The Golden Blogs: 2012 in review

“And the winner is ………”

The afterglow of Sunday night’s quirky Golden Globes feels like just the right time to review last year’s Be the Change blog. Call it the Golden Blogs. (Hey, we’re just missing the “e.”) Looking back is always interesting and like the Golden Globes, it can be a little quirky.

Take, for instance, the armadillos. Once again a blog post mentioning armadillos floated up into the top five last year, finishing as runner-up yet again. (That’s two statuettes, if you’re counting.) I can’t explain why, except to speculate that perhaps armadillos are more popular than one might imagine.

Of the top five mostly widely read blog posts we published last year, three were written by guest bloggers. Jake Williams (’13) wrote about the Lost Boys of Sudan. Jake’s post and a post about Invisible Children written by Gabrielle Piccininni (’11) took the fourth and fifth spots. Gabrielle’s post, by the way, was actually published the prior year, in 2011, yet continues to gather readers. That’s staying power. The No. 1 most read Be the Change post last year also went to a guest blogger, Jim Heffernan’s (’96) who wrote Sweden: The Malmo Summit.

That Jim’s post was No. 1 didn’t surprise us. It was well written, interesting and had a component that the blogosphere handles about as well as any Internet medium — a worldwide audience. In the blogosphere, lines between nations are blurred and sometimes erased, bringing us all together. I presume that’s why, for the first time last year, WordPress provided daily stats about where our blog readers were located. It was a fun statistic to watch as JMU and its mission of change spread out over the world. In the final 2012 tally, the Be the Change blog was read in 148 countries. The only disappointment — big white zeroes in Greenland and Iceland. (So here’s a shout out: Hey, Greenland and Iceland! Come visit us.)

All in all, in 2012 the blog garnered almost twice the number of visits of 2011. Coincidentally, the same calendar date in both 2011 and 2012 saw the most visitors to the blog: Sept. 11. On the home page that day was a post by another guest blogger: BTC intern Anthony Baracat (’13))

In October last year, the blog was Freshly Pressed. You might call FP the “Oscars” of WordPress. Sounds good, anyway. That post, chosen by the editors of WordPress from blogs all over the world, resulted in a big jump in followers. In fact, we’re now only a few followers shy of 100. We also had our first month with more than 5,000 views.

Still we have work to do, countries to crack (Hey, Greenland and Iceland! Wavin’ at you!) and conversations to engage. So here are some of our goals for next year. We want to continue to feature the people of Madison who devote their time, talents and lives to improving the world in ways as varied as academics, humanitarianism, medicine, science, politics, business, nonprofits, and volunteerism. We want to talk with and about projects, programs and people who are making a difference. We want to reach more of the world — and be read in even more countries. According to the U.S. State Department there are 195 countries in the world, so we’re only short 47. That’s doable.

But we want more than numbers; we want to engage in conversations that will further the goals and aspirations of Be the Change and those who do it. We want to share, listen and exchange thoughts and ideas. We want those conversations to be honest, open — and to matter, not merely entertain. We want to show the world our human face, our compassionate heart and our determination to Be the Change.

So, now, who among you readers will push us over 100 by following this blog? And which one of you is ready to start a great conversation?

Click here to see the complete report.

Sweden: The Malmo Summit

Malmo University

JMU’s Jim Heffernan (’96) is in Sweden this week participating in a training session with educators and professionals from all over the world. The symposium is sponsored by the International Network of Universities. As guest blogger this week, Jim gives us a glimpse of the issues and concerns shared by those in higher education all over the world.

The Malmö summit

by Jim Heffernan (’96)

We are all different. We are all the same.

We are communication officers, librarians, career counselors and international study coordinators. We come from the United States, England, Scotland, Finland, Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Japan and the Czech Republic. From institutions both large and small, old and new, traditional and progressive, urban and rural.

Jim Heffernan (r) and colleagues at the Malmo Summit

For the past four days, my colleagues in higher education and I have been meeting in Malmö, Sweden, to share best practices and engage in collaborative learning. It’s an impressive group, and I’ve been encouraged by the depth and breadth of our discussions. For all our cultural differences, we have many common concerns, among them continuing to recruit the best and brightest, working within our budgets, securing available resources, increasing funds for research and avoiding the pitfalls of social media. As support staff, our offices exist where the rubber hits the road on these bumpy issues. Yet we can’t afford to put our foot on the brake. The world is shrinking and the pace of change ever accelerating. We all want our students, and ultimately our institutions, to succeed.

JMU has the privilege of leading the 10-member International Network of Universities — some of whom are represented here this week — for the 2012-15 term. Higher education consortia like the INU have the ability not only to provide unique study-abroad and professional exchange opportunities, but also to foster collaborative research and service projects regarding global issues like the environment, health care and conflict resolution. JMU has much to contribute in these important areas, including exceptional, socially-minded students; professors who are experts in their respective fields of study and passionate about teaching; and, yes, some pretty darned good staff members, too. But JMU can’t do it alone. We need our international partners to help make the world a better place for our children and grandchildren – in essence to “Be the Change” we at Madison talk so much about.

As the end of our time together in Malmö draws to a close, and we return home to our families and coworkers, let us keep in mind that learning and change also happens outside our hallowed halls. We are all different. We are all the same.

You can learn more about INU and see more pictures from the Malmo Summit visiting the group’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/INUnetwork 

Greetings from Sweden

JMU’s Jim Heffernan (’96) gives us a glimpse of country that’s a little mysterious …..

Greetings from Sweden

by Jim Heffernan

Greetings from Sweden, the country that produced film legends Ingrid Bergman and Greta Garbo, tennis great Bjorn Borg, Alfred Nobel (hint: think peace prize), the musical group ABBA and the chic home furnishings store IKEA, to name just a few. I’m here, along with three of my colleagues from JMU’s Office of International Programs, in Malmö, a city of nearly 300,000 in the southernmost province of Scania, near the border with Denmark. We’re taking part in a series of international staff training sessions hosted by Malmö University, a member of the International Network of Universities of which JMU assumed the leadership in January.

To the outside observer, Malmö is a study in contrast — a one-time Viking outpost seized from the Danes in the mid-1600s and steeped in Old World European charms like cobbled streets, village squares and Gothic architecture; and an emerging post-industrial commercial center linked with Copenhagen via the new Oresund bridge and tunnel. In the Swedish tradition, Malmo is quiet and exceptionally clean, with little to no crime, and there is a sense of confidence among its residents, both for their past and for their future.

Malmö University, which is housed in a half-dozen distinctively modern buildings near the waterfront, is helping fuel the city’s transformation from a vanquished shipyard to a thriving educational and cultural hub. Established in 1998, the university targets international students with an array of multidisciplinary programs, including courses taught in English. If you want to study here, you can do so through the INU. The folks in JMU international programs and their counterparts at Malmö University would be happy to sit down with you and help make it happen.

Don’t know much about Sweden, you say? It’s okay. There’s a mystery surrounding this northern European country that has been at peace since the early 18^th century. Indeed the popular perception of Swedes as tall, blond, blue-eyed people who wear wooly hats falls a bit short in Malmo, a port city that today boasts 160 nationalities. However, other Swedish stereotypes are evident. Native citizens and their adopted siblings are notoriously punctual, honest and hard working. According to professor Steve Myers, a transplant from England who teaches at Malmö University, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Swede who doesn’t pay his taxes on time or carry with him a plastic bag when walking his dog in public. And he would never even think of taking a bath after 10 p.m. for fear of disturbing his neighbors. What’s more, Sweden has one of the highest levels of gender equality in the world, and as a welfare state there is a strong sense of tolerance and fair play. If there’s a downside to such a staid society, Myers claims, it’s that Sweden becomes a land of trivial complaints — the gentle reminder in the break room to wash your coffee cup or a note in the lift of your apartment building on how not to park your bicycle.

But beneath the Swedes’ shy, withdrawn demeanor lies a passion for life and for nature and even a soft-spoken national pride. After all, this is the land of crayfish parties and outdoor festivals such as “Midsummer Madness,” during which Swedes decorate their homes with garlands, dance around the Maypole and sing songs known to all. And don’t be put off by Swedes’ seemingly chilly reception to strangers, says Alexandra Norby, a 22-year-old Swedish exchange student at JMU majoring in international affairs. It may take a while to earn their trust, she says, but once you do, you have a friend for life.

I’m already making some friends of my own here this week, and planning a return visit. Goodbye for now, or as the Swedes say, “Hej då.”

(Photos by Jim Heffernan)

Think Sweden

photo from: http://hsmai-europe.com/tag/sweden/

Think Sweden this week.

That’s where JMU’s Jim Heffernan, public affairs associate, is spending the week. He’s attending the International Staff Training Week, which is run by the International Network of Universities. Jim is part of a delegation from JMU attending the series of workshops and cultural activities at Sweden’s Malmo University

INU is a “consortium of 11 institutions of higher learning from around the world that share best practices, provide study-abroad opportunities and staff shadowing programs, and foster global citizenship in the areas of teaching and research,” according to a JMU press release.

So instead of our normal Monday/Thursday schedule for this blog, we’re changing things up to get a glimpse of INU from the inside.

Jim will blog for us this week. If all goes as planned, we will receive his first post tomorrow. So stay tuned…

You can learn more about INU at their website http://www.inunis.net/

They are the world

Last week’s failure of the North Korean rocket launch was a stark reminder that the world has a ways to go. Seven decades after Germany began developing atomic technology and 67 years after the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb to end World War II,  international conflict is still very real. Nations, peoples, individuals, ethnic groups, indigenous populations, armies, institutions and organizations are  scrambling to find some semblance of peace in the world. It’s still elusive. We have not arrived.

But there are glimmers of hope. Among them is a new generation with a world perspective unlike any of their predecessors. This generation of 20-somethings thinks nothing of hopping a plane to Belarus or making a temporary move to Brazil, Denmark, Australia or Kenya. To paraphrase a line from the Jackson/Ritchie song, “they are the world.”

Many of these students have gained this perspective through their collegiate experiences abroad.  At JMU, a university that ranks high for students studying abroad, this world view is strong, growing and highly productive. Last year, international affairs major Adam White (’14) participated in the 2011 INU Student Seminar at Hiroshima University, a conference sponsored by the International Network of Universities. For Adam, it was an affirming experience; already he had come to understand the critical nature of cross-cultural collaborations in formulating a vision for helping individuals in oppressed nations gain freedom.

As a result of his work, Adam received the 2011 Henry Fong Award, which recognizes an INU student for contributing to the network’s theme of global citizenship. And for his work, we have added Adam to JMU’s growing list of Be the Change individuals. 

In announcing the award, the INU said about Adam:

Adam White wrote a thoughtful and inspiring essay. He reflected on the concept of Global Citizenship and the ways that the INU Student Seminar reinforced his convictions about ethical obligations in an interconnected world. He argued persuasively that “different peoples, cultures, and belief systems are equally valuable parts of a greater human community” and that “it is the duty of each person and organization, regardless of background, to make choices that promote the welfare of this collective, diverse whole.” In addition, Mr. White presented a personal plan for carrying out this duty. He outlined a project designed to increase the visibility of persecuted North Koreans and to provide English language training to North Korean refugees.

Next week, a new group of international citizens will gather in Sweden for International Staff Training Week at Malmo University. Among the participants will be Jim Heffernan (’96), JMU public affairs associate. Jim’s participation is driven by JMU’s preeminence in the international organization.  Last October, JMU assumed the leadership of the organization for a three-year term. JMU is the only U.S. college or university in INU, which includes members from Australia, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain and Sweden.

During his week in Sweden, Jim will be a guest blogger for Be the Change, giving us all a glimpse into the international world that Adam has already grasped.  Look for Jim’s posts next week.

To learn more about Adam and his work with INU, visit http://www.jmu.edu/news/2011AdamWhite.shtml