In return of the July 2015 visit of TUMS Chancellor, Dr. Jafarian, and Director of International Relations, Accreditation and Ranking (DIRAR), Dr. Nekoofar, to Indiana University, Dr. Michael Josef Kowolik traveled from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) to Tehran and met with TUMS officials.
First, Dr. Kowolik visited TUMS School of Dentistry in the morning. There, Dr. Bayat, Dean of the School, welcomed Dr. Kowolik and gave a brief introduction of the school. "One of the most important goals that both the university and the school share is internationalization," Dr. Bayat said. "Periodontics is currently the strongest department in the areas of research and clinical experience and would therefore be a perfect candidate for international collaborations," he added. Dr. Nekoofar, Dr. Khami and other faculty members of the school were also present at this meeting. Dr. Kowolik then paid a brief visit to different school departments and facilities, and, afterwards, he delivered a lecture entitled “Inflammatory Response to Infectious Challenge” at the school and answered questions from the audience.
Around noon, Dr. Kowolik engaged in talks with Dr. Arabkheradmand, TUMS Vice-Chancellor for Global Strategies and International Affairs (GSIA), and other International Directors, at a lunch meeting held in the TUMS headquarters.
At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Kowolik, presented a brief introduction of IUPUI. “Internationalization nowadays is a common goal of the universities,” he said and added that “IUPUI does not wish to have a lot of MoUs with international institutions which never become practical but the purpose is to have a few MoUs which we can put into action and implement. Political relations should never affect academic relations of the different countries’ universities and institutions.” Dr. Arabkheradmand later gave a brief presentation about the internationalization of TUMS and the activities his office has been pursuing in this regard.
At the end of the meeting, Professor Kowolik was presented with the TUMS Distinguished Visiting Professor Title for the duration of 2015-2018.
To read about the visit of TUMS Chancellor to IUPUI, please click here.
To read about the visit of TUMS Director of International Relations, Accreditation and Ranking to IUPUI, please click here.
Images courtesy of TUMS Public Relations