At the gala grand opening ceremony Wednesday, Nov. 8, in Manoogian Hall, WSU President Irvin D. Reid and Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer presented the new $1.8 million global learning center to the city and the world.

The center reflects the global education vision President Reid spoke of when he came to the university three years ago.

Mayor Archer acknowledged Wayne State as a leader in international education and a positive force for Detroit. He said, "World Bridge is another significant step forward for Wayne State and the city." Reid presented Archer with a World Bridge 2000 award.

The program included a demonstration of kendo, Japanese sword fighting, which entertained the group of donors, faculty and guests.

The World Bridge global education complex at Wayne State features five videoconference systems and 275 computers linked to a powerful broadband fiber network. A unit of the College of Liberal Arts, the complex provides a venue for learning foreign languages and cultures and will provide remote delivery of academic, professional and technical skills to locations throughout the world. It also will assist in teaching English as a second language to employees in other countries who will be transferred to work in the United States.

Dallas Kenny, president of World Bridge and director of the Foreign Language Technology Center, played a major role in developing the center. He explains, "This distance education facility is a partnership of university, business and community leaders who share a common vision for global education. Local and international businesses provided more than $1 million in funding for the center, with the remaining portion paid for through supportive grants from Wayne State University. Participating firms include Ford Motor Co., Denso International America, Panasonic and Yazaki."

World Bridge currently has two major branches: Japan Bridge, a program aimed at students and companies involved in U.S.-Japan trade; and German Bridge, a high-tech learning link with America's oldest study-abroad institute in Germany, the WSU Junior Year in Munich program.