Twenty-one years ago, Antonio Garcia del Riego and his wife, Maria Pedrejon, traveled from Spain to the United States to build on their English skills as students in UB's Intensive English Program, one of the most widely recognized programs within the English Language Institute. Garcia del Riego graduated with his MBA two years later, while Pedrejon—who at the time was pregnant with the couple's daughter—earned a master's degree from the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures.

	Antonio Garcia del Riego and Maria Pedrejon, parents of IEP student, Laura Garcia, relax in a photo taken while they were at UB 20 years ago.
	Photo: Arun Jain

Now, almost 20 years later, 18-year-old Laura Garcia is following in her parents' footsteps as a student in the Intensive English Program (IEP)—this growing tradition a mark of success for the English Language Institute (ELI), which celebrates 30 years of international education this academic year.

Garcia, who plans to study business at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid this fall, is here this summer to improve her English proficiency.

"I think it's a very important language, and useful—everyone has to know (it) to communicate," she says. Garcia, as well as two of her peers in the summer program, are among a new contingent of students—the second generation—enrolling in the non-matriculating program. Arun Jain, Samuel P. Capen Professor of Marketing Research and chair of the Department of Marketing in the School of Management, worked closely with then-student Garcia del Riego, and the two have kept in close contact over the years. Seeing his former student's daughter, he says, is a tremendous pleasure.

"I have such fond memories of Antonio and his wife when they were here," says Jain, who was involved in the former International Executive Program and who still has ties to the ELI, which is involved with the School of Management on a number of overseas programs. "I had always dreamed that I would have my 'grandstudent' come here," explained Jain, who met Laura for the first time just weeks ago. "It made me cry."

The ELI's niche since its beginning in 1971 has been English instruction for academic purposes, says Stephen C. Dunnett, ELI director and vice provost for international education. But what has kept the program dynamic for 30 years, he says, is the constant influx of international students and English instructors who bring a distinct cultural awareness and fresh perspective that, in turn, influences ELI's approach overseas.

The institute began branching out 10 years after its humble beginning as a program that blended the linguistic and the cultural.

UB was the first U.S. university to set up an English instruction program in Beijing, China. The institute also has set up programs in Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Taiwan, Latvia, Belarus, Sweden and Hungary. In addition, the institute—in conjunction with the Department of Economics and the School of Management—is negotiating to set up a branch of the ELI in Japan, and bring Japanese students to study at UB.

"It took on a life that we never expected," Dunnett says of the institute.

Indeed successful, the ELI now offers an expansive repertoire of programs that also includes an English as a second language (ESL) program, an evening program for local immigrants and refugees, overseas teacher training, and customized programs for local businesses, high schools and hospitals. And, of course, its continued commitment to intensive English instruction.

The IEP's focus from the beginning has been on academic preparation and cultural immersion.

"We don't just do academic skills," said Barbara A. Campbell, program director of intensive programs. "We teach life skills."

Be it a formal situation—such as conversing with the president of the United States—or informal—ordering a meal at a restaurant, for example—Campbell said the program concentrates on honing "sociocultural skills"—when and how to communicate.

The only program of its kind in Buffalo, the IEP—along with the whole of the ELI—enjoys a flattering reputation, in particular with its alumni.

The fathers of both Rena Tanimura of Japan and Fu-Ying "Kitana" Chu of Taiwan were enrolled in the IEP program before going on to study architecture at UB.

Tanimura, who graduated from high school in Japan in March and will stay in the IEP through the fall semester, says she wants to improve her English so she can attend college in the United States. Her first time in the country, Tanimura says the program came highly recommended by her father.

"He's very happy that he came here," says the 18-year-old, who is interested in studying photography.

Chu, who is Tanimura's roommate this summer, is back for a second time at UB, "this time to study very hard," says the 20-year-old, whose mother also is a former IEP student.

Students in the program spend five hours a day, five days a week learning English—reading it, writing it and speaking it. Along with this summer's two sessions, one each is offered in the fall and spring. Most enroll in the program as preparation before beginning undergraduate or graduate study—usually in the United States and sometimes at UB.

"By the time they finish the program, they not only walk away with good language training, but also (knowledge of) what it's like to study at a university," says Kathleen Curtis, associate director and foreign student advisor for ELI.