NASHVILLE, Tenn.(TSU News Service) – Mauricio Fabian had initially planned to complete the Intensive English Program (IEP) at Tennessee State University to learn English and then return to his native home in Veracruz, Mexico.
However, after successfully completing the program in under a year and excelling in learning English, Fabian made the decision to stay in Nashville and pursue his Master of Business Administration at TSU. He will be the first in his family to obtain a master’s degree. Just as impressive, he is the first in his family to journey to the United States in pursuit of an education.
IEP students at a seminar in the university’s Career Center learning career opportunities.
TSU’s IEP is the only Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA) accredited intensive English program in the state of Tennessee. It is also the first and only accredited program at an HBCU. The IEP is specifically designed to serve international students seeking admission to graduate and undergraduate programs.
“I learned how to write, read, and pronounce words,” Fabian said. “It’s good to have this program because I know many students who want to learn English. They want to learn, and this can support their future.”
After receiving his certificate of achievement in the program, Fabian promptly enrolled as a student. He expressed his gratitude to the university and acknowledged that the opportunities at TSU and in Nashville were too valuable to ignore. Currently, there are nearly 40 participants in the Intensive English Program. An environment that is bridging language barriers and fostering community integration.
The IEP became accredited in December 2020.
Mauricio Fabian receives a certificate of achievement after completing the Intensive English Program.
“Through this program they get better jobs, they get to communicate better and help them integrate into their new life,” stated Engin Ayvaz, the program’s director. “Not only are we serving TSU, but also the Nashville community.”
Jewell Winn, the Executive Director for the Office of International Affairs, highlighted how people from all over the world invest in TSU’s program to learn the language and then return to their home countries to teach it. Others, like Fabian, choose to remain and pursue their degrees at the university to seek better employment opportunities in the states.
“I have much pride when I am able to say that TSU is the only accredited program,” Winn said. “TSU has connected so many people through our IEP.”
The Office of International Affairs has been operating at TSU since 2012. When Ayvaz began his career at the university in 2017, he made it his mission to officially obtain accreditation for the IEP. Fabian, being one of the program’s first students during the post-COVID-19 period, has been an asset in assisting other students.
IEP students during an end-of-year party at TSU. (Photo submitted)
“He is an excellent student,” Ayvaz said. “He was so adamant and committed. He didn’t miss a class, and he didn’t miss an assignment. He progressed so well and helped others.”
To learn more about the only CEA accredited Intensive English Program in the state of Tennessee, visit the program’s website at here.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – From Ethiopian injera, a pancake-like flatbread, to Indian samosa, a fried pastry with a vegetable filling, the savory smell of exotic spices filled Elliot Hall on the Tennessee State University campus.
TSU student Aziz Alqari serving Saudi Arabian cuisine during an International Food Festival and Cultural Exchange event.
More than 150 students and staff members visited booths during the International Food Festival and Cultural Exchange event hosted by TSU’s Office of International Affairs (OIA).
The annual student activity included representation from seven regions and dozens of countries from around the world like Brazil, Turkey, and Nepal.
The OIA Executive Director, Dr. Jewell Winn said it was a great time for students to showcase their heritage through their international dishes.
“To see so many people come out, it warmed my heart,” Winn said. “They were very proud to be able to share their culture.”
This festival was also an opportunity for local businesses and artisans to showcase their products.
TSU alumna Martha Lupai roasting Ethiopian coffee beans during the food festival. (Photo by Dylan Tate)
TSU alumna Martha Lupai of Ethiopia, has a business in Nashville’s local Farmers Market. During the event Lupai had made Ethiopia coffee from scratch to share.
“Food brings people together,” Lupai said. “It’s my duty as a student of TSU to share my culture. I love sharing my culture with food, clothes, and products. That is my passion in life to connect people to their roots.”
Aziz Alqari, a TSU master’s student from Saudi Arabia shared the same sentiment.
“We have a lot of international students from all over the world at TSU,” Alqari said. “So, I think it is a chance to see the variety in our school.”
More than 150 students and staff members visited booths during the 2023 International Food Festival and Cultural Exchange event.
Alqari, who is receiving his MBA in supply chain logistics, said he enjoyed everyone tasting the middle eastern cuisines.
“Everyone had a good time. I made a lot of friends and tasted a lot of different food.”
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tennessee State University experienced historic growth this fall with the institution’s record-setting freshman class of 3,567 first-year students. Included in the group, and far away from home, were 29 Caribbean scholars. With this being the first time on American soil for many of them, the University has worked to make the transition as seamless as possible.
This is the first year that TSU has successfully recruited a large number of Caribbean students. (Photo by Aaron Grayson)
TSU’s annual International Education Week, observed November 7 -11, has made the Caribbean students feel even more at ease in their “home-away-from home.” The week-long event helped to promote cultural awareness and featured several activities highlighting the native land of the University’s international students. This included Dance Hall Night and lunch-n-learn story circles events for the entire campus.
“We are all from difference places, but it’s still a family because we are relating to being abroad in school,” Tonique Poitier of the Bahamas, said.
Poitier, who is a freshman studying chemistry, said the week gave her and fellow Caribbean students a chance to interact and gain awareness about other cultures as well.
She said most of them met at a welcome reception and dinner for Caribbean students hosted by TSU and the Nashville community. The September event, which featured foods from several of their home islands, was the first of several to help them adjust to college life.
“The welcome dinner made me feel at home,” said Jada Henry, who is an incoming freshman from Jamaica studying Supply Chain Management. “They had Jamaican food and gave good advice.”
Henry hopes to land a career as a Logistics Supervisor with the military. “I take great pride in my place here at Tennessee State University and in the direction my experience has provided for me thus far,” he said.
“The dinner was a very nice gesture,” said Renard Frederick, who is an incoming freshman from Trinidad & Tobago studying Human Performance and Sports Sciences. “It brought all of the Caribbean students together and now we are friends as a result.”
More than 300 Caribbean students applied for the International Tuition Assistance Grant from TSU with the final selection made up of 20 on campus and nine studying online. (Photo by Aaron Grayson)
Frederick wants to become a Sports Physiotherapist working with sports teams, ideally his dream team, Barcelona SC.
According to Dr. Arlene Nicholas-Phillips, executive assistant to President Glover and liaison on Global Initiatives, this is the first time that TSU has successfully recruited a large number of Caribbean students. She attributed this success to the International Tuition Assistance Grant (ITAG) the students received.
“Coming from the Caribbean, I understand the importance of education,” Nicholas-Phillips said. “Parents from the Caribbean understand that no sacrifice is too much to further their students’ education, and they’ve expressed how much of a blessing TSU has been with the ITAG because it’s an opportunity they [otherwise] wouldn’t have.”
Over 300 Caribbean students applied for the ITAG from TSU with the final selection made up of 20 on campus (two from Jamaica, five from Trinidad & Tobago, and 13 from the Bahamas) and nine studying online. The grant requires incoming students to have a minimum 3.25 grade point average and maintain 15 credit hours per semester to complete their degree within four years.
“The average G.P.A. for the incoming scholars is 3.6,” added Nicholas-Phillips. “These are high-performing students, and we know they are dedicated to their education because they know the sacrifice their parents are making.”
D’Neka Cunningham is one of a few transfer students who received the ITAG this semester and said the opportunity means everything to her and her family.
“I’m the oldest of three and first-gen, so I have to set the standard and be the example,” said Cunningham, who plans to return home to the Bahamas with a degree in Architectural Engineering and help improve their residential structures. She recalled how their homes flooded and two of her friends died during Hurricane Dorian in 2019. “We have great structures, but we can improve our homes.”
TSU’s annual International Education Week, observed in November, made the Caribbean students feel even more at ease in their “home-away-from home.” (Photo by Aaron Grayson)
Dr. Coreen Jackson, dean of TSU’s Honors College, said the University’s recruitment efforts outside of the U.S. speaks to the administration’s commitment to being a global institution.
“This is a dream come true for TSU to extend such an awesome opportunity to students in the Caribbean who probably would not have gotten an opportunity for a higher education since there are limited universities for the number of students coming out of high school,” said Jackson, who is also from Jamaica. “It says a lot about our leader who is unselfish, caring, and global-minded.”
Dr. Jackson and her husband, the Rev. Dr. Chris Jackson, hosted the reception and dinner event at their Pleasant Green Baptist church. Rev. Jackson said opening the church doors to welcome the students was a good thing to do. “I have travelled internationally and know what it means to be at an unfamiliar place and be shown care and love,” he said.
Both Nicholas-Phillips and [Coreen] Jackson expressed gratitude for those who volunteered their time and resources to make the welcome dinner a success, sharing that members of the local Caribbean community came together to cook traditional Caribbean foods such as rice and peas, jerk chicken, and roti, and even donated money. Local eatery Jamaicaway Restaurant and Catering also contributed food. The night was capped off with a special presentation by President Glenda Glover and Michael Thomas, President of Atlanta’s Caribbean American Cultural Arts Foundation.
Other TSU faculty and staff attending the dinner included members of the International Recruiting Committee; Global Online AVP Dr. Seay; Chief Data Officer, Dr. Clarke from Trinidad; Health Sciences Professor Dr. Johnson from Jamaica; and members of the OIA team.
Dr. Coreen Jackson said she has plans to start a program where local Caribbean families can “adopt an international student” and provide them additional support from the community while they are away from home. This includes preparing them for the Nashville winter season.
“Many of our international students have not experienced a winter, so I would like to do a drive for winter coats, sweaters, socks, blanket, etc.,” she said. “It would also be nice to have local stores donate new items and/or allow the [international] students to shop at a discounted rate.”
“I am grateful for the opportunity to get a quality education amongst people who look like me,” said Cunningham. “That’s what I’ve been used to my whole life and getting to continue to do that in a place where I feel comfortable is amazing.”
While there’s no place like home, the Caribbean scholars at TSU have a new place to call home for the next four years.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tennessee State University’s Office of International Affairs (OIA) is celebrating International Education Week (IEW) 2022, and kicked off events Nov. 7, as students are spreading awareness about their countries and interacting with fellow students who are also studying abroad.
The week, which began Nov. 7 and concludes on Nov. 11, features many activities that highlight international students countries and culture, including a Cultural Sharing Day, Dance Hall Night, and Lunch-N-Learn Story Circles. The OIA even visited local HBCUs throughout the week.
Nirmal Thapa in the student center during International Education Week shows represents his country by waving a Nepal flag. (Photo by Aaron Grayson.)
Nirmal Thapa, a PHD student from Nepal, South Asia, said this is his first semester at the university and IEW has provided an inclusive environment.
“It was exciting for us,” Thapa said after participating in the weeks first event. “We had a chance to exchange ideas between different countries … a great event for the exchange of cultures.”
Thapa, who is studying agricultural sciences, said he was able to speak with another student from Nepal, along with students from all around the world.
There are over 200 international students at the university representing 40 countries across the world. (Photo by Aaron Grayson.)
Mark Anthony Brinkley, Director of the Office of International Affairs, said this is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide.
“This initiative is a joint venture between the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education which was created to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences,” Brinkley said.
“We encourage all Tennessee State University students, faculty, and staff to participate in our week of events.” OIA provides leadership in advocating and promoting excellence in student services, cultural programming, collaborative partnership, and international education.
Students at game night during International Education Week 2022. (Photo by Aaron Grayson.)
There are over 200 international students at the university representing 40 countries.
OIA’s office suite provides the space needed to holistically provide international students with support. The office also has designated meditation areas where students can pray and continue to observe their culture, as well as a conference room where study abroad workshops can be held.
For the third consecutive year, TSU has been selected as a Fulbright Historically Black College and University Institutional Leader from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). The recognition is for demonstrating exemplary work with its foreign exchange program for students, faculty and staff.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – This holiday season, Erica Conn will get a gift from Tennessee State University she has longed to receive most of her life. Thanks to a new service being offered by the Office of International Affairs, Conn will trace her ancestry.
“I’m not sure where I am from, and my ancestry is not readily available to me because my ancestors were slaves,” she said. “So my history for the most part is hidden.”
A senior office assistant in OIA, Conn is currently pursuing a master’s degree in public administration at the university. When she heard OIA would be collaborating with Helix, a personal genomics company, to provide ancestry DNA testing services for TSU students and members of the surrounding community, she convinced the office to let her volunteer as a tester so she could tell other people about the product.
Erica Conn
“I just think that it is super important for African Americans, but not just African Americans, anyone and everyone, to know where they are from, who their ancestors are, and what the commonalities are,” she said. “What are the norms from the particular culture? How can they draw from those things, and how can they be better because of those things?
Mark Brinkley, director of International Education in OIA, said helping students explore their ancestry is part of TSU’s initiative to help them become more comfortable with their culture.
“Seventy percent of our student population is African-American,” he said. “The proposition of study abroad is, as we say, ‘Why don’t you go and experience another culture?’ That becomes even more challenging when our students don’t know their own culture.”
To assist students with the process of exploring their ancestry, Brinkley said OIA has developed more programs focused on visiting the continent of Africa, as well as following the African diaspora.
“It’s a historic fact that 12.5 million people of African descent left Africa in the slave trade. Ten million arrived to the Americas. Only 400,000 came to what we call the United States,” he said. “That means that this African diaspora is really immense, and almost anywhere we go, Brazil in South America, the Caribbean, there is a heavy African influence from the ships stopping their before they got to the United States.”
Brinkley said some of the study abroad experiences currently being planned include Senegal, South Africa, Denmark, Mexico and Peru.
Conn, who is awaiting her test results, said she eventually hopes to visit her homeland.
“I will solve the mystery of where I am from and who my ancestors are, but as far as getting there, it’s going to be a bit costly, so I will start working,” she said. “I am going to Africa with my church in 2020, but we know that Africa is a large continent, and I’m not sure where I am from, so the place where we are going may not be remotely close to where I am from. But I intend to go there, and try to find out as much information as I can.”
Mark Brinkley
Brinkley, whose test revealed that he is 80 percent West African, 16 percent European, 2 percent South African and 2 percent other. said the ancestry testing helps students answer two of the three fundamental questions they ask in their programs: Who am I? How do I know? How do I interact with others?
“It was very interesting this past summer when we were in South Africa. I opened up my welcome to them by saying, ‘I’m coming back home,’ because I know who I am, and I also know how I know that,” he said.
The Office of International Affairs is located on the first floor of Holland Hall. For more information about TSU’s Study Abroad and Exchange Programs as well as ancestory testing, contact Mark Anthony Brinkley at mbrinkley1@tnstate.edu or (615) 963-7660.
Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331
About Tennessee State University
With more than 8,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs and seven doctoral degrees. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – The Office of International Affairs at Tennessee State University kicked off International Education Week 2018 with a workshop on regional diversity and inclusive excellence, and an open house showcasing its new headquarters in Holland Hall.
The week, which began Nov. 2 and concluded on Nov. 8, featured many activities, including a study abroad fair, a panel showcasing cultural diversity, an African dance workshop, and a cultural celebration and family fun night.
Students received walk-in study abroad advisement.
“We’ll be talking to students about what they should be thinking about in pursuing a study abroad experience, not the study abroad experience specifically,” said Mark Brinkley, director of International Education in the Office of International Affairs. “Some students are beyond that. They have already done their research, and they know what experience they would like to participate in. We are talking to those students about how do you apply to that program.”
Mark Brinkley, director of International Education in the Office of International Affairs, speaks with students about activities planned for International Education Week 2018.
Brinkley said OIA’s new office suite, which is located on the first floor of Holland Hall, provides the space they need to holistically provide international students the support they need.
“We can now better serve our international population whether they be international education, study abroad or
international students and scholars services or the new Intensive English Center,” he said.
The OIA Office has designated meditation areas where students can pray and continue to observe their culture, as well as a conference room where study abroad workshops can be held.
“Our function here is to help those incoming international students understand the historically black college and university culture, and to share their culture on a global level with the existing student base here that doesn’t get to do the study abroad.”
Daniel Bernal, an MBA student from Bogota, Columbia, said that as a transfer student, OIA helped him make a smooth transition to TSU.
“When I came here it felt more like home, and I have done well with the help of the international office,” he said. “They are very helpful compared to my previous university, so everything got taken care of.”
Bernal, a former member of the TSU Men’s Tennis Team, is the second player in the university’s history to earn All-OVC recognition, joining Lawrence Washington, who was also a Second Team All-OVC honoree in 2012. He said the academic environment at TSU has been nurturing and supportive.
“The classroom sizes are not as big compared to bigger universities, so you get more attention,” he said.
Shashamk Nautiyal, a graduate student in Sports Medicine from New Delhi, India, who was recruited to play tennis at TSU, said he also likes the academic environment at the university.
“In any department, they take care of you. They make sure they help you with whatever you need, either academic or personal or even professional. I think that is the most valuable thing,” he said. “They make sure they provide the best learning environment for you to make sure you succeed in your college career.’
Brinkley said International Week 2018 will conclude on the Avon Williams Campus with a cultural celebration and family night that will include a puppet show and international cuisines.
Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331
About Tennessee State University
With more than 8,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs and seven doctoral degrees. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.
For more information about International Education Week 2018, contact (615) 963-5640.
