Indiana State University Newsroom

A delegation of students and professors from a Russian university will visit ISU next week in the latest cultural exchange between the two schools.

The group from St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, or SUAI, will arrive in the Wabash Valley on Saturday, with their visit to ISU on Monday. Scheduled events on Monday include a cultural roundtable from 10 to 11:30 a.m., followed by scholarly presentations from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Both events will be in room 101E of the John T. Myers Technology Center.

Several ISU students will participate in the roundtable and presentations, said Gerald Cockrell, professor and interim chair of the built environment department in the College of Technology. Cockrell works with SUAI, and has helped arrange the current cultural exchange visit, along with others in the past.

He also said there will be a mix of technically-based presentations along with some that will appeal to a broader audience.

"We don't stipulate that it has to be a technical presentation," Cockrell said. "It's just a presentation of interest."

Groups from SUAI have visited ISU before, just as Cockrell has visited the Russian university in the past. In March 2009, Cockrell received an honorary doctorate from SUAI during his visit.

In addition to the events on Monday, the group will also have safety management presentations on Tuesday and interior architecture design presentations on Wednesday. Other group visits in the Wabash Valley include tours of farms in Clay County and tour, presentation and dinner at Westminster Village in Terre Haute. The group then leaves Friday morning from Indianapolis to travel to Chicago.

"They're great people," Cockrell said. "They're fun to be around and very interesting."

Contact: Gerald Cockrell, professor and interim chair of the built environment department, College of Technology, Indiana State University, 812-237-3394 or gcockrell@indstate.edu

Writer: Austin Arceo, assistant director of media relations, Office of Communications and Marketing, Indiana State University, 812-237-3790 or austin.arceo-negrich@indstate.edu