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⇒ Student & Scholar Advising ⇒ Faculty, Staff, & Visitors ⇒ J-1 Scholars ⇒ Scholar Newsletter: April 2008
As of January 2008, new scholars have been able to check in electronically using iStart. This electronic check-in allows our office to store immigration-related information electronically, including the DS-2019, passport, and visa documentation. This helps us ensure the immigration record is correct and has been validated properly upon start of the program. Electronic check-in also helps scholars to become familiar with the iStart system, which can also be used for Travel Signature request, Change of Address, and other electronic forms throughout the J-1 program.
Each month, we will include the Scholar Profile to introduce and recognize the activities of an international scholar at IU. We hope these profiles will be interesting to you, and help you get to know other scholars on campus. This month’s featured scholar is Mr. Joseph Gaï Ramaka.
Mr. Ramaka is originally from Saint Louis, Senegal (West Africa), but now resides in Paris, France. He studied Visual Anthropology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, and Film at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques, at l’Université de Paris VIII, both in France. He set up his own production and distribution company, Les Ateliers de l’Arche, in France in 1990, and another in Senegal in 1997. In 1998, the company opened Espace Bel’Arte in Senegal’s capital city of Dakar, a space dedicated to the diffusion of independent films in their original versions and venue for activities aimed at school children and high school students.
Ramaka has written, produced, and directed several screenplays and films, including Ainsi soit-il (So Be It). This short film was part of the series Afrika Dreaming, which includes contemporary stories of love from several countries in Africa. The film received the Silver Lion award at the Venice Film Festival in 1997. Karmen Geï is his first feature film, adapted from the French opera Carmen by Georges Bizet. This first African film version of the Carmen story, a musical tragedy, was shown at several international film festivals in 2001–2002, including Cannes (France) and Sundance (USA), as well as a dozen television stations around the world. It caused controversy and was shut down in Senegal by extremists who claimed to be offended by its mixture of religion and sexuality. Ramaka’s last project, And What if Latif Were Right, focusing on the assassination of a public official and the sinking of a passenger ship off the coast of Senegal, examines the culture of autocracy under current Senegalese president, Abdoulaye Wade.
Ramaka was first invited to IU for a brief visit by the Department of Comparative Literature in 2006. In March 2007, he led a team of IU students in videotaping an international symposium on Senegalese literature and culture, organized on the Bloomington campus by the Project on African Expressive Traditions (POAET) and African Studies Program. Now, as a Visiting Research Associate, he is making a documentary from that footage on the symposium. He was also interviewed recently by the Black Film Center/Archive at IU Bloomington for its publication Black Camera.
April 15th is the due date for filing both federal and state tax returns for income earned in 2007. The VITA help sessions continue through April 12th. To sign up for a VITA tax help session, please sign in at iStart and click on “Session Sign-ups” and then “VITA Tax Advising.”
April 28–May 2 is final exam period for students at IU. Scholars who are teaching should consult with their department about how to submit student grades.
The International Center will be hosting a trip to Chicago on April 12th. Reservations were due March 31st. If you have signed up and still have questions about the trip, please email intlcent@indiana.edu.
The next Scholar Luncheon will be held Thursday, April 17th at 12:00pm at the International Center (111 S. Jordan Avenue). Guests from IU Recreational Sports and the City of Bloomington Parks & Recreation will talk about their facilities and programming. (This will be the last scholar luncheon of the academic year. Luncheons will begin again in September.)
The Mathers Museum of World Cultures (416 N. Indiana Avenue) is open Tuesday–Friday, from 9am to 4:30pm and Saturday–Sunday, from 1pm to 4:30pm. The museum is free and open to the public. The museum’s collections consist of over 20,000 objects and 10,000 photographs representing cultures from each of the world’s inhabited continents. Exhibits change throughout the year, but April exhibits include Hindustani Raga Music: Tradition, Evolution, and the Individual (ending Sunday, April 13), Sunken Cities and Shipwrecks: The Growing World of Underwater Museums (opening April 18), as well as exhibits about Native Americans, Victorian women travel writers, and other cultures. Activities include Family Craft Days on April 19th and April 26th. For more information, visit the Mathers Museum website
The Sample Gates, located between Franklin Hall and Bryan Hall, serve as a welcoming entryway for students into Indiana’s beautiful 1,860-acre campus. Edson Sample funded construction of the gates in 1987 and dedicated them to his parents, Louise Waite Sample and Kimsey Ownbey Sample Sr. The gates, constructed of Indiana limestone, mark the entrance to the Old Crescent, the site of IU’s historic campus buildings built between 1884 and 1908. Source
J Scholars have a 30-day grace period from the program end date on the DS-2019. The 30-day grace period is intended to prepare for your departure from the US. If you have questions or concerns, please contact a scholar advisor in OIS.
Are there items you would like to see included in future editions of the Scholar Newsletter? Click here to send us your suggestions.
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