| Owing to the diligent work of the San Diego I-MERIT and Spring Fest committees, chaired by Louise Kelly, and due to the great support provided by San Diego faculty, staff and student community, Alliant enjoyed a fantastic symposium entitled “Exploring the Multicultures of the United States, Mexico and Japan” combined with its wonderful annual Spring Fest on April 12th and 13th, 2007. The symposium began with a festive opening dinner on Thursday April 12th that featured a father-daughter duo, Ilya Adler and Lisa Adler. This father and daughter team spoke about multicultural and community-building issues. The evening’s pace was livened up by the drums of the Taiko drummers of the Vista Buddhist Temple who did not miss a beat. The power of the enormous drums was so great that the student dormitories shook with the rhythm. The following day, Friday the 13th, 2007, was a lucky day in Alliant San Diego’s annals. The San Diego campus saw three great I-Merit panels. The panels addressed different multicultural themes of relevance to the United States, Mexico and Japan. The speakers brought academic, social and personal issues to the discussion. One UCSD doctoral student attendee observed that what is unique about the event was that the presenters combined their personal experience with their research interests – something that she had not encountered to such an extent elsewhere. Perhaps this is a testament to Alliant’s international character. Highlights of the Japan panel included Akihito Nonomura, our resident graduate student stand-up comic, who articulated the lighter side of cultural stereotypes that the Japanese hold towards foreigners, David Tuites, executive director of the Japan Society who talked about his experience living in Japan, and Darlene Budd, who traveled from as far away as Missouri to talk about gender issues in Japan. JVC-Mexico Human Resource Director Magnolia Pinera rounded out the panel with her talk about Japanese business culture in Mexico. She highlighted the fact that out of 200 Japanese company executives located in the maquiladora region in Mexico, only 1 was female. The United States panel was equally as animated. Craig Brewer, Alliant’s Dean of Students, spoke about multicultural dynamics in the United States. Dione Taylor spoke about African-American experiences in the US. Debra Kawahara of CSPP spoke about psychology and culture in the US. Mariana Escamilla spoke about the complexities and intricacies of Mexican-American, Chicano and cross-border culture. Lastly, the Mexican panel brought to the fore a number of important aspects that characterize our neighbor to the south. Hector Maymi told an interesting story about matriarchal cultures in Mexico. David Felsen elucidated some of the major social, political and cultural influences on attitudes and behaviors towards class and gender in Mexico. Louise Kelly spoke about the place of class and social mobility in Mexico, and its relationship to fostering an entrepreneurial society. The event was well attended and enthusiastically received. The event drew a total of about 150 participants from the Alliant community, other academic institutions, and from the San Diego and Tijuana community more broadly. The audience participation was sharp and provocative. Adriana Mendiolea, Director General of the Tijuana campus of Cetys University in Baja California stated, “We need to bring more events to Cetys like this, which combines intellectual and cultural aspects”. The lunch which followed the panels included entertainment by the SDSU Aztec dancing troupe. Following lunch, there was an important discussion concerning how to integrate Alliant’s international and multicultural focus into a more compelling mission for the university. Upon conclusion of this intellectual exchange, the I-MERIT symposium rolled into Spring Fest, a lively student festival that celebrates cultural diversity through food and entertainment. The I-MERIT committee would like to thank the Alliant community for its wonderful support in making this event a true success. In particular, Dr. Rodney Lowman played a key and active leadership role in helping the I-MERIT initiative move forward and in supporting the San Diego committee’s efforts to make this event happen. Valentina Trouyet took an active leadership role in successfully integrating Spring Fest with the symposium. The San Diego I-MERIT event is one of several I-MERIT initiatives taking place on various campuses of Alliant International University.
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