“MSU is famous for being a public university. We are lucky to come here to learn (about) universities in the U.S.,” she said. “We are interested in public relations in the U.S.”

Chang is one of around 20 university administrators who work with student affairs in China and are a part of the Visiting International Professional Program, or VIPP, an approximately three-week informational session about student affairs at MSU.

This year’s group is visiting different offices on campus that deal with students, such as the Career Services & Placement center, Main Library, MSU Office of the Registrar, IM Sports-East, IM Sports-West, the Student Alumni Foundation, classroom lectures and more during their time at MSU, Chen Wang, program coordinator of VIPP said.

Graduate student Chen Cheng, who is studying public relations, is one of at least three MSU students hired as a VIPP program assistant, and her job is to accommodate the group and help translate classroom materials to Chinese.

“Sometimes (translating is) hard, but most times, Chen (Wang) will do translation,” Chen Cheng said. “I know … student affairs management is very interesting.”

One of the activities the group participated in was a lecture in the Main Library from Xian Wu, Asian studies bibliographer for MSU, where he highlighted in Chinese information such as library hours, digital media and the Text a Librarian feature.

Reference and Liaison Librarian Stephanie Perentesis said she has seen many Chinese scholars and administrators because they are curious about the university and the libraries.

“Because they are in student services in China, they are going to be interested in how MSU Libraries serve students and how our staff does that,” Perentesis said. “We do a library tour, (and) we do it in Chinese so we can answer their questions in their perspectives.”