U signs agreements with the University of Aberdeen

The University of Utah and University of Aberdeen in Scotland recently signed a memorandum of understanding for universitywide collaboration and a joint exchange agreement opening learning abroad opportunities to students from both campuses.

“This agreement creates an opportunity for our students to study at one of the top universities in the U.K. and experience an institution with over 500 years of history,” said the U’s Sabine Klahr, associate chief global officer and executive director for Learning Abroad.

Richard P.K. Wells, vice principal international partnerships at the University of Aberdeen added, “Education changes lives, and in particular the opportunity to experience different countries and cultures can deliver lifelong opportunities to students. This new agreement between the Universities of Aberdeen and Utah gives a whole new range of opportunities to students from both countries.”

The academic disciplines offered at Aberdeen complement those offered at the U, and students across most fields of study may choose to spend a semester or academic year at Aberdeen once university travel is permitted again. “We also look forward to hosting students from Aberdeen on our campus and their cultural perspectives and contributions to classes and student life,” said Klahr. The partnership is expected to expand to include faculty and staff collaborations in research and scholarship, teaching and other joint initiatives.

The partnership grew out of a chance meeting that Joni Smith, Scottish affairs counselor to North America, and Ian Houston, now the U.S. ambassador for the Scottish Business Network, had while on an official visit to Utah for the 2019 celebration of the Golden Spike monument. Scotsman John Sharp played a key role in the historic driving of the “last spike” in the Transcontinental Railroad in Promontory Utah in 1869. Smith and Houston met Al Landon, David Eccles School of Business assistant dean, and found a shared desire to connect Utah and Scotland through student and scholar experiences.

The state of Utah has deep historic connections to Scotland due to early immigration by individuals who became leaders in the Mountain West, including David Eccles, for whom the U’s school of business is named. This is the first partnership of its kind between the U and an institution in Scotland.

“In the U.S. we tend to have a romantic view of Scotland—castles and kilts. While that is certainly there and that history and culture needs to be revered and preserved, it’s also so important for students and industry to see the modern progressive Scotland. The converse is true as well—Utah is sometimes misunderstood and people don’t know all that it offers,” said Houston, noting the innovation and spirit of entrepreneurship endemic to both regions.

The University of Aberdeen is ranked in the top 20 universities in the U.K. and in the top 200 in the world (QS World Rankings 2019). Celebrating its 525th anniversary this year, Aberdeen was founded in 1495 and has grown to encompass a broad range of disciplines organized in 12 schools, as well as multidisciplinary research centers and institutes bringing together experts in their fields engaging in cutting-edge research with colleagues around the world.

U Grad Recognized for Volunteer Efforts at Auschwitz-Birkenau

When U alum Jordan Gossett realized she had room in her senior year schedule, she decided to spend it in service to her long-held interest in the Holocaust. The 2020 history and international studies graduate had experience taking her education abroad, having participated in a Learning Abroad program in Morocco the year before, and said, “once I realized that I was ahead in my major, I emailed the [Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum] and just asked if I could volunteer.” The museum obliged and Gossett worked closely with the Hinckley Institute to set up the four-month experience as a for-credit internship.

Soon after, she was in Poland helping to expand the museum’s database of wartime documents. Gossett spent her days transcribing camp registration, work, and transfer cards and lived on-site in what was a Nazi office building in the former concentration camp. “Learning about it is one thing. But being there is a whole other experience,” she said.

Gossett surmised that she picked up an interest in “all things World War II” as a child—her father watched a lot of documentaries and “it must have rubbed off.” She tailored her studies at the U to dive deeper into her interest and was humbled by the hands-on opportunities her internship provided. “There’s still so much we don’t know and may never know,” said Gossett, noting that it’s estimated only five to ten percent of WWII wartime documents related to the Holocaust are believed to have survived to date.

When asked about the emotional toll of working at Auschwitz-Birkenau, she said “of course it’s a bit of a shocking thing at first, but over time you learn to deal with it in a positive way. You wonder if this is the only document left for this person and if it could help their family.”

In July, Gossett was honored with an “If Not for Those Ten…” award which recognizes outstanding volunteers and coordinators for their service to the museum. In her acceptance of the award, Gossett noted, “it is our collective responsibility to ensure that this history is preserved…and that something like this does not happen again.”

A DIY International Internship

Q&A with alumna Jordan Gossett

How did you approach the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum about creating a learning experience there?

Initially, I was looking into different volunteer opportunities that I could do virtually, and I really wanted to find an opportunity where I could both be helpful to the organization and, as someone whose interests are in WWII history, expand my knowledge on that topic. On the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum’s site, they had a section on volunteering where it discussed both ‘work at a distance’ and ‘on-site’ opportunities. So, I decided to write the volunteer coordinator an email, where I introduced myself and asked if they had anything I could help with. I ended up doing several virtual projects over the course of a few months. But when I realized I had a bit of extra room in my school schedule, I worked with the volunteer coordinator to set up an in-person, semester-long volunteer opportunity. I then went to the Hinckley Institute and discussed how I could apply the experience towards my studies, and it’s evolved now to where students at the U can apply through the Hinckley Institute to be a part of the same program. It was a really profound experience to be a part of so I’m happy that the opportunity is there for others as well.

What advice would you give to other students looking to gain hands-on international experience that aligns with their interests?

I think a great first step would be to look at the different programs that the Hinckley Institute offers because they have a lot of international opportunities for students in a variety of majors. But if you don’t see something there that you think would be a good fit for you, simply reach out to an organization that interests you — even if there’s not a formal internship or volunteer program there yet! Do some research into the organization, and write an email where you introduce yourself, describe why you’re interested in the organization, and ask if there is anything you can do to help them with their mission. Even if that specific organization doesn’t offer the sort of opportunity you’re looking for, they may be able to direct you to another organization that does. The bottom line is: don’t be afraid to ask! One simple email can lead to an amazing opportunity.

What campus resources helped support your experience?

The Hinckley Institute and the Learning Abroad office are great resources that helped me a lot throughout the process. Whether it was setting up academic credit, coordinating travel, figuring out finances, or providing resources while I was abroad, there was always someone I could reach out to if I had any questions.

What was something that surprised you about your experience in Poland? What do you most want people to know about the work you did on your internship?

Something that surprised me about my experience was the realization that there is still so much work to be done, even now, over seven decades after the Holocaust. The Museum and other similar organizations are working to find information on all those affected, which is difficult considering a very large majority of the documents from the Holocaust were destroyed towards the end of the war.

A large portion of my work in Poland involved transcribing names from the remaining documents and uploading them to the Museum’s database. The hope is that this database will help provide information to families who lost relatives during the Holocaust without ever receiving any concrete answers. It also helps further the Museum’s goal of finding the names of all those who were ever taken to the camp.

While the process is ongoing, having a small role to play in that mission was both sobering and humbling. It’s an incredibly important work, and I would encourage everyone to get involved in whatever way they can.

For more information on setting up your own Global Internship, contact the Hinckley Institute’s
Jean Oh.

The Office of Learning Abroad offers internships with international companies, organizations, and governments that have established relationships with Affiliate Program Providers. For more information, contact Learning Abroad.

Center for Medical Innovation expands to Asia Campus

The Center for Medical Innovation (CMI) at the University of Utah announced plans this week to expand its operations to the University of Utah Asia Campus (UAC) on the Incheon Global Campus. Working in conjunction with the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ), the CMI Asia division will focus on supporting start-ups and early-stage biotechnology companies with commercialization resources and educational programming on best-practices for success in the medical device industry.

The partnership is expected to develop in two phases. The first phase will see the establishment of an “Ideas Lab” to provide expert mentoring and educational programming for young companies and entrepreneurs, and a “Launch Lab,” which will offer support for technology commercialization, in collaboration with partners both within the University and the greater Salt Lake area. This phase is expected to be operational sometime next year.

A second phase will bring a dedicated research and development lab for academic and industry collaboration. Expected with two to three years, the lab will be housed within the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ), with the Incheon Techno Park and Songdo District 11 identified as potential locations.

“The CMI’s move in Songdo is expected to contribute greatly to the development of the Songdo biocluster through collaboration between startups and bio companies,” said Lee Won-jae, head of the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority. He continued, saying “[IFEZ] will not spare any support for the development of CMI and global talent development in the future.”

In collaboration with Inha University Hospital, the CMI expansion comes as part of the Incheon Global Campus’s initiative to continue the promotion of industry-academic education and industry-academic cooperation, which includes foreign universities as industrial education institutions.

The University of Utah Asia Campus is one of four foreign universities present in the Incheon Global Campus, including the State University of New York (SUNY) Korea, George Mason University Korea, and Ghent University Global Campus.

Bernhard Fassl, the executive director for the Center for Medical Innovation, expects the expansion to be the beginning of a lengthy partnership for all involved.

“Looking towards the future, we foresee a mutually beneficial long-term-collaboration among the University of Utah, Utah Asia Campus and our Korean academic and government partners.”

U Partners with Taiwan Universities for dual Degree Program

The University of Utah’s College of Mines and Earth Sciences (CMES) has signed dual degree agreements with the College of Science at National Taiwan University (NTU). The agreement allows students to concurrently earn degrees from both universities. This program, along with another agreement between CMES and Taiwan’s National Central University (NCU), are the first international dual degree programs at the U. The NTU program builds upon an existing and successful exchange student program between the two universities.

This unique international opportunity allows undergraduate students in the Departments of Atmospheric Sciences and Geology & Geophysics at both the U and NTU to obtain dual bachelor’s degrees after spending at least one year visiting the other campus and satisfying graduation requirements of both institutions. (Students at NCU can come to the U to earn a dual degree, but not vice versa.) Due to the quality and similarity of core coursework offered between the corresponding departments, students should be able to satisfy the graduation requirements without much difficulty, guided by the course articulation as part of the dual degree agreement.

Darryl Butt, dean of CMES, John Lin, professor of atmospheric sciences, and Fan-Chi Lin, associate professor of geology and geophysics, worked closely with Sabine Klahr in the U’s Office for Global Engagement to develop the agreements. Their efforts included visits to both institutions to discuss the details of the programs.

“This innovative collaborative degree program is a fantastic opportunity for both students and faculty to leverage the diverse opportunities at two world-class institutions,” Butt said. “Any student who enrolls in one of these dual degree earth science programs will graduate with valuable cultural and leadership skills. I’m really looking forward to watching this program grow and hope that it sets the stage for other dual degree programs at the University.”

Taiwan, a western Pacific island uplifting by active tectonic convergence, offers complimentary living and learning experiences for U students majoring in earth sciences. The mountainous terrain and subtropical location also enable atmospheric science students to study mountain and meteorology.

NTU was founded in 1928 and is the most prestigious comprehensive university in Taiwan and one of the top-ranked universities in Asia. NTU’s total student body reaches 30,000, with ~15,000 undergraduate and ~15,000 graduate students. NTU’s main campus is in downtown Taipei, a thriving city of 3 million known for its cultural and culinary offerings and democratic expressions. NTU’s faculty members have strong ties with the international community, particularly through American universities. Early leaders of NTU’s atmospheric sciences department, Ching-Yen Tsay, Wen-Hsiung Ko, and Chung-Ming Liu, are U alumni.

For more information about the dual degree program, please contact the participating departments:

Atmospheric Sciences atmos-office@lists.utah.edu or john.lin@utah.edu
Geology/Geophysics michelle.tuitupou@utah.edu or fanchi.lin@utah.edu

More information about NTU can be found at the university’s Office of International Affairs.

Any department interested in developing a dual degree with an international partner institution should contact Sabine Klahr in the Office for Global Engagement at s.klahr@utah.edu and check out this website.

Reinventing a Warm Welcome for International Students

Not long after the dust settled on the transition to remote learning across campus in March, the Office of International Student & Scholar Services (ISSS) started shifting their efforts to a new challenge–what would it take to bring new international students to the U in the fall, given the challenges presented by Covid-19?

In a typical year, the ISSS office holds several full-day orientation sessions, providing breakfast and lunch and educating students about visa requirements, their rights and responsibilities in the U.S., and how to seek out support on campus and from others who share their circumstances. “Last year we hosted 16 in-person orientation days,” said ISSS director Chelsea Wells. “In May of this year, we realized we probably wouldn’t be doing that for fall.”

Instead of being dismayed at the prospect of creating a catalog of new, virtual-orientation content, the ISSS staff took the pivot as an opportunity to better serve students. “From the start, we really tried to think about it from a positive standpoint. This is something we’ve wanted to do for a long time,” said Wells. Together, the team explored answers to ‘What is orientation?’, ‘What does it mean to us?,’ ‘What kind of presence do we want to have?’

The result of the team’s reimagining begins with a series of robust pre-arrival modules in Canvas (the U’s online coursework management platform), that students complete remotely before they even begin their journey to Utah. Wells noted that in the past, her office struggled with “not knowing how that information landed with students,” but the new format allows for better assessment of comprehension.

The in-person, on-campus sessions were then transitioned to a series of Welcome Week webinars. Students were invited to submit questions in advance and anonymously during the live session. Each session was recorded so that students could review the information as necessary. “It’s no longer just a one-day sprint,” noted Wells. “If we can spread it out over time, it really helps our students retain the large amounts of information they must remember to be successful on campus.”

During the Welcome Week webinar series, students heard from a variety of offices on campus and covered topics from health and safety to student involvement.

“This has really been a fantastic catalyst to launch us into exploring new options and to think creatively while making orientation engaging and student-friendly,” said Wells.

While this year has been unsettling and unpredictable for everyone in the U community, abrupt changes to visa requirements and travel restrictions have added unique hurdles for international students.

Wells remarked that she was moved by the outpouring of support her office received in early July when the federal government issued new guidance that would severely restrict the ability of international students to continue their education in the U.S. (Those restrictions have been subsequently rescinded for all but new incoming students.)

“Students want predictability. They want to ensure that the game isn’t going to change. Anybody traveling to a different country for four to eight years would really want to understand the requirements and, unfortunately, right now many of the rules aren’t stable,” said Wells.

That uncertainly has helped fuel the work of the ISSS office to make the process of coming to the U as comprehensive and engaging as possible. Wells wants international students to know “that the U, particularly ISSS, truly cares about them. Whether they’re on campus or studying in their home country, we are doing everything we can to support their academic journey.”

“Of course, everyone is facing challenges right now, but international students are facing so many obstacles that continuing their studies may seem insurmountable. It’s important for people to have compassion for the fact that they just want to come here and study, and their journeys may be vastly different and more challenging than for students already in the United States,” said Wells.

The ISSS team is committed to doing everything they can to ensure students from all over the globe can do just that–come, study, and have a great experience during their time at the U.

Global Engagement in the Time of COVID

Dr. Steve Burian Helps Train Pakistan’s Next Professors

In the last days of February, Covid-19 still seemed a far-away threat to most in Utah, but
Dr. Steve Burian was watching closely as international airports began issuing travel restrictions. He had recently returned home from meeting with research partners in Pakistan and was days away from a trip to Egypt to further a Water-Energy-Food nexus project with a group of Fulbright grant recipients.

Burian, a civil engineering professor at the U, is also director of the U Water Center. He’s spent years nurturing global partnerships that advance water security initiatives and inform his teaching. Burian is also passionate about faculty development and was looking forward to delivering an ambitious summer training with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Pakistan aimed at preparing newly minted Ph.D.s for the life of a professor.

Like everyone, adapting to the realities of a pandemic would require Burian to pivot.

As travel restrictions made it clear he would not be going to Egypt, Pakistan, or anywhere else for that matter, Burian quickly got to work setting up his home office to support the virtual transition of coursework, advising, research, and facilitation of workshops a world away.

In many ways, Burian was well-equipped to handle the distance learning and collaboration that became ubiquitous when the Covid crisis response was activated. For the past five years, Burian has overseen the Utah-arm of the USAID-funded U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water. When daylight dawns in Mountain Standard Time, he’s usually on campus for meetings and classes and, as night settles in the Salt Lake Valley, Burian logs on to video calls with colleagues just waking up in Pakistan. Sustaining such global partnerships requires creativity and communication, even in the best of times. Colleagues must carefully consider time zones, get comfortable with odd-hour meetings, and deftly maneuver digital tools and sometimes-spotty internet.

“It’s definitely time-consuming and a constant balance,” he notes. “But I love the opportunity to interact with people like this. It’s always interesting to me. This type of work builds connections and opportunities that feed back into the U–I see international activity as part of my job and in line with the U’s mission to create global impact.”

This summer Burian has followed through on that commitment and found a way to make good on the HEC professor training in Pakistan he had planned—in spite of the pandemic. “It was, of course, designed to be delivered in-person. Everything was organized and ready to go,” said Burian. Initially, the four instructors involved discussed transitioning the curriculum to an asynchronous course. “But in the end, we just knew it really had to be live,” said Burian.

The team—based in Canada, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom—decided to take turns leading the live virtual seminars and meticulously set up a trove of interactive shared documents and presentations. Together, they’ve guided over 150 doctorate recipients for 10-hours a day, 6 days a week, in teaching and research best practices, writing funding proposals, leveling-up their English proficiency, and managing the varied demands of professorship.

The hours are long and late–Burian admits he currently sleeps between one and six a.m.—but building the professional strengths of Pakistan’s next generation of professors is personally rewarding and gives back to his work at the U.

“We’ve worked through so many aspects of online instruction through this course. It’s definitely benefitting me, and I look forward to helping my colleagues by sharing what we’ve learned,” Burian said.

He recalled participating in an American Society of Civil Engineers Teacher Training Workshop earlier in his career, being selected as a mentor, and subsequently falling in love with faculty development. “I thought ‘well, this is pretty fun’ and I realized how much it was helping me as a teacher and research professional,” said Burian. Thus, in spite of the odd hours, virtual gymnastics, and other hurdles the pandemic has tossed, he perseveres in passing the proverbial torch.

“I, too, get better every day by participating in work like this,” Burian said.

Moran Outreach Team and Volunteers Creating COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment for Haiti and Beyond

MORAN OUTREACH TEAM AND VOLUNTEERS CREATING COVID-19 PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT FOR HAITI AND BEYOND

When Sophia Fang, MD, MS, learned a long-time partner of the John A. Moran Eye Center’s Global Outreach Division in Haiti had to shut its doors because of a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) to battle a COVID-19 outbreak, she took action.

Fang, who is Moran’s global outreach fellow, has a background in biomedical engineering. She also has a history of creating behind-the-scene tools and systems needed to make sustainable, effective eye care in outreach settings a reality.

Three U Students Receive Fulbright Awards for 2020-21

Three University of Utah students have received highly competitive Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board for the 2019-20 academic year. Additionally, four students were designated as an Alternate.

The flagship international educational exchange program is designed to build relationships between people in the U.S. and in other countries with the aim of solving global challenges. It is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. At the U, the Fulbright Program is directed by Howard Lehman and is sponsored by the Office for Global Engagement and the Graduate School.

Grant recipients are selected based on academic and professional achievement as well as a record of service and demonstrated leadership in their respective fields. Unfortunately, the exceptional circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted on the number of available awards in foreign countries.

Fulbright Recipients

Caitlin Silianoff will serve as an English Teaching Assistant in Taiwan. Caitlin will receive her BA in English and International Studies and a BS in Political Science with a minor in Chinese.

Rogelio Brambila will serve as an English Teaching Assistant in Mexico. Rogelio will receive his B.S. in Anthropology and Biology, and a B.A. in Latin American Studies.

Brendan Darraugh, BA, German and Political Science, will use his grant to enter the Master’s Program in National and International Public Administration and Policy at the University of Potsdam, Germany.

Fulbright Alternates

Polly Llewellyn, BA, English, Fulbright Study Award to the United Kingdom. Polly would use the Fulbright grant to earn an MA degree in creative writing from Aberystwyth University.

Alex Son, BA, Political Science, Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Cambodia.

Charlie Robinson, BA, Russian, Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Russia.

For more information, please contact Howard Lehman at lehman@poli-sci.utah.edu

The U’s Global Relationships Support COVID-19 Response

The University of Utah’s international connections are serving as a potent reminder of the benefits of collaboration across our global community as the deluge of dire news about COVID-19 floods newsfeeds and individuals feel increasingly isolated in its midst.

In September 2014, when the university opened its U Asia Campus(UAC) in Incheon, South Korea, administrators eagerly embraced the opportunity to create enriching cross-cultural experiences for faculty and students, expand recruitment, and establish a presence in the Asia market. Nobody could have foreseen the role that the partnership would play in the midst of the current pandemic.

Through connections facilitated by the Office for GlobalEngagementand UAC, Dr. Michael Good, CEO of University of Utah Health and Senior Vice President of Health Sciences, has recently been able to exchange first-hand COVID-19 response strategies with Dr. Young Mo Kim, former UAC Advisory Board member and President & CEO of InhaUniversity Medical Center.

“Through our campus in Korea, we learned that relationship building was a critical part of succeeding in Asia. Establishing those personal relationships has really paved the way for the type of direct communication that has developed between Drs. Good and Kim,” said Dr. Chris Ireland, the U’s Chief Global Officer.

South Korea saw its first wave of coronavirus begin in mid-February. While U administrators were working quickly to ensure the safety of students and faculty at UAC–moving courses online and asking residents to limit movement and interaction–the same precautions would not happen for several weeks at the U’s campus in Utah.

Pointing to a chart illustrating the curve of new cases in SouthKorea over the last month, Dr. Good praised the country’s prevention efforts and remarked “South Korea shows a nice example for us of exactly what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to get over the infection curve, get it as low as we can, keep it below the capabilities of our health system, and try to get it to this new steady state where we can always take care of the patients who need our care.”

The month difference has served as a preview of what’s to come, and the communication between Dr. Kim and Dr. Good has enhanced University of Utah Health’s ability to respond rather than react.

“We’re really fortunate to be part of the University of Utah,” continued Good, noting the U’s Asia Campus. “Through colleagues we’ve been able to establish really good conversation with leaders at InhaUniversity hospital. We’ve had three conversations with them now about approaches that they’ve used in South Korea to achieve those really impressive results.”

The collaboration has informed best-practices in structuring patient flow through facilities and recommendations to keep providers healthy.

“We’ll continue to speak with our colleagues in South Korea and learn from them and the experiences they’ve had in dealing with this pandemic,” said Good.

10,000 PPE Masks Gifted to the U

Fen Xu, Deputy Secretary General for Utah-Qinghai EcoPartnership; Franz Kolb, Director – International Trade and Diplomacy, Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development; Chris Ireland, University of Utah Chief Global Officer; and Cheri Daily, Director of External Relations and Global Programs for the University of Utah Office for Global Engagement help welcome a donation of 10,000 masks from Sichuan China

10,000 PPE MASKS GIFTED TO THE U

Donated by Sichuan Forestry and Grassland Provincial Bureau in China

The shipment of 10,000 masks arrived Thursday, April 30, 2020, the boxes scribed with messages of solidarity and friendship alongside a panda graphic—Sichuan’s provincial icon and a traditional symbol of peace and good luck. They will be used to protect healthcare providers, patients and visitors to the U’s healthcare facilities.

“We are very grateful for this act of generosity and friendship by the Sichuan Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau,” said Ruth V. Watkins, president of the University of Utah. “It underscores the long-term partnership the university and the Sichuan Province have developed to train national park administrators in best practices. It also signals what I hope will be an ongoing collaboration. We want the people in Sichuan Province to know their gift is deeply appreciated.”

The State of Utah and the University of Utah both maintain long-held collaborative relationships with China.

The U is in its second year of training Chinese land management officials and, last fall, 17 administrators from Sichuan Forestry and Grassland Bureau attended the U’s second China National Parks training program. The multidisciplinary course, organized by the Office for Global Engagement and the department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, was designed to assist the building and management of a new parks program in China through education of best practices honed in the United States over the past 150 years.

The U has also trained hundreds of athletic coaches from across China through its Pac-12 China Coaches Training Program since 2016—including several coaches from Sichuan. The educational program teaches coaching techniques for men and women’s sports including basketball, track and field, swimming and cheerleading.

As recently as Oct. 2019, representatives from the Office for Global Engagement traveled to China carrying a formal declaration of friendship from Governor Gary Herbert to participate in a formal Friendship Celebration, symbolizing the warm relationship between the state of Utah and Sichuan.

This type of long-term collaboration has initiated close personal relationships and, as COVID-19 has challenged countries across the globe, Sichuan leaders sought out ways to support their friends in Utah. “This is truly about people helping people and it’s the result of long-standing relationships. We are very grateful,” said Franz Kolb, Director for International Trade and Diplomacy with Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

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