|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
University friends raise funds for scholarships
Dozens of friends of Virginia International University came out to support the Fairfax institution of higher learning at its fifth annual scholarship fund-raising dinner and auction held Thursday, Nov. 1, at the Marriott Fairfax at Fair Oaks.
With an enrollment of about 275 students from some 55 countries, including Nepal, Mongolia, Turkey, India, Thailand, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Brazil, Colombia and Vietnam, VIU President Isa Sarac said the university has plans to grow in both the short and long term and is in search of a location somewhere in Fairfax for the site of a new campus.
VIU Provost Habib Kahn introduced several dignitaries in attendance, including Ambassador Zamira Sydykova of Kyrgyzstan and Frank Clarke of the Embassy of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Also at the event were U.S. Navy Rear Admiral (ret.) Robert Jones, the current president of the Fairfax Rotary Club, and Ron Hubbard, Chairman of VIU’s Development Committee.
Aneesh Chopra, Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia, delivered the keynote address, during which he spoke about the importance of technology for the growth of the state's economy.
One out of two jobs in Virginia comes from the technology sector, Chopra said. He told an audience that included members of VIU's international student body that "the greatest rate of growth of technological innovation is taking place in places like Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan."
What VIU students and other international students learn in the United States, Chopra said, will apply to their home countries.
The evening's entertainment was provided by Russian violinist Iourienen Innes and Guillermo Verde, cultural attache for the Embassy of Honduras, who sang traditional and contemporary Honduran cowboy ballads.
Last year's dinner and auction raised more than $50,000 for VIU scholarships. Founded in 1998, VIU is an independent academic institution that offers graduate and undergraduate level programs in computer science, business and management, as well as full and part-time certificates in a variety of professional and technical fields, including English as a second language.
For more about the university, visit www.viu.edu .
You must be logged in to post a comment.