The Corvallis Gazette-Times takes a closer look at the class of 2009. Nikhil Prem is a chemical engineering graduate in the International Degree program who studied in Santander, Spain. Biochemistry and biophysics graduate Travis Edmiston, among his many achievements, volunteered in the English Language Institute (INTO OSU) Conversant Program.

A distinguished alumnus of the Oregon State University College of Pharmacy's class of 1982 is returning to campus from his native Cameroon to receive an award for the work he has done in his home country.

Nkwenti Davidson Achu will receive the Noel B. Flynn Award for Alumni Achievement Thursday, June 11, at 3 p.m. in the Pharmacy Building Conference Room 213. During the event, which is free and open to the public, Achu will speak on "Health Care and Pharmacy Practice in Cameroon." A traditional Cameroon tea ceremony and a red feather presentation, also a Cameroon tradition, will follow.

Achu is the president of the Cameroon Diabetes Association, the owner of a popular Cameroon pharmacy, president of the National Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Cameroon and vice president of the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association. Through the years he has been a champion for the treatment of chronic diseases, and has helped create three pharmacy schools in the country, using lessons he gained from his time at OSU.

An international group of scholars will meet at OSU June 19-21 to discuss the work of Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle.

Cavendish (1623–1673) was the first woman to publish scientific works in English, as well as works of poetry, plays, orations, letters and science fiction. The theme of the conference is "Margaret Cavendish and Nature." All conference sessions are free and open to the public and will be held at the Center for Humanities (Autzen House), 811 S.W. Jefferson Ave., Corvallis.

Stephen Clucas of the University of London will deliver the keynote talk on Friday, June 19, at 5:30 p.m. at the center.

The Daily Barometer interviews Abdul-Razak Amadu, a junior in microbiology who came to study at OSU from Ghana. Amadu is a student ambassador in the International Cultural Service Program. He plans to pursue a graduate degree in the United States and then return home to teach.

Some nine months after OSU signed an agreement to team with INTO University Partnerships on an initiative to recruit international students to the university, the fruits of many thousands of hours of labor is beginning to pay off.

This summer, the first INTO students will arrive to participate in a pair of language programs to prepare them to become full-fledged OSU students. Campus leaders estimate that roughly 100 students, mostly from Asia, will enroll in Academic English and another 30 students in General English.

This fall, a series of "pathway" programs will bring more international students to campus. These one-year programs have options in business, engineering, science and general studies and are designed to ease international students' transition to a new country, improve language skills and introduce them to their intended major. An estimated 165 students will participate in the pathway programs, bringing the total number of students under the INTO OSU umbrella to about 300 for fall term.

Scottish-born novelist Margot Livesey will visit the Oregon State University campus on Friday, May 15, to read from her most recent work, the award-winning novel The House on Fortune Street.

A question-and-answer session and a book-signing will follow the reading, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Valley Library’s first floor rotunda. The event is free and open to the public.

Livesey was raised in a boys' school in the Scottish Highlands where her father taught and her mother was the school nurse. After getting her bachelor's degree at the University of York, Livesey worked in shops and restaurants while honing her craft as a fiction writer. Her efforts began to pay off in 1986, with the publication of her short story collection, Learning by Heart, published by Penguin/Canada.

Communication workshops and screenings of the award-winning documentary "Lost Boys of Sudan" are among the events set for Intercultural Communication Week at Oregon State University, May 4-7.

The events aim to help the university and Corvallis communities prepare to welcome an increased number of international students in the next few years. INTO Oregon State University, a new initiative to increase international student enrollment, will recruit international students into a one-year "pathway" program that university officials estimate will enroll 500 to 650 participants annually within five years.

Willamette University emeritus professor Gilbert LaFreniere will deliver a lecture titled "Reflections on the Ecological Transformation of Western Europe" on Wednesday, May 6, at Oregon State University. The free public talk begins at 4 p.m. in Memorial Union Room 206.

The lecture will address what LaFreniere calls "the massive ecological destruction of western Europe." He claims the entire Mediterranean basin has been transformed into a human artifact, and most of Western Europe has been similarly affected by deforestation, loss of species diversity, and near total humanization of pre-existing ecosystems.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian human rights activist who just joined the legal team of an Iranian-American journalist convicted of spying in Iran, will visit Oregon State University this weekend to participate in PeaceJam.

PeaceJam is an international education program that works with Nobel Prize laureates to engage youth in volunteerism and encourages them to work to transform themselves, their local communities and, ultimately, the world. More than 250 high school students and teachers from Oregon, Washington and California will attend the two-day conference at OSU that begins Friday, along with 50 OSU student mentors.

Ebadi also will present a free public lecture on Friday, April 24, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union Ballroom titled "The Rights for Women and Children and Their Role as Leaders."

INTO Oregon State University, the initiative to increase the number of international students at OSU, is recruiting for three positions: Academic Support Manager, Academic Support Assistant and Receptionist. The application deadline is April 27. The position announcements are available on the INTO OSU implementation Web site.