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Phi Beta Delta


News of the Chapter

News about chapter members and activities is contained in Horizons, the newsletter from the Office of International Programs distributed each semester. Contact Alison Watkins, GSIP Communications Director, for archive copies of Horizons or to get on the electronic distribution list.

Peace Pole Dedication Ceremony - May 1, 2006

Lawrence’s eighth peace pole, planted on the University of Kansas campus, was dedicated at 5:30 p.m. on May 1, 2006, along the path between Haworth and Malott halls.

Kazumi Nakayama of The World Peace Prayer Society in Japan donated the eight-foot, hand-crafted pole that displays the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in eight languages — English, Spanish, Japanese, Shona, Farsi, Georgian, Turkish and Chinese. KU alumna Leslie Green Renzelman worked with Nakayama to choose KU as a site. The Alpha Pi Chapter of Phi Beta Delta Honor Society donated the funds for the installation and the International Student Association (ISA) will donate an explanatory plaque. ISA and Phi Beta Delta hosted the dedication ceremony, which included a delightful May Pole dance.

The Peace Pole Project was started in Japan by The World Peace Prayer Society, a nonprofit, nondenominational organization founded in 1955 by Masahisa Goi. Today more than 200,000 poles are in 180 countries to remind people to keep peace in their thoughts.

Lawrence’s other peace poles are at Unity Church, Oread Friends Meeting, First Methodist Church, South Park, Ecumenical Christian Ministries, Unitarian Fellowship and Veterans’ Park.

(Click on the small photos below to see larger versions.)


Before the ceremony...Dean Diana Carlin, Leslie Green Renzelman,
Kazumi Nakayama, Mayor Mike Amyx, Mike Ediger

Farashta Sediqzad addresses the group.

Kazumi Nakayama teaches everyone to say
"May Peace Prevail on Earth" in Japanese

Kazumi with the ISA officers. They are (from the left):
Mutsa Kajese (Zimbabwe), ISA Student Senate Rep;
Giorgi Burduli (Georgia), ISA Webmaster; (Kazumi at the pole);
Farashta Sediqzad (originally Afghanistan, now U.S.) ISA President;
Galo Salcedo (Equador), ISA Treasurer;
Horacio Vargas (Bolivia) ISA Assistant Cultural Chair;
Julio Castillo (Bolivia) ISA Cultural Chair;
Ka Ying Lin (Hong Kong/China) ISA Secretary;
and (Mike Ediger, ISA advisor)

Diana Carlin, Dean of the Graduate School
and International Programs
Farashta Sediqzad, President of International Student Association

Joe Potts, Director, International Student
and Scholar Services
Kazumi Nakayama, of The World Peace Prayer Society in Japan, Donor of the new Peace Pole

Leslie Green Renzelman, KU alumna
responsible for arranging to bring
a peace pole to campus.
Mike Amyx, Mayor of the City of Lawrence
 
Linda Wiley, President-Elect of Alpha Pi Chapter of Phi Beta Delta Honor Society,
speaks and then leads a maypole dance.*

The new Peace Pole is unveiled
by Farashta, Kazumi, and Linda.
The languages represented on this pole are English, Spanish, Japanese, Shona, Farsi, Georgian, Turkish and Chinese.
Kazumi reads the inscription
in Japanese. She was followed
by each of the ISA leaders
reading the inscription
in their own language.

*The Maypole Dance photo was taken by a Lawrence Journal-World photographer.


March, 2006

Three members of the Alpha Pi chapter of the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars have won top awards from the international organization. They will be recognized at the Phi Beta Delta annual conference March 23 in San Diego.

JeeHae Lim, a Korean doctoral student in business, won the Phi Beta Delta David Merchant International Student Award for Achievement, which includes a $500 cash award. Lim has participated in the Lawrence host family program, the Lawrence Friendship Family Program, and has tutored young children in English and math. She designed and developed a web site for rehabilitation and independent living professionals and consumers with physical and sensory disabilities for the Research and Training Center on Independent Living. Lim has served as international student vice president of the Alpha Pi chapter of Phi Beta Delta for two years, and has been a leader in the International Students Orientation at KU, a peer mentor for the Applied English Center's Summer Pre-Academic Program for Graduate Fulbright Grantees, and an Applied English Center Conversation Leader.

Michael Ediger, associate director of International Student and Scholarly Services, has been awarded the Phi Beta Delta Edward S. Blakenship Outstanding Staff Award, which includes a $750 cash award. Ediger coordinates advising and training of professional and student staff, advises international students on immigration and personal adjustment issues, and helps international students learn how to identify and make use of campus and community services. He is a liaison for the Lawrence Friendship Family Program for international students. In the words of one international student, "Personally, without his continuous support, I would not have adjusted to my new life in this country as quickly and easily as an international student. He has shown me what true friendship is without national or international barriers..."

Edith Clowes, professor of Slavic languages and literature, has won the Phi Beta Delta Faculty Award for Outstanding Contributions to International Education, including a $750 cash award. Clowes' teaching encompasses a broad range of topics, including Russian language and culture, East European business, and Czech culture and literature. She is the author of four books on Russian literature, in addition to numerous other scholarly articles and translations. In addition to her teaching and other scholarly endeavors, Clowes has spent considerable time working in Russia and Germany. She participated in a language program at Leningrad State University, has led a semester-long study group in Moscow and helped organize and served as co-director for the University of Kansas Czech Winter Institute in Prague.