On Wednesday 29th July 2009 UGM received the United States of America delegates consisting of 10 prominent persons from 10 different universities in the US. The delegates were welcomed by the UGM Rector Prof. Ir. Sudjarwadi M. Eng, Ph. D along with UGM Management including Vice Rector Senior of Research, Education, and Community Services, Vice Rector of Alumni and Business Development, Executive Secretary, Deans from various faculties in UGM, and Director of Education and Community Services , Higher Education, Ministry of Education.
Accompanied by Education and Cultural Attache, Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Washington, D.C., Dr. Totok Suprayitno and headed by Dr. Terrace W. Bigalke, East-West Center, the US delegates are Prof. Thak Choloemtiarana, Cornell University, Prof. Mohamed S. El-Aasser, Lehigh University, Prof. Ronald LaFayette, North Seattle Community College, Prof. Stephen C. Dunnett,University at Buffalo,The State University of New York, Prof. James T. Collins, Northern Illinois University, Prof. Jay Lemons, Susquehanna University, Prof. Charley Sullivan, University of Michigan, Prof. Veronica L. Taylor, University of Washington.
The visit of the US delegates is an initial result of the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton’ commitment to sustain the academic collaboration with Indonesia. UGM is one of the four universities in Indonesia besides ITB, UI, IPB, and Universitas Udayana that received honor to host the meeting and promote its excellences to those delegates. In that occasion, besides presenting the achievements of UGM students in various international events, there is also a presentation of achievements of various faculties and research center, presented by the respective deans of Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy, Faculty of Forestry, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Economics and Business, Faculty of Geography, and head of Research Centers such as Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies (CRCS).