Samara Aerospace Institute birch carving gift, 1993

Samara Aerospace Institute birch carving gift, 1993

In 1993, The Rector of Samara State Aerospace Institute (SSAI), one of Russia’s premier centers for Aerospace research and development, visited Bradley University and presented this carved birch wall hanging to President John Brazil. In the preceding year, Bradley University and SSAI established a Russian-U.S. exchange program for faculty and students. Provost Kalman Goldberg enthusiastically supported internationalizing the BU student experience and when the USSR collapsed, Goldberg along with Elmo Roach (Russian historian and Bradley’s inaugural Director of International Programs) and Engineering professor Alexey Sverdlin teamed with Caterpillar as that company sought opportunities to expand its business relationships in Russia. For the remainder of the 1990s, SSAI engineering students attended Bradley to take classes in business, accounting, marketing, some returning to complete their MBA at Bradley–and Bradley students and faculty studied and taught at SSAI. The SSAI/BU partnership was one success from a university-wide effort to create equal opportunities for students of any major to study abroad. Though the cross-cultural and global exchange program with Russian institutions no longer exists, its legacy and impact remains. For example, Demetrice Worley, Professor of English, was among the Bradley faculty who taught a summer course at SSAI in Samara, Russia. Current Peoria Caterpillar employee Marina Waters was an SSAI exchange student and earned her undergraduate degree and MBA at Bradley. Photo by Ching Zedric.

1993

Aerospace engineering; Student exchange programs

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