Miami, April 5, 2010 – Miami Dade College (MDC) President Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón and a delegation of Chinese officials will be present at the agreement signing and opening celebration (invitation-only) of the prestigious Confucius Institute, a language, business and culture center that is the first of its kind in South Florida, on Thursday, April 29, at 5:30 p.m., at MDC’s Wolfson Campus, 300 N.E. Second Ave, where the Institute is housed. Working media is welcome to attend.
The Confucius Institute, a non-profit learning hub in partnership with China’s Ministry of Education, will offer Chinese Mandarin instruction, business seminars, culinary, history and calligraphy courses, traditional medicine workshops, art exhibitions, and much more. Other classes and activities will be incorporated over time and based on demand.
Following the agreement signing, there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony forTraces of Confucius, an art exhibition presented in association with the Institute. The exhibition includes 40 magnificent paintings done on silk panels and commissioned by Chinese emperors. The exhibition will be held at the Wolfson Campus, Building 2, Room 2106.
MDC’s Confucius Institute joins 65 others in the U.S. and more than 500 around the world committed to building bridges of understanding through furthering knowledge of the Mandarin language and the Chinese culture. The institutes are sponsored by the Chinese Language Council International, a non-governmental affiliate of the Chinese Ministry of Education.
The opening of the Institute further enhances the college’s existing partnerships with Chinese government agencies, learning institutions and organizations. In recent years, the college has trained Chinese air traffic controllers, hospitality and human resources executives, hosted Fulbright Scholar Huang Lei, who taught economics at MDC’s Kendall Campus, and Mandarin Professor, Li Yao, a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant.
Opening Celebration for MDC’s Confucius Institute
- WHEN: Thursday, Apr. 29, 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
- WHERE: MDC Wolfson Campus, 300 N.E. Second Ave. Opening presentation in Auditorium, Building 1, Second Floor Art exhibition at Building 2, Room 2106.
For more information about the Confucius Institute, please contact Rosey Yang-Krivak at 305-237-3122, wyangkri@mdc.edu.