Media Contact:                                                                                                  Mary Dhooge (858) 534-3730, or Jan Jennings (858) 822-1684

Two volunteers at the International Center of the University of California, San Diego have been selected by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to receive the Millennium International Volunteer Award for outstanding achievements in international volunteerism.

Alma Coles, nominated by UCSD’s Friends of the International Center, and Emily Stowell, nominated by Amity Institute, will receive their awards March 1 in Washington, D.C. Activities in the nation’s capital will include a breakfast symposium in the Senate Hart Office Building and a reception at the National Building Museum followed by a dinner honoring the award winners. Members of Congress and senior government officials will be invited to join the festivities.

Coles and Stowell will be honored with 28 other outstanding volunteers from throughout the country with the Millennium International Volunteer Award. The volunteer winners were selected by an independent panel of judges based on commitment to promoting global understanding, capacity for leadership and self-direction, outstanding ability to attract support and motivate volunteerism in the field of international education, and the long-term impact of the individual’s volunteer activities.

In addition to their trip to Washington, D.C., the recipients will receive a donation of $5,000 in their name for the non-profit organization of their choice. Coles’ donation will go to the UCSD International Center and Stowell’s to Amity Institute.

In a letter nominating Coles for the award, Mary Dhooge, Dean of International Education and director of the UCSD International Center, said Coles "epitomizes the heart and spirit of (an) extraordinary level of volunteerism … When others say, ‘somebody should really do this!’, Alma is most often that ‘somebody’ who just comes forth and does it … Because UCSD hosts the fifth largest population of international researchers, and Alma volunteers whether she is in San Diego or abroad, it would be difficult to overstate the contributions she has made to international understanding and international exchange."

"I can think of no other volunteer who has devoted more energy to unpaid public service activities with the objective of helping foreign nationals in the United States, facilitating international exchange, and furthering the long-standing American tradition of volunteerism abroad," Candace Kohl, president of the Friends of the International Center, said on behalf of Coles.

Coles activities during her 25 years of volunteer service at the International Center include serving as president of the Friends of the International Center, a model support organization with offices in the center and more than 350 dues-paying members; rejuvenation of the Friends’ Resale Shop; serving as a host family providing home hospitality to hundreds of international students and scholars and their families, and coordinating and instructing Friends Weekly Cooking Classes. She will co-chair hospitality for the NAFSA: Association of International Educators National Conference which will be held in San Diego in May.

Outside of the International Center, Coles has served as president of Oceanids, the primary support organization for UCSD, has been active as a Girl Scout leader and recently volunteered in Bosnia as an elections monitor. Her awards include the United Way, San Diego, Distinguished Service Award; Oceanids Member of the Year Award; the UCSD Chancellor’s Volunteer Award for Host Family of the Year, and the UCSD Chancellor’s Volunteer Award for the Friends Member of the Year.

Emily Stowell also is a longstanding volunteer in the Friends of the International Center at UCSD, where she has coordinated a variety of programs for the spouses and families of many foreign scholars, and a leader in UCSD’s Oceanids.

In a letter supporting Stowell’s nomination, Georgina Sham, a past president of both Oceanids and the Friends of the International Center, said Stowell "has been most innovative in creating programs to involve and provide service to our foreign visitors. She learns the details of the lives of our visitors, their interests, and their talents, then introduces them to others with whom they can share their lives."

Stowell directs Wednesday Morning Coffees for international spouses and children. She has organized trips to museums, parks, exhibits, luncheons, ethnic dinners and special holiday festivities.

Prior to her volunteer work at UCSD’s International Center, Stowell and her late husband Ernest, both language teachers, founded Amity Institute in Eau Claire, Wis., in 1962, then relocated the institute in San Diego when they moved here in the late 1960s. Amity Institute is a private, non-profit international teaching exchange organization dedicated to promoting international friendship through language learning.

In a letter nominating Stowell for the award, Debra C. Hinman, executive director of Amity Institute, said "Amity Institute became an innovative fusion, combining an opportunity for young people to serve as volunteer assistant teachers, improve their English, learn first-hand about American culture and live with American volunteer host families for a well-rounded cross-cultural and professional experience. Out of that grew a reciprocal program for Americans to do the same abroad. The result has been a win-win exchange, where everyone contributes something to achieve mutual and complementary goals."

Hinman calls Stowell "a veritable guardian angel of international voluntarism, friendship and understanding," who has "served as both a volunteer and officer of numerous organizations, literally grooming tens of thousands of other volunteers through her efforts."

Katherine Hodges, director of Liberal Arts and International Programs, UCSD Extended Studies and Public Programs, praises Stowell as "a professional role-model in the field of international education."

For further information on the award recipients or the UCSD International Center call (858) 534-3730.