Earlier this month [add link to article], AUCA Professor of Anthropology Cholpon Chotaeva gave a presentation on her newly published lecture book the History of Kyrgyzstan, written in English for an English-speaking audience. Professor Chotaeva, a Doctor of Historical Sciences, is the Coordinator of the Anthropology and Sociology Departments at AUCA.

On April 23, exactly four hundred years ago, William Shakespeare, the world-famous English poet and one of the best playwrights in the world, died in 1616. Since 1996, April 23 has been celebrated as World Book and Copyright day. In honor of so many memorable dates, AUCA held “Shakespeare in Our Time,” a commemorative poetry recitation and discussion.

On April 9-10, 2016 the Department of International and Comparative Politics held one of its annual crisis games where on a chosen topic student play roles of various decision makers trying to achieve objectives of countries they represent. Around 40 students from various departments of AUCA as well as students from other universities took part in the game which focused this time on the Syrian crisis.

Aselia Biialieva, a junior in the Economics department, told us about her SILC grant. SILC supports student-initiated projects, professional development opportunities, and student research. It awards small grants every month to AUCA students.

 
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This presentation analyzes women’s empowerment as a practice and as an everyday reality for rural population in the Kyrgyz Republic. Researchers explore ethnographically opportunities and challenges to actions aimed to bringing sustained positive changes to rural populations.
 

"Rural Women’s Empowerment in Kyrgyzstan: Opportunities and Bottlenecks". Speakers:  Dr. Elena Molchanova, Asel Myrzabekova, Olga Yarova, and Elena Kim. Date & Time: April 13, 16:00.

Gulnaza Khalmanbetova, from the Business Administration department (BA-113) at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA), is currently studying at Kyung Hee University in South Korea. Gulnaza shares with us her experiences and anecdotes from her South Korean exchange program.

Spring break was busy for Anguelina Popova, Director at the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (CTLT), and Assistant Professor of Digital Literacy. She participated in a series of workshops hosted by the Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo, Egypt.

April 5, 2016, a group of representatives of Polish universities and the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education met with chair of the psychology department Elena Kim, international student coordinator Iliyas Mamadiyarov, and coordinator of academic affairs Nazgul Koilubaeva to discuss potential academic collaboration and the development of exchange programs between Polish universities and AUCA.

Between March 21 and 25, 2016, an assistant professor of Economics Department Rahat Sabyrbekov participated in a conference at Stanford University in the US. He told us about this trip in a short interview.