Six Brazilian University students are calling St. Francis College home this week, as they participate in an exchange program with SFC that brings them from the classrooms at 180 Remsen Street to the halls of the United Nations.

The students – Anna Luísa Coelho, Beatriz Lidington, Giulia Ongaro, Larissa Ramos, Laís Tavares, and Julia Zague – are from FACAMP, a university in Campinas, Brazil. They are here thanks to Dr. Olivia Bullio Mattos, SFC Assistant Professor of Economics and FACAMP graduate who, for the second year, has arranged for a group of students from her alma mater to immerse themselves at SFC in an intensive week of lectures and excursions focused on international relations and economics.

"FACAMP has an established international program and they send students all over the world...they have programs in Europe, China, Latin America and in the United States," explained Dr. Mattos, who has taught at SFC since 2017. "Last year they decided to include New York in their programs and they contacted me to arrange this [week-long] workshop."

The Brazilian students' June 17th-to-21st curriculum includes lectures covering U.S. foreign policy, monetary policy, and international relations delivered by Dr. Mattos and:

• Dr. Isa Camyar, SFC Assistant Professor of Political Science
• Dr. Reza Fakhari, SFC Vice President of Internationalization and Strategic Initiatives
• Dr. Julio Huarto, SFC Associate Professor of Economics
• Mariangela Parra-Lancourt, Senior Economist, Development Research Branch, Economic Analysis and Policy Division in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations.
• Maria Mercedes Sanchez, from the Division for Sustainable Development Goals in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations

The students also toured the United Nations General Assembly and Brazil's Mission to the UN, met with UN official Carolina Vizcaino-Cevallos and visited the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Industry City, where they met with executives from Ikove Capital, the founding partner of SFC Innovate.

Later this summer, FACAMP will host Dr. Mattos and six SFC students who will participate in a two-week session there with a similar educational agenda. This is the first in what is planned to be an annual summer, credit-granting opportunity for SFC students to study economics, politics and business in Brazil.

The SFC students in the College's inaugural FACAMP summer session are: Misael Cruz, Zane Drobenko, Catherine Grieco, Marcinia Jacquet, Lovencia Jean, and Ademide Raji.

The FACAMP-SFC exchange is part of SFC's broader strategy to educate its students as global citizens. SFC is working to enroll more foreign students at its Brooklyn campus, to send more students to study abroad, and to strengthen ties with institutions in a range of countries. It is also planning to broaden its curriculum to include more internationally-focused areas of study.