This academic year marks the 10-year anniversary of the Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Fellows Program at Bowling Green State University. 

The fellows program works to provide returning Peace Corps volunteers with financial assistance as they transition into graduate school. In 10 years, BGSU has hosted more than 70 Peace Corps Fellows in a range of graduate programs.

The Peace Corps Fellows Program was made possible at BGSU through the work of Dr. Margaret Zoller Booth, dean of the Graduate College. Having served in the Peace Corps herself, she saw a need for a Peace Corps program to exist at BGSU. In 2008, she founded the Master of Arts in cross-cultural and international education (MACIE), BGSU’s first Coverdell academic program.

Establishment of this program allowed BGSU to host returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCVs) in graduate fellowships. Since 2008, Booth has continued championing the University’s partnership with the Peace Corps and has expanded fellowship eligibility to all graduate programs at BGSU. Her passion for the Peace Corps stems from her own personal experience volunteering for the organization. 

“Serving as a Peace Corps volunteer changed everything I thought I knew about life,” Booth said. 

After her undergraduate career, Booth served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya from 1983-84.

“You cannot go in with high expectations,” she said. “I went in ready to do a job for two years. In that time, I was expected to teach high school English courses. But as time goes on, you quickly learn that you may also become the school nurse, the counselor or the sports coach, and you truly become a member of the community you serve.”

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BGSU students participating in Model U.N. had a rich and fruitful learning experience this year at the National Model U.N. Conference held recently in New York, including the opportunity to share thoughts with the actual U.N. delegates who are developing policies. For the second year in a row, the BGSU team earned honorable mention, which was the fourth time in its history.

The team’s head delegate, Brandon Willinger, a senior majoring in political science, delivered a speech in the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) room about his view on the U.N. Sustainable Development goals. The conference was asked to allow students to speak in the UNGA room on this topic so that they could record and transmit them to the U.N. delegates and committees that are addressing the goals and formulating policy, as well as committees that are charged with engaging youth on these issues. 

“It was quite a thrill for Brandon and the others who spoke,” said faculty adviser Dr. Marc Simon, associate professor of political science and coordinator of the Peace and Conflict Studies Program.

At the conference, the team made a connection with a delegation from Universidad de Las Américas Ecuador, whose faculty adviser is a BGSU alumnus who also participated in Model U.N. in the 1990s. 

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Bowling Green State University will host a free training to address various aspects of compliance during the seventh annual Compliance Day, June 6, 2019. Community members and business professionals are invited and will have the opportunity to receive training directly from representatives of government agencies.

Sessions will be led by representatives from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs; the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division; and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC).

The open sessions will cover a variety of topics regarding new regulations and current legislation; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Fair Labor Standards Act; powers and duties of the OCRC as it relates to employment; types of unlawful discrimination; Ohio Revised Code 4112; eliminating barriers in recruitment and hiring; enforcing equal pay laws, and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). View agenda.

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Community members are invited to bring personal items documenting the history of the Islamic community in the Toledo area to Community Scan Day May 5. Bowling Green State University’s Center for Archival Collections and the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo are partnering on the event, which was made possible by a $12,000 Common Heritage Grant supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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The University community is invited to celebrate the careers of Dr. Lynda Dixon and Dr. Catherine Cassara, School of Media and Communication, who are both retiring. Join friends and colleagues from 3:30-6 p.m. Friday (May 3) in 207 Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

A short program for Dr. Dixon will begin at 4 p.m. and a short program for Dr. Cassara at 5 p.m.

The hit musical “Cats” comes to BGSU Firelands, May 3, 4 and 5 in the McBride Auditorium. “Cats” is the winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and features 20 of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s timeless melodies, including “Memory.”

The BGSU Planetarium is the perfect spot to take your thoughts “out of this world.” BG-Fest 2019 continues its run until the third week of May, with classic planetarium shows.

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