COURTESY: GLOBAL CHINA CONNECTION
A group of students have come together to found an Ole Miss chapter of a nationwide program called Global China Connection that aims to connect Chinese to non-Chinese citizens, and vice-versa.
Jonathan Larkin, junior economics and liberal studies major, works as the financial executive and sponsorship executive of the program.
“Global China Connection is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for university students of all nationalities looking to engage China’s emergence as a global power,” Larkin said.
The organization seeks to create a stronger bond between China and the rest of the world, starting with the program in the United States.
The organization is hosting a joint conference with Vanderbilt University on Saturday and will include keynote speakers such as U.S. Ambassador and founder of the U.S. China Education Trust, Julia Chang Bloch, and Jill Lerner, principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox, a well-renowned architectural firm.
The Ole Miss chapter of Global China Connection was founded by Ole Miss juniors Frank Anderson, Chinese and economics major, and William Foley, computer science and linguistics major, after their visit to China in the summer of 2013. After going through a long and rigorous process to be recognized as an official chapter by the national program, they succeeded in November 2013. Foley is director of IT and creative media for the program, and Anderson is president.
“Global China Connection provides an unprecedented opportunity to Ole Miss students to have the access to an elite student-run network of international professionals,” Anderson said.
The group is eagerly anticipating the conference on Saturday and has big plans for the future. According to Foley, the conference will alternate locations every year, with the first conference this year taking place at Vanderbilt. As the years go on, and the program grows, the Ole Miss chapter of Global China Connection hopes to include more and more universities from around the country at these conferences every year.
The conference with Vanderbilt will include conversations regarding China’s future stance within the world and is open to any student willing to foster those relationships. As ambitious as the group’s plans are, Foley explained the purpose of Global China Connection very simply.
“It’s a nonprofit company that specializes in building relationships between Chinese students and people from the rest of the world,” Foley said, “to advance international trust in the future between China and everyone else.”
