INTERNATIONAL NIGHT OF THE MILLENNIUM SATURDAY AT SOUTHEAST

Dorothy Phukan was looking for a U.S. college to attend that was "small and personal" when an uncle living in St. Louis recommended Southeast. Studying abroad was part of her career plan to become an accountant whose job involves traveling."I wanted to have a global experience," the junior accounting and public relations major says.

Phukan will be one of the performers Saturday at International Night of the Millennium, an event sponsored by the International Awareness Council at Southeast Missouri State University. It will be held from 4-7 p.m. in the University Center Lobby.

The afternoon will spotlight the top 50 events of the millennium, such momentous strides as the invention of penicillin, the landing on the moon, the creation of the X-ray machine and of moving pictures.

Phukan will perform a dance from India. Dr. Dennis Holt, Southeast's interim provost, will play the bagpipes, and a chorus of children will sing.

Southeast President Dr. Ken Dobbins will speak along with Dr. Adelaide Parsons, director of the International Students Office.

Among the artifacts on display will be figurines from India and Bangladesh and handicrafts. Phukan will wear a sari and some Japanese students will wear kimonos and will demonstrate Japanese writing.

Free food from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Haiti, Guam, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan and France will be offered.

Southeast's 211 international students are from 40 different countries, with increasing numbers coming from India, Turkey and Japan. The enrollment of graduate students is up 60 percent this semester, and enrollment of undergraduate increased by 12 percent over last year. Most of the international students major in business and computer science, Parsons said. "It's because those fields are fast-growing and are directly applicable when finished."Phukan has been pleasantly surprised at how interactive classes are at Southeast compared to classes in India. "Ours are more based on lectures," she said.

She says she is getting a more liberal education, taking classes in political science, art and environmental biology that accounting students in India wouldn't be exposed to.

On the other hand, someone who attended a boarding school in the Indian desert where the year-round temperature was 120 degrees is going to have an adjustment to make to Southeast Missouri winters. And to the food."The food is kind of bland," she admits.