USU Welcomes Grad Students from Dominican Republic

Utah State University President Stan L. Albrecht and First Lady Joyce Albrecht welcomed 30 students from the Dominican Republic with a reception at their home during the first week of August. The students will earn master’s degrees in policy and administration from USU in April 2007 as part of a joint program between USU and the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo.

The students are all professionals in governmental agencies in the Dominican Republic and are enrolled in the master’s program in policy and administration, a program instituted by USU political science professor Patria de Lancer Julnes.

 

“These students love Utah State and they want to come and see the school where they are earning their degrees,” said Julnes. “They are all very excited.”

 

The program is a collaborative partnership between USU and UASD that supports government reform and enhances the professional stature of public service in the Dominican Republic. Students enrolled in the program in the Dominican Republic have been taught by USU professors, including Julnes, Chris Fawson, Bill Furlong, George Julnes and Randy Simmons. Other professors from throughout the United States, Spain and Mexico have participated. Julnes said the program has been such a success that a second group of students entered the program in August 2005 and another will start in January 2007.

 

The group, which includes Emma Polanco, dean of the college at UASD, were able to visit state offices in Salt Lake City, as well as red rock country during their visit to Utah.

 

“We have wanted to make this trip to Utah since we started the program and everyone at USU has provided us with great hospitality,” said Isabel Lopez, a student in the program and a public relations specialist with the Dominican Republic National Office of Administration and Personnel. “I would like to explore the possibility of continuing my education here in the United States and am excited about my future prospects because of the opportunities this degree will give me. The visit also helps my career because after visiting state offices in Salt Lake City, I learned how the United States makes information available to the public. The Dominican Republic is looking into the idea of access to information and what I learned can help me in my job back home.”

 

In April 2004, Julnes received a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The grant was geared toward developing the administrative, managerial and operational capacity of UASD, the oldest and largest public university in the Dominican Republic.      

 

In August of 2005, the Dominican government invested $4 million in the second phase of the Presidential Higher Education Program for Superior Students, funding the educations of 56 Dominican students at USU. Back in June 2000, the government picked up the $1.5 million tab, including tuition, room, board and books, for the inaugural group of 36 students, all of whom are making successful progress in their respective degree programs or have graduated. Forty of the new Aggies were freshmen entering various undergraduate programs, including engineering and business, and the remaining 16 were graduate students.

           

USU President Stan Albrecht traveled to the Dominican Republic in April 2005 to sign the second phase of the scholarship agreement with President Leonel Fernández Reyna, who served as the country’s president from 1996 to 2000 and was elected to a second term in 2004.

          

“Utah State University enjoys longstanding research and educational ties with the Dominican Republic,” said Albrecht. “We look forward to further strengthening our joint programs, which benefit our students and citizens on both sides of the border.”

           

Utah State’s joint educational, research and development affiliations with the Dominican Republic reach back to the early 1980s, when the university began training Dominican government employees in irrigation engineering.

 

Contact: Patria de Lancer Julnes, 435-797-3889