2008 Woodie Awards
Ukrainian student part of IUPUI's diverse population
Vicky Jordan
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: College News
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But there's something different about him. Standing 6 feet tall, the multilingual international student sits on a bench on the second floor, casually dressed in classic blue jeans, black shoes and a gray jacket with the collar flipped up. Nearly every other passerby says hello to him.
Udu is a marketing and international business major in his junior year at IUPUI. And he is among 1,128 international students at the school.
According to Fall 2007 reports, enrollments of undergraduate international students at IUPUI increased by 29 percent, and graduate students by 17 percent. In addition, scholarship funding for these students has doubled since 2002 to more than $4.2 million. This is in an effort to bring more diversity on campus and provide assistance to those who qualify.
For nearly five years now, Udo has called the U.S. his home. The Udu family moved to Indianapolis from Ukraine in 2003 in hopes of new opportunity. They now reside in Brownsburg.
"It's hard because in Ukraine you are picked on for being black, and here you're not black enough because you're European," Udu says.
Udu, who prefers to be called "Uzo," was born on Aug. 11, 1987, to parents Helen and Lawrence Udu in Kharkov, Ukraine, which is home to 1.5 million people and just south of Moscow.
The Udus met as international students in the Ukraine, where they eventually settled and got married. They had two children, Uzo and Chris in 1994.
Throughout most of his life, his mother, who is part Camroonean and Russian, made a living as a homemaker. Eventually she began working in custom interior design and earned her degree in architecture along with her Nigerian husband, who had his own business importing and exporting goods.
"I want to have my independence and my own business like my father," Udu says.
Growing up in Ukraine, he loved to play hide and seek, soccer and make new friends just as any other child.
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