{"id":67669,"date":"2015-10-01T08:58:04","date_gmt":"2015-10-01T13:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/?p=67669"},"modified":"2015-10-01T08:58:04","modified_gmt":"2015-10-01T13:58:04","slug":"laforge-among-first-to-meet-with-higher-education-leaders-in-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/2015\/10\/laforge-among-first-to-meet-with-higher-education-leaders-in-cuba\/","title":{"rendered":"LaForge among first to meet with higher education leaders in Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"

Delta State University President William N. LaForge recently traveled to Cuba to participate in groundbreaking relationship-building with higher education leaders in Cuba. For the first time since America\u2019s diplomatic reset with Cuba last December, a delegation of university presidents, including LaForge, visited the island nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the heels of President Barack Obama’s recent efforts to reopen negotiations and diplomatic relations with Cuba, Delta State was one of 17 American universities, and the only Mississippi university, to participate in this effort to strengthen relations with Cuba,\u201d said LaForge.<\/p>\n

The trip was made possible by the annual Presidential Mission led by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Each year, the AASCU organizes a Presidential Mission to a country or region where member presidents and chancellors have opportunities to explore potential linkages with institutions of higher education.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second part of this story is that we concluded our meetings with the signing of an agreement between AASCU and the higher education community of Cuba, laying out a format going forward related to program collaboration and student exchanges,\u201d added LaForge. \u201cThis is a huge step. Higher education is one of the first industries in the nation to get its nose under the tent, even before full diplomatic relations are restored.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the agreement, Delta State, along with the other institutions represented during the weeklong session, will have the opportunity to form international exchanges for students and faculty, both in Cuba and in the U.S. The door has now been opened programmatically.<\/p>\n

President LaForge said multiple schools in Cuba showed interest in Delta State\u2019s academic opportunities, particularly in the areas of entertainment industry studies, geospatial information technologies, nursing and aviation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis gives us an opportunity to broaden relationships across the academy overall, and more specifically, for our students and faculty to go there, and for them to come here,\u201d said LaForge. \u201cIn many respects, Cuba is kind of the last frontier. It\u2019s exciting that when the cloud is finally lifted, we will be among those first in line.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American delegation met with a network of 34 Cuban rectors (university presidents) \u2014 including the likes of the University of Havana, Medical University of Havana, Polytechnic University and the University of Information Sciences \u2014 to discuss potential partnerships.<\/p>\n

Discussions also included Cuba’s minister of higher education, director of international relations, and deputy minister of health and welfare.<\/p>\n

Additionally, participants toured the local area and met with artists and musicians. LaForge said Cuba is very musically oriented, and they showed great interest in Delta State\u2019s departments of music and art, Delta Music Institute, Bologna Performing Arts Center, and the university\u2019s connections to GRAMMY Museum Mississippi.<\/p>\n

Attending the program was another step in international relationship building for Delta State, something LaForge has promised will be at the forefront of his agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cDelta State has a role to play in international relations \u2014 and this is a great example of that,\u201d said LaForge. \u201cWe\u2019re encouraging our students to learn about a global economy. Here we have an opportunity to deal with cutting-edge international changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaForge added that once the embargo is officially lifted, Cuba would continue to undergo major developments.<\/p>\n

\"LaForge's<\/a>

LaForge’s 1957 Simca taxi ride.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cOld Cuba will morph quickly once the economic embargo has been lifted,\u201d he said. \u201cStories abound regarding the plight of Cubans from top professionals to those barely able to cobble together a living under the socialistic regime. On a trip across the city one evening, my cab driver revealed that he quit his job as a cardiologist two years ago because he couldn\u2019t earn enough to support his family. He was making roughly $57 a month as a heart surgeon. My round-trip fare in his 1957 French-made, restored, spit-shined Simca was about $46 \u2014 the same as the monthly wage of a typical university professor in Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arlene Jackson, associate vice president for Global Initiatives with AASCU, was pleased with the progress made by the American and Cuban leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn many ways this was a challenging mission,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cHowever, being the first university presidential delegation to go to Cuba \u2014 after the resumption of diplomatic relations \u2014 will allow us to begin to implement mutually beneficial academic opportunities. More specifically, we will be positioned to increase student mobility, expand professional development for faculty and promote joint research for both U.S. and Cuban students and faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n

AASCU represents more than 400 public state colleges and universities in the U.S. and works as a transformative influence in American public higher education through advocacy, leadership and service.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the AASCU at http:\/\/www.aascu.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Delta State University President William N. LaForge recently traveled to Cuba to participate in groundbreaking relationship-building with higher education leaders in Cuba. For the first time since America\u2019s diplomatic reset…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":67671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,83,108],"tags":[1386,452,1421,1423],"class_list":["post-67669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-academics","category-international","category-president","tag-american-association-of-state-colleges-and-universities","tag-cuba","tag-international","tag-president"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67669"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67674,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67669\/revisions\/67674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}