Emmanuel O. Oritsejafor, director of the office of International Affairs, works the phone.. (Photo: T.C. Anyachonkeya/Echo Staff Photographer)

Emmanuel O. Oritsejafor, N.C. Central University’s new director of the Office of International Affairs, has big plans for NCCU.

He wants to globalize the campus by sending NCCU students abroad and bringing international students and faculty to NCCU.

Oritsejafor served as interim coordinator before this appointment.

He also worked as an assistant professor in the political science department.

For three years prior to coming to NCCU in 2001, Oritsejafor was chair of an interdisciplinary department housing political science, international business and foreign languages at Saint Augustine’s College in Raleigh.

He envisions the same kind of interdisciplinary venture at NCCU due to its rich, liberal arts tradition.

According to Oritsejafor, the Office of International Affairs exists to increase the global scope of this University.

“The purpose of the International Affairs Office is to provide guidance to sustainable international education through research, through teaching, and through cultural immersion,” said Oritsejafor.

The new director believes that bringing students and scholars from abroad “adds value” to NCCU students’ educational experience.

Students and faculty with a greater worldview have more to offer in the competitive workforce.

NCCU currently has 10 exchange scholars and three students from abroad.

There are instructors from China, Croatia, Russia, Canada and the Bahamas in the exchange program.

Three NCCU students are studying abroad: one in Australia and two in Demark.

Oritsejafor plans to create more globally academic opportunities for students and faculty through greater involvement with both the UNC and the Fulbright exchange programs.

By better automating the process, Oritsejafor has made it easier for exchange applicants to fill out online visa forms at the international affairs website (http://web.nccu.edu/Academics/international/office.htm).

In the fall, exchange scholars will make several presentations, in both the departments of history and the modern foreign languages.

By the summer of 2006, NCCU will have a study-abroad program at Cuttington University in Liberia and at the University of Economy in the Czech Republic

Recently Oritsejafor traveled to China and signed an agreement for a 3- to 4-week study-abroad program at Fudan and Najing University.