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Friday, Nov. 27, 2009

Four FVSU students, two professors to travel to China

FORT VALLEY — Four Fort Valley State University students will travel to China on Sunday through Dec. 7.

While in China, the students will complete a project related to their field of study, as well as get a chance to witness the politics, economy and culture of the country firsthand, said Victoria Dubriel, an associate professor of foreign languages who will accompany the students on the trip. Once they return, the students will present their findings on campus.

Natalia Rawls, 19, a mass communications sophomore from Perry, is one of the students who will go on the trip.

Rawls, who plans to be a broadcast journalist, said she will create a video project of her experiences in China.

Also going on the trip are Edward Morrow, an accounting senior, Ashley Norris, a mathematics junior, and Jonathan Robinson, an accounting senior.

Two of the students will travel with funds from the Stanley E. Rutland Globetrotters Travel Award, established this year by Fort Valley State alumni Tommy and Gwen McMullins. The couple owns Fantasy Tours Inc., a travel agency in California.

“Travel played a significant role in changing my life, in the success I have experienced,” said Tommy McMullins, who will go to China with the students. “Travel will benefit others similarly.”

Guaranteed for at least the next two years, the McMullins plan to offer the award to Fort Valley State students as long as their business is thriving, Tommy McMullins said.

“I lean toward China because of its worldwide impact,” he said. “It has a great deal of interest because of the great economic power and might currently. Anybody growing up in the world should have some idea of this great country.”

Through the trip, school officials also hope to establish a partnership between the College of Agriculture and several Chinese universities to collaborate on goat research.

“As a result of the trip, I would like to see a relationship between Fort Valley State and the People’s Republic of China,” Dubriel said.

While the McMullins’ award only covers the expenses of two students, mathematics professor Josephine Davis, with the aid of the award’s selection committee, led an initiative to raise funds to send two additional students abroad.

They solicited funds from several university departments, local businesses and organizations, as well as personal contributions from administrators, faculty and staff.

The students and professors are traveling to China at a discounted rate of $1,295, Dubriel said. The students themselves are responsible for the additional fare for connecting flights from Atlanta to Chicago, plus visa and immunization costs and passport fees, if applicable, adding an additional $450 or so in costs.

Professors Dubriel and Davis, who also will accompany the group, will pay for all of their own expenses.

This will be Davis’ third trip to China, and she looks forward to seeing the changes in the nation since she was last there in 1994 and 1987.

“It’s a very interesting experience each time,” she said. “It’s culturally different from the Western world. I’ve always been fascinated with Chinese history.”

Davis, who has lived in France and traveled in Africa, said international travel is important to broaden students’ horizons.

“It gives them more of a global perspective on issues,” said Davis. “You don’t take a singular approach. You look at it from multifaceted approach. You look at the view of the other. It makes you a more well-rounded individual.”

To contact writer Andrea Castillo, call 256-9751.