2011 International Education Week Department of Education

The U.S. Department of Education celebrated International Education Week with a workshop on “Internationalizing Your Campus – Leveraging Your Resources”. The workshop featured presentations from University of Maryland Eastern Shore and the Institute of International Education. The panelists discussed two innovative programs funded through Department of Education grants: The Foreign Language Instructional Center (FLIC) at University of Maryland Eastern Shore and IIE’s International Academic Partnership Program. IIE also provided information on how to leverage other resources and programs to support international activities on the campus.

Moderated by The Hon. Leonard Haynes, Senior Director, Institutional Service at the Department of Education, the workshop was kicked off with a video message from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In his statement, Secretary Duncan says that “we must work together to give all of our students an outstanding education, which includes learning about our global partners – their cultures, histories, languages, values, and viewpoints. We must focus on integrating international perspectives into our classrooms. It is through education and exchange that we become better collaborators, competitors and compassionate neighbors in this global society.”

Debra Saunders-White, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Higher Education Programs provided opening remarks; Andre Lewis, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education for International and Foreign Language Education, provided closing remarks.

Panelists:

• Daniel Obst, Deputy Vice President of International Partnerships at the Institute of International Education (IIE)
• Dr. Malik Beshir Malik, Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)
• Dr. Jacqueline Brice-Finch, Activity Director for the Foreign Language Instruction Center (FLIC) at UMES, and Acting Department Chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages and a Professor of Caribbean Literature
• Tammy Gharbi, Acting Program Coordinator for the Foreign Language Instruction Center (FLIC), UMES
• Dr. Nydia Gregory, Instructor of Spanish in the Department of English and Modern Languages at UMES