Marymount University

IXO was recently visited by 24 delegates from Marymount University in Arlington, VA, USA. This delegation was hosted by Abu Bakr AlAni, Resident Director of the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE). The delegates toured the AUS campus and facilities. They also met with Suzy Sikorski, IXO’s Fulbright Scholar who studied abroad at AUS in Fall 2014. Sikorski gave a presentation about the Emirati art scene.

 Suzy Sikorski with delegates from Marymount University

Michigan State University

IXO was visited last month by delegates from Michigan State University (MSU). The delegates included: Dr. Tessa Dunseath, Executive Director, Michigan State University, Dubai; Dr. Russell Lucas, Faculty, Michigan State University, USA;     Dr. Camelia Suleiman, Faculty, Michigan State University, USA; and fourteen MSU students. These delegates toured the AUS campus and met with Dr. Linda Angell, Director of the Office of International Exchange Programs. Dr. Angell discussed general topics about the UAE and its culture. 

 MSU Delegates with Dr. Linda Angell

Visits from Peer Advisors

IXO was delighted to receive a visit from alumni Peer Advisor Sonia Soares, who studied abroad at Virginia Tech University several years ago, and worked for IXO upon her return until she graduated from AUS. After working in industry for a year or so, she has now started a graduate program at Eindhoven University in the Netherlands!

Left to Right: Mutaman Tariq (Peer Advisor), 

Dr. Linda Angell and Sonia Soares

Blast from the Past

IXO was visited recently by Julia McConnell, an incoming Fall 2015 student who studied abroad at AUS via our bilateral partnership with Louisiana State University. McConnell returned to the UAE to spend the holiday and New Year with her friends in the region. She is now engaged to Ahmad Al-Zuhairy, an AUS student she met during her semester abroad. We wish McConnell and Al-Zuhairy the best and happiness in their future endeavors.

                                                    Left to Right: Grace Morales (Advisor, IXO
                                                program), Julia McConnell and Ahmad Al-Zuhairy

Other recent visitors to IXO were exchange students Mikaela Boston, Lisa Sun and Ruthie Edd. Boston was an incoming student from the University of Minnesota, and studied abroad at AUS during Fall 2014 and Spring 2015, as did Edd who joined AUS from Fort Lewis College in Colorado. Sun was an incoming Spring 2015 student from Wake Forest University in North Carolina. The three IXO alumni recently travelled to Pakistan to attend a wedding, then spent time in the UAE. They even joined our IXO Day Out in Dubai on January 25 as part of our IXOrientation. The IXO team enjoys receiving visits from past students like this!

IXO Orientation - Spring 2017

IXO would like to welcome all the new incoming Spring 2017 students! IXO planned a specific orientation for these students so that they could learn about and understand the UAE culture. The nine-day orientation program included talks about culture and life in the UAE, and trips to museums both in Dubai and Sharjah, the Heart of Sharjah area, old souks in Dubai, malls and other local attractions. 

IXO’s 7th Anniversary!

The Office of International Exchange (IXO) recently celebrated its seventh anniversary as an office within AUS!  Since our establishment on January 2, 2010, we have sent 175 AUS students to study abroad in 51 US universities and 24 universities outside the US. These host universities include our 13 bilateral partners, plus a wide range of other top universities such as Harvard, Concordia, San Diego State, University of Utah, University of Virginia and McGill, among others. 

In addition, we have hosted 704 incoming students from 150 universities in the US and 37 universities in other countries. We have sent 922 AUS students on 71 international study tours to destinations all over the world, and welcomed 1,588 international visitors and 148 visiting scholars to AUS. 

We love our work, and feel so fortunate to be in a position to enable students to have this opportunity of a lifetime, and to share our beautiful and unique university with the rest of the world.

Welcome Back, and Happy New Year!

Welcome back to all members of the AUS community. We hope you had a Happy New Year and an enjoyable winter break, and wish you all the best for the Spring 2017 semester. As we welcome our new incoming students, we would also like to bid farewell to those AUS students departing to study abroad in Spring 2017. We look forward to hearing about their adventures upon their return at the end of the semester!

 Left to Right: Grace Morales (Advisor, IXO program),  

Rawan Afana (Peer Advisor), Mutaman Tariq 

(Peer Advisor) and Tariq AlSayed (Peer Advisor)

 

One of our favorite jobs in IXO is welcoming back AUS students who recently studied abroad. Some of the students who studied abroad in Fall 2016 visited the IXO office recently and discussed their experiences with advisors. To view these video interviews, visit our IXO Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/IXOatAUS.