Celebrating 50 Years of Global GVSU
Grand Valley is celebrating 50 years of global exchange and study abroad in the year 2020. The University will host a variety of events and activities throughout the 2020 Academic Year. We hope you will join us in celebrating 50 years of international partnership and exchange at GVSU!
We want to hear YOUR story! Some photos and stories will be selected to be included in the commemorative 50 Years of Global GVSU Book or on our online Global GVSU Gallery.
Please send your photos, stories, or videos from your Study Abroad or International Student experience to [email protected] or fill out this form:
Global GVSU Stories
Laker students, alumni, faculty & staff share their Global GVSU Story.
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Turkey, Yaneli Perez
Netherlands, Cody Thamma
Tanzania, GVSU
China Summer School
China Summer School in Shanghai is GVSU's longest running faculty-led program. Faculty members Peimin Ni and Geling Shang have been taking GVSU students to Shanghai for over 20 years.
University of Sarajevo - GVSU Partnership
The University of Sarajevo became one of GVSC's first international partnerships in 1975. The partnership between GVSC and the Cracow University of Economics and the University of Sarajevo offered unique opportunities to bring together university faculty, students and staff whose lives existed in profoundly different circumstances. In 1993, GVSU took part in an extended effort to assist its partner institution, the University of Sarajevo, at the time victim of the Bosnian war and the siege of Sarajevo, with the escape and enrollment at GVSU of several of its students whose promised scholarships await them at GVSU. At the end of a year’s efforts, involving collaborations with several U.S. international agencies and Consulates, seven Bosnian students successfully arrive to study at GVSU.
China, Alexandra Evans
Cracow University of Economics - GVSU Partnership
A summer program in Krakow in 1975 marked GVSC’s official academic collaboration with the Krakow Academy of Economics (AE). Since then, hundreds of university students, faculty and staff from each institution have engaged in collaborative study ventures, teaching, research, conferences and degree programs.
Spain, Symphonee Montgomery
Albania, Erion Veliaj
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gloire Rubambiza
Murray Scholarship Recipients
Established in 2006, The Mark A. & Elizabeth C. Murray Scholarship for Study Abroad is intended to support students who wish to study outside of the United States but without this fund would otherwise not be able to afford to do so. In addition to the Murray Family, the generosity of individuals, organizations and businesses has contributed to the continuation of this scholarship, which helps send 4 - 8 GVSU students abroad every year.
Padnos Scholarship Recipients
A legacy spanning 15 years, 91 students & 42 countries . Inspired by the transformative power of a year abroad that he witnessed in his own granddaughter Rebecca, Stuart Padnos partnered with GVSU to create the Barbara H. Padnos Scholarship. The Barbara H. Padnos International Scholars program provides scholarships for year long study abroad programs. The legacy of Barbara and Stuart Padnos live on in the form of the Padnos Scholarship, advancing education in ways that simply cannot happen if the students remain in Ottawa County. Future GVSU students will continue to have this unique opportunity, and the current staff of the Barbara and Stuart Padnos International Center are honored to assist and guide these eager students to plan their adventures. On behalf of all the Padnos Scholars of the past, present, and future, we express our thanks for this vision and generosity.