From the Director
Thank you for visiting the USIEF Web
site! The purpose of this page
is to provide you with periodic updates
about our activities and plans. (Click here
to read the previous From the Director message.)
A special welcome if you are visiting USIEF from
the VietAbroader Web site. Congratulations to those
of you who are able to attend the student conference in Ho Chi Minh
City or Hanoi. As advisor to VietAbroader, I can assure you
that this is a unique and wonderful opportunity to learn about higher education in the United
States, including the application and admissions process,
scholarship opportunities, academic and social life in the U.S., and
other important matters.
One of my latest commentaries, Tying Up Loose Ends 30 Years After the End of the Vietnam
War, aired on WBFO, the National Public Radio affiliate in
Buffalo, New York on 27 April 2005. Click here
to read and listen to it. Here is a Vietnamese
translation. On 28 June 2005 WBFO aired a commentary
entitled The
Vietnam Flag Issue -- Here We Go Again.
Here are several exciting developments since my last
update. My book, Vietnam
Today: A Guide to a Nation at a Crossroads (with Thai Ngoc
Diep) was published by Intercultural Press, Inc., one of the premier
publishers of intercultural communication and cross-cultural
training materials.
Vietnam
Today is available from the publisher, online (amazon, barnesandnoble,
etc.) and in bookstores around the world. If you would like a
signed copy, please contact USIEF.
My article about the Vietnam Education Foundation, entitled
"Moving Vietnam Forward," was published in the May/June
2005 issue of International
Educator magazine. A PDF version is available on this
site.
Also related to Vietnam, Chanrithy Him's award-winning memoir, When
Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge, has
been translated into Vietnamese. The official publication
date in Vietnam was February 2005. The publisher is Phuong Nam,
Corp., based in Ho Chi Minh City. It is also being
translated into Khmer, the language of Cambodia.
I encourage you to check out our What's
New page for information about a project that enables Vietnamese
to ask questions about any aspect of U.S. society and culture that
interests them. The essay-length answers will appear in a
bilingual book, FAQ About America, to be published later this
year or in 2006 in
Vietnam. FAQ is a unique and meaningful form of citizen
diplomacy.
I'm deeply grateful to the Paul J. Koessler Foundation of
Buffalo, NY for the $30,000 it donated to USIEF from 2000-2003, making it our
most important and reliable source of support. If you
would like to make a donation, you may send a
check payable to "USIEF" to P.O. Box 64, Getzville, New
York 14068, USA, or by making a stock transfer. All donations are tax-deductible.
Unless they wish to remain anonymous, donors will recognized
according to the following categories. (This is based on the
amount donated in a calendar year.)
Guarantor ($5,000+)
Benefactor ($1,000+)
Sponsor ($500+)
Supporter ($100+)
Friend ($25+)
Mark A. Ashwill
Buffalo, New York
June 2005
For further information, contact:
U.S.-Indochina Educational Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 64, Getzville, NY 14068 USA
Telephone/FAX: 716-741-7424
e-mail: usief@yahoo.com
URL: http://www.usief.org
