November 27, 2000

WKU Center Adding To
Its International Flavor

Bowling Green, Ky. - With more students and more programs, the International Center at Western Kentucky University is enriching its international flavor.

"We're sprucing up the International Center to make it more functional for activities and make it look and feel more international," said Dr. Larry Caillouet, director of International Programs.

Inside, photographs of scenes from students' home countries have been enlarged and used to decorate the center at 1536 State St.

Outside, the center plans to display flags from the 25 nations with the most international students at Western. "The building will look somewhat like an embassy," he said.

This year, Western has 315 international students from 50 countries compared with 257 from 57 countries last year. China and India have the most international students at Western, "but we have a pretty good world representation," he said.
The international influence isn't limited to Western, Dr. Caillouet said. "International Programs will increase in visibility in the community," he said.

In a report recently to the Board of Regents Committee on Diversity and Internationalism, Dr. Caillouet noted that Kentucky ranks seventh in the nation in the number of non-native speakers. In a program Dr. Caillouet has dubbed SpeakEasy, students studying a foreign language will be invited to share lunch with international students and practice language with native speakers.

"The program's purpose is to enrich the campus and our student body with people from other cultures," he said. "Students who don't have an opportunity to go overseas can still have interaction with people from other cultures."

While the number of nations represented on campus may fluctuate from year to year, Dr. Caillouet expects the number of international students to increase.
"I think the international presence on campus will continue growing at a fast rate," he said. "We feel that is pretty exciting."

Another exciting and visible initiative for the Office of International Programs this fall has been the Big Red shopping shuttle. The shuttle bus service to Bowling Green shopping centers is available to all Western students, faculty and staff.

"The shuttle service has been good advertising for Western," Dr. Caillouet said. "It definitely turns heads when that bus cruises up to the front of a store."

For more information, contact Dr. Larry Caillouet at (270) 745-6885.