California State University, Stanislaus is hosting 13 students and two faculty members from the Hubei University of Economics, located in Hubei Province, China.

During their two-week visit, the students are staying in the university’s residence halls and attending American Culture and Language classes, as well as finance classes taught by College of Business Administration faculty. The guests will also have the opportunity to attend a Modesto Nuts baseball game and visit San Francisco and Yosemite National Park. President Joseph Sheley helped establish a relationship with the Hubei University of Economics during his time at Sacramento State, and said he hopes this visit will pave the way for more cultural exchange on campus and inspire more CSU Stanislaus students to study abroad. 

"This valley...is already pretty well connected to China. The nut growing industry is a huge industry with tremendous exports to China. some of our business people know that, they've been to china multiple times. the average person though here in the Valley, especially the average regional student, hasn't had that opportunity," said Sheley.

"It gives them a sense of some local connection; gives them a sense of knowing what other people throughout the world how they see the world. it's one thing to talk the politics of the U.S. and China, it's another to meet  Chinese students and realize how similar they are to our students. So if we can continue to increase that global awareness among our students, if only by bringing others here that's a plus, if we can move it one step forward and get some of our students over there too, that's a double plus for us."