UIW Brazilian Partnership Marks Five Years

 

It has been almost five years since Acting President Dr. Denise Doyle, who was then provost, supported a scouting trip to Brazil with the goal of identifying academic partners that connected to UIW’s Mission and values.

Five years later, a course in industrial pharmacy has been designed and implemented with the participation of over 30 Feik School of Pharmacy (FSOP) students and four business students. Over 10 FSOP faculty and two business faculty have been engaged in the program, not to mention the numerous pharmacy students from the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUC-Parana), four of which came to UIW for an international pharmacy course directed at immersing Brazilian students in the U.S. pharmacy experience. Even more engagement has been achieved by involving hundreds of employees of Prati-Donaduzzi, a Brazilian pharmaceutical company, in workshops developed for both students and Prati employees.

UIW joined PUC-Parana and Kent State University to form Mission Life, a group with teams of students competing for the best concept focused on improving the health of their communities and well-being of the planet.

Last November a group of four FSOP students travelled to Brazil with a “clean air” proposal to fight pollution. These young entrepreneurs interacted with hundreds of Brazilian students from PUC-Parana and were chosen by the group as the “people’s choice award” for best project this year by applying the strategies of reflection developed by the Ettling Center for Civic Leadership (ECCL). They engaged in service learning, a Prati-Donaduzzi initiative. Three students from the FSOP and business engaged in service to women that were in prison for drug related charges in the city of Toledo, Parana, Brazil. The project named “Recomecar” (or restart in English) focuses on increasing women’s self-esteem and their reintegration in society.