a specialized course on public policy, business-government relations and business lobbying in the U.S. Not only is he spreading Western knowledge, he is expanding the opportunities for Delta State relationships abroad.
This week, LaForge met with Rector Igor Makarikhin, IEO of PSU, to discuss the student-faculty exchange partnership between the two universities, as well as the Fulbright Fellow program.
“We had excellent discussion about the opportunity for future student programs including music, the Delta Music Institute, art, biology, wildlife management, social work, international business and the new blues curriculum,” said LaForge.
Makarikhin extended an invitation to Delta State to attend Perm State’s 100th anniversary celebration next year. Other topics of discussion included the current “Rivers of Music — Rivers of Culture” program and the upcoming visit by the Delta State delegation made possible through a grant from the U.S. Department of State.
The grant is through the U.S.-Russia Peer-to-Peer Dialogue Program and is being utilized to develop the Rivers of Music — Rivers of Culture project. Thanks to the $100,000 grant, the two universities are collaborating on projects, hosting virtual classrooms, and providing exchanges and internships at both institutions.
Last October, Delta State hosted PSU professors Svetlana Polyakova and Elena Gritsenko and a group of PSU students who attended Delta State’s inaugural International Conference on the Blues.
At the end of May, a group of Delta Music Institute students and Delta State faculty and staff will visit Perm State to partake in a similar exchange — The Permski Krai Immersion Experience. The group will travel to Perm during its festival season, and DMI students and faculty will also lead a mini DMI summer camp experience for Perm students.
Through the grant and LaForge’s efforts to build relationships, opportunities are growing for Delta State students and faculty to participate in academic exchanges with foreign university partners.
Follow president.deltastate.edu for his updates from Russia. For more information on the DMI, visit https://www.deltastate.edu/dmi. Learn more about the U.S.-Russia Peer-to-Peer Dialogue Program at https://www.deltastate.edu/news-and-events/department-of-state-grant-to-grow-russia-relations/.
