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Worldwide audiences watching the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, TV viewers in Shanghai and the thousands of Chinese moving
into gleaming new “sports cities” will all in some way be experiencing the work of BGSU alumni. The recent trip to China by
a Bowling Green delegation strengthened ties with these successful graduates as it forged new connections with Chinese universities
and businesses. (See lead story.)
Alumna Barbara Zhang (right) and her daughter, Cynthia, give Dr. Jeffrey Grilliot (center) a tour of the swimming venue being
built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
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“We have a number of alumni in key positions who are willing to assist BGSU in China,” said Dr. Jeffrey Grilliot, director
of global initiatives. As former director of international programs, he worked with many of them in their student days at
BGSU.
• Alumna Barbara Zhang works for the IMG agency and, as a representative of the Olympic Committee, has recently completed
arranging the naming of the Beijing Olympic stadiums and other venues. She is now involved in the creation of the “sports
cities.” Zhang’s daughter will be following in her mother’s footsteps this fall when she comes to BGSU as a master’s degree
student in human movement, sport and leisure studies.
• David Huang, another alumnus, is on the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and is a key player in developing economic
plans for the Olympics, Grilliot said.
• Ma Xinle, a former Xi’an participant and graduate of the master of fine arts program, is now one of China’s leading artists
and “very successful in the Shanghai textile industry,” Grillliot said. When he was visited by the Bowling Green group, he
was in the process of mounting an exhibit of his work at the Shanghai Art Museum.
• Yuankai Chen, a former visiting scholar at BGSU who worked at WBGU-PBS, is the leading manager of the Shanghai television
station. He met with Bulmahn, Rogers and Grilliot to discuss creating annual internships at BGSU and Shanghai, joint development
of programs on how to conduct business in the two countries and creating interactive distance learning classes beamed from
the business college for students in China.
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