By Jennifer DePrima
May 20, 2004

Left to right: Glenn Ames, Director, International Public Service and Outreach; Ricardo Corzo Ramírez, Director General, Area of the Humanities, Arts, Sciences, and Letters, Universidad Veracruzana; and Victor A. Arredondo, Rector, Universidad Veracruzana, celebrate the 2004 TIES University Partnerships award to the University of Georgia and the Universidad Veracruzana at a reception in Mexico City, March 1, 2004.

In March 2004, UGA's Office of International Public Service and Outreach (IPSO) received a $298,000 grant from the U.S.-Mexico Training, Internships, Exchanges and Scholarships (TIES) initiative to fund educational exchange between the two countries; IPSO director Glenn Ames, director of IPSO, will head the project. The program, "Universidad Veracruzana-University of Georgia: A Partnership for Rural Economic Educational and Human Capital Development," will enable faculty members from UGA and the UV and graduate students from UV to participate in an exchange program between the two institutions.

"This partnership [between UGA and UV] proposes a comprehensive program of master's-level training, curriculum development, collaborative and applied research in agricultural diversification and outreach programming in rural Veracruz to strengthen the competitiveness of the trade-led rural economy through product diversification and niche marketing," Ames said.

Faculty members from UGA will be selected based on areas of expertise such as agricultural economics, marketing, food science and technology, education, institutional capacity building and interest in and knowledge of Mexico-U.S. trade relations. These exchanges will involve teaching and collaborative research and will last anywhere from one week to one month.

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	• Universidad Veracruzana-University of Georgia: A Partnership for Rural Economic, Educational, and Human Capital Development

Students from UV will be selected by a joint committee composed of representatives from UGA and UV based on the student's language skills, academic performance and potential of the student to contribute to his/her field after returning to Mexico. UV students will start course work at UGA in fall of 2005. UGA students will be involved in the program through interaction with visiting Mexican students, or they may take advantage of a student exchange agreement between UGA and UV that allows interested students to participate in a semester-long exchange.

"This exchange will benefit both the faculty and students involved in the exchange by exposing them to diversity in research, teaching and learning," said Vice President for Public Service and Outreach Art Dunning. "The funding provided by the TIES initiative greatly enhances the international dimension of public service and outreach and will enable graduates and faculty from both institutions to better serve their communities."

IPSO's project partners at UGA include the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, the Department of Food Science and Technology, the Institute of Higher Education, the School of Teacher Education and the Department of Instructional Technology in the College of Education, and the Department of Foods and Nutrition in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.