On May 12, the round table “Russia and the USA: Stereotypes and Reality” took place at the American Center. The event was prepared by the American Center volunteers and American exchange programs alumni. The program of the event included a report about what a civil society is and how  young people could help to form the civil society in Russia.   Then participants told about  the stereotypes Russians and Americans have about each other with the examples from their personal experience. Best volunteers were awarded memorable  prizes for their excellent work at the American Center during 2008-2009 year.

 

On May 3d,  “K.G. Yung Analytical Psychology about the World Crisis and a Contemporary Man Spiritual Search” workshop  took place at the American Center. Yevgeniya Yeletskaya, Open World alumna, organized this workshop for American programs alumni  and the  psychoanalysts working on the basis of K.G. Yung methodology. The workshop consisted of a lecture given by Lev Khegay, a vice-president of the Russian Analytical Psychology Society, and  the group studies. There were 49 people at the workshop.

On the 25th of April FLEX alumni and volunteers of the Rostov Economic University met in the American Center to discuss their participation in the "Operation Smile" project. The participants shared their experiences, emotions and impressions. At the end of the meeting volunteers were presented with small gifts and letters of appreciation.

On April 14, Professor of International Business, Dr. Robert L. Engle from Quinnipiac university, CT,  visited  EducationUSA Advising Center. Dr. R.Engle  came to Rostov by invitation of the Rostov State Economic University  for giving lectures on international  business and economics. He met with the center users  interested in business education in the USA. Dr. R. Engle told about the US business education in general: levels of business education, admission requirements, methods of teaching business, academic programs with core and elective courses, financial aid opportunities for international students etc. He dwelled on MBA(Master of Business Administration) programs in detail and emphasized some  features of graduate business education at  Quinnipiac university.

On April 5^th,  an  alumni meeting took place at the Rostov-on-Don American Center.  There were 2 points in the agenda:  introduction of a new regional alumni coordinator of  the “Open World” program  and a  discussion of  a new social project.  The title of the project is “Social, legal and psychological support for orphan children in the situation of the global economic crisis”.  The project is developing by  a regional alumni community,  children human rights fund “Anastasiya” and American Center. The project seems to be realizing for a year since May16.

On March 20^th in the EducationUSA Advising Center organized a meeting of US exchange programs alumni with Rebecca Grutz, Economic Affairs Section, US Embassy. The visitors discussed some actual economic issues of the USA, Russia and EU countries under global crisis and possible solutions on this way.

A presentation about iBT TOEFL(American standardized test)  was given to university students on March 19. Volunteers of the EducationUSA Advising Center Natasha Kolesnikova and Valery Shepenkov told about the test itself and shared their experience in taking this exam. They dwelled upon  some moments in preparing for the test which may be especially troublesome for Russian students and gave some useful tips to pass the test.

On March 14^th, EducationUSA Advising Center and FLEX alumni delivered a presentation of a charity act called “Operation Smile”. In the framework of this charity act on April 20-24, in Taganrog, Russian and foreign maxillofacial surgeons will operate children from low-income families and orphans. After the presentation a movie "Serendipity" was demonstrated. The FLEX alumni, students and teachers of  school # 43 and the library visitors took part in this event.

On March, 12^th, EducationUSA Advising Center delivered a presentation called “MBA Programs in the USA”. Visitors got information about how to obtain the MBA degree in US B-schools. The presentation was live and interactive. Visitors were interested in admission requirements, tuition fee and financial aid opportunities.