Summary Video from the 2010 U.S. Summit and Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy

Following is a nice compilation video from the recent U.S. Summit and Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy.  This video was shown at the U.S. Department of State during the final day of the Summit.  

@USCCD and an Effective way to Highlight the Twitter Conversation for Summit Attendees

Two weeks ago I attended the U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy in Washington, DC.  It was a great several days of meetings and I'm happy that I was able to attend.  I hope to post more about the Summit here on IHEC Blog in the days and weeks to come as there are several things I want to write about.  


Something that caught my attention was the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy's use of Twitter.  I'm not really talking about their tweets (which I did follow and occasionally retweet).  Specifically, I'm referring to the Center making the Twitter conversation from and about the Summit available to the entire Summit community..  Prior to one of the lunch plenary sessions the Center displayed the Twitter conversation in real time on the large screens (pictured above) for all in attendance to follow.  I saw several people take note and watch the screens for several minutes.

 I also discovered that the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy made available two standing and rather large monitors out in the exhibit hall/coffee break area that also ran the real time Twitter conversation for attendees to follow (two photos in this post).  Again, several people stopped to watch and follow the conversation.


Finally, the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy did something really great (and something quite simple really) to engage participants in the Twitter conversation.  On the back of their Summit program they printed the hashtag (#citizendiplomacy) to be used for the Summit to follow the Twitter conversation as well as the address of their Facebook page as another way to engage Summit attendees (picture below).


I don't know the official/final Summit registration numbers but I think it was between 600-700 attendees.  There was considerable Twitter chatter from and about the Summit and I would say it  rivaled the Twitter conversation during the #nafsa10 conference in Kansas City last May.  


Many conferences don't even create a #hashtag for attendees to use and those not able to attend to follow along.  This, in my opinion, is a [HUGE] missed opportunity as it literally takes 30 seconds to think of a good #hastag for your event and post it to various spaces for people to pick-up and follow.  Organizations never need to post to Twitter during their conferences (although it is nice and a great way to engage attendees and others)...just set a #hashtag and let others do the tweeting for you!


So this is a tip of my hat to the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy for a great way to engage Summit attendees in the Twittersphere and to bring the Twitter conversation from and about the Summit to all in attendance!!


Photo credit:  http://davidcomp.wordpress.com/

Tell President Obama that you are committed to citizen diplomacy!

If you believe in the value and power of citizen diplomacy then please take a moment to electronically sign a letter to President Obama.  The letter is available for you to sign on the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy website here.  


This is a great, easy and quick way to have your voice heard.  Additionally, if you support this effort (and I really hope you do) please forward the link to others you know and encourage them to take a few seconds to sign the letter!


Photo credit:  MShades

Follow the Twitter conversation from the U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy ~ November 16-19, 2010

My plans for International Education Week 2010

Next week (November 15-19, 2010) is International Education Week here in the United States.  I will be in Washington, D.C. (I arrive in town late on Sunday, November 14th) and I'm really looking forward to the various activities I have planned (so far as I still need to make and finalize some plans) related to international education.  I'm providing my schedule below in case any IHEC Blog readers will also be participating to see if there is a way to possibly connect.  


Monday, November 15th from 9:00am to 11:00am  I'll be at the Institute of International Education's Annual International Education Week Open Doors briefing, "New data on international students and scholars in the United States and Americans studying abroad" to be held at The National Press Club – Washington, DC. Opening speakers: Ann Stock, Assistant Secretary for Educational & Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State and Allan Goodman, President & CEO, Institute of International Education. Will anyone else be there? 


Monday, November 15th from approximately 12:00pm (departing immediately from IIE's Open Doors briefing) to 5:00pm or so I'll be doing some research for my dissertation at the National Security Education Program (NSEP) office.


Tuesday, November 16th to Friday, November 19th I'll be attending the U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy where I hope to meet many colleagues whom I've only had the pleasure of connecting with in new media spaces.  As of now, my schedule on Tuesday the 16th is completely open until Registration opens for the Summit at 3:00pm.  I'm hoping I can spend some more time at the NSEP office on Tuesday reading through their various documents and reports or head to the NAFSA office to do some research in their awesome library (their hard copy blows my Bury Book International Education Library & Archive out of the water but I take them on electronic resources!).  Maybe, I should just be a tourist for half the day in D.C.  Will anyone else be attending the Summit?


I'll be tweeting from all locations as well as posting to IHEC Blog's Facebook page (maybe not so much during my dissertation research activities).  I think IHEC Blog posts may be limited next week, however.  You can follow the U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy on Twitter at #citizendiplomacy as well as the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy at http://twitter.com/USCCD.

U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy - Will You Be There?

Over the weekend I registered for the upcoming U.S. Summit Global Citizen Diplomacy.  The early bird registration deadline for the Summit is October 15th.  


The Summit is scheduled to be held November 16-19, 2010 in Washington, D.C.  The goal of the Summit and ten year Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy is to double the number of American volunteers of all ages involved in international activities at home of abroad, from an estimated 60 million today to 120 million by 2020.  Summit Co-Chairs are David H. Roe, Ph.D., Chair of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy and Judith McHale, U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy & Public Affairs.

A partial list of speakers follows:


PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA (Invited); AMR BADR Managing Director, Egypt & Middle East, Abercrombie & Kent; KATHRYN C. BROWN Sr.VP, Public Policy Development & Corporate Responsibility, Verizon; VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN (Invited); JON CLIFTON Deputy Director, Gallup of the Gallup World Poll; THE HONORABLE HILLARY R. CLINTON U.S. Secretary of State (TBC); MARTIN DAVIDSON CMG Chief Executive, British Council, Joined by leaders from China, France, Japan, Poland and Turkey; NANCY DORN Vice President, Corporate Government Relations, General Electric; MARY JEAN EISENHOWER President & CEO, People to People International; MARY FLORES Former First Lady, Honduras; HARRIET M. FULBRIGHT President, J. William & Harriet Fulbright Center; THE HONORABLE JAMES LEACH Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities; STAN LITOW President & VP Corporate Citizenship, IBM Foundation; JUDITH MCHALE U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy & Public Affairs; THE HONORABLE NORMAN Y. MINETA Vice Chairman, Hill & Knowlton; CAROLINE ROAN VP Corporate Philanthropy, Pfizer Inc. President, Pfizer Foundation; INGRED SAUNDERS JONES Senior VP, Global Community Connections, The Coca-Cola Company | Chairperson, The Coca-Cola Foundation; BARBARA STARR Pentagon Correspondent, CNN | Emmy Award Winning Producer; ANN STOCK Assistant Secretary of State, Educational & Cultural Affairs; THE HONORABLE THOMAS VILSACK U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (TBC); AARON S. WILLIAMS Director, Peace Corps; and, DOUGLAS B. WILSON Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.


You can learn more about the Summit on the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy website for the If you can't attend you can follow along on Twitter via the #citizendiplomacy hashtag or via a Twitter feed for the Summit here on IHEC Blog.

Share Your Story – U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy

The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy is collecting stories from citizen diplomats to feature on their new website to highlight the great work many Americans are doing all over the world. The great part about collecting these stories is that they will automatically be included in The Center’s bi-annual National Awards for Global Citizen Diplomacy (past awardee includes Greg Mortenson). The Awards' link will have nomination instructions on the webpage.  The Center will make a monetary donation to an organization chosen by each awardee (there will be six individuals awarded). The ceremony will be held during the U.S. Summit & Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy in Washington, D.C. in November, during a special cultural event hosted by the International Cultural Engagement Task Force.

Read about retired U.S. Army veteran and police officer Stephen Fryburg:

I'm a retired police officer and US Army veteran (member of Veterans for Peace), served 3 years, 74-77. When the US decided to attack Iraq, out of frustration, I created a website that I have continued to maintain called the Human Club, www.humanclub.org. The website serves to get people to envision themselves as global citizens.  Then I joined with a group of people in the Dayton Ohio area who were trying to get a peace museum started, 2003. I became the only full time volunteer of the museum so that we could get the museum started, the Dayton International Peace Museum, and eventually became a board member and director of the museum, all volunteer positions.

Or what about the story from Linnea Keats:

Since 1989 my husband and I have been engaged in hosting college and high school students through various programs the promote international exchange to develop mutual respect, cultural understanding and promote peace.  We have worked with AFS, AYUSA, our local sister city program and our own individual internship program prior to 9/11.   As a result of our efforts we have hosted 37 exchange students for various lengths of time ranging from two weeks to eleven months.  Students represent every Continent inhabit on a permanent basis by man.  Our goal has always been to share and respect our cultures, develop a sense of awareness for the needs of different people, maintain communication, and share the daily life between our exchange students. Through friendship and goodwill peace prevails around the world.  We always maintain the attitude that we are not correct or wrong.  More importantly we are different.  Through the differences we learn how similar we really are.  Peace.

Follow the Center on Twitter here and on Facebook here and on YouTube here and finally on their blog here.      

Video of the Week - Be A Citizen Diplomat

Another great Google Search commercial related to our field has been produced and is now available on YouTube.  This Google Search commercial is entitled "Be A Citizen Diplomat" with many familiar search results. Two things in particular caught my attention.  One was the fact that the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy was highlighted in one of the searches and the second is that a search was started for "volunteer in Pakistan".



I'm reposting this video of the week as it didn't format well last time (two weeks ago).

Final Call for Nominations of U.S. Institutions of Higher Education for the U.S. Summit and Initiative on Global Citizen Diplomacy

I have posted to IHEC Blog many times about the work of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy and about their upcoming U.S. Summit and Initiative on Global Citizen Diplomacy.  The Higher Education Task Force of the Summit released a call for nominations from institutions that have “an innovative program that engages students and faculty to help address global challenges.”  Nominations are due April 7, 2010.  You can read more about this call for nominations here.

Helping Chile

The recent 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile was the seventh strongest in recorded history and according to a SPACE.com article on Yahoo! News it was so strong that it shifted the Earth’s rotation and shortened the length of a day by 1.26 milliseconds. The devastation to Chile was tremendous with at least 800 people killed and perhaps as many as 2 million people displaced.

The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy has put together another webpage of resources that will be helpful to you in keeping up with the developments in Chile as well as information on what you can do to help. You can access The Center’s website at http://www.uscenterforcitizendiplomacy.org/misc/chile/

Photo credit:  pablo/T

U.S. Summit & Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy

I’m a little late in posting to IHEC Blog about the upcoming U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy. Exciting news out of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy! The following news is a taken from the Center’s website and is being posted with permission of my colleague Derek Forsythe from the Center:

The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy (USCCD), in partnership with the U.S. State Department and in support of more than 1000 U.S. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) conducting citizen diplomacy activities, will convene a historic U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy on November 16-19, 2010 in Washington, DC. The goal of the Summit and ten year Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy is to double the number of American volunteers of all ages involved in international activities at home or abroad, from an estimated 60 million today to 120 million by 2020.

The U.S. Summit & Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy supports current efforts of President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Judith McHale to make global citizen diplomacy a national priority. Secretary of State Clinton will serve as Honorary Summit Chair alongside an Honorary Citizen Diplomat Chair. The President is being called upon to speak at the event, the first since President Eisenhower addressed a similar gathering on September 11, 1956 to call Americans to greater involvement in international relations. Fifty-four years later in an increasingly globalized world, the call is as relevant and urgent as ever.

You can learn more about the U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy at http://www.uscenterforcitizendiplomacy.org/summit/

USCCD Online Database of Non-Profit U.S. Citizen Diplomacy Organizations now over 1,000 Resources

The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy (USCCD) announced the launch of a comprehensive expansion of resources and search capabilities for their online database of non-profit U.S. Citizen Diplomacy organizations. Their database now has over 1,000 resources and has grown over 300% from last year!

Check out the database and put it on the radar of those who you think will be interested.

This is the first IHEC Blog post about the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy in 2010 but it will not be the last. Great things are happening in Des Moines, Iowa so stay tuned! Rather than hear about all of the great resources and initiatives happening at The Center from me why not sign up to receive updates directly from them which can do right on their homepage at http://www.uscenterforcitizendiplomacy.org/ (you can access the updated database from their homepage as well).

Extensive Webpage Resource Devoted to Haiti

The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy has developed and compiled an extensive list of resources and created a webpage devoted to Haiti, opportunities to get involved and news/resources for individuals to educate themselves on the issue. You can access this resource at http://www.uscenterforcitizendiplomacy.org/misc/haiti/

This map shows the predicted shake intensity from the Haitian quake of 2010. Prediction made by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Photo credit: simminch

Video of the Week – Ms. Harriet Mayor Fulbright at the launch of the Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy

In this second installment of IHEC Blog’s "Video of the Week" I selected this brief speech by Harriet Mayor Fulbright at the national launch of the Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy back in February, 2009 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. I had the pleasure of meeting her briefly at the Colloquium on Diversity in Education Abroad hosted by the Academy for Educational Development on May 2, 2006. This video comes from the YouTube channel of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy which you can subscribe to here. Additionally, please take a few moments to visit the website of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy here as I believe that most IHEC Blog readers will find great value in their work.



You can access 120 international education related YouTube channels via IHEC Blog's YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/IHECBlog.

National Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy - The Decade of Citizen Diplomacy: 2010-2020

This IHEC Blog post is abbreviated version of a post over on the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy Blog entitled “Update: National Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy”. Many thanks to Derek Forsythe from the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy for his permission to use parts of The Center’s blog in my post.

The U.S Center for Citizen Diplomacy is pleased to announce a National Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy to be held in 2010 in Washington, D.C. The Summit will launch a national initiative that includes a multi-year educational campaign and calls upon the private sector in partnership with the public sector to expand the number of American volunteers of all ages who are engaged in international activity both at home and abroad.

The Summit broadens the momentum generated from the work of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy (USCCD) a national resource base and network for Americans to be engaged as citizen diplomats, two major leadership forums held in 2008 (USCCD & The Johnson Foundation) and 2009 (The Leaders Project & The Gilman Foundation), and extensive reports conducted by the Center for Global Leadership, the Building Bridges Coalition, and the Center for Strategic International Studies, among others. These forums and reports engaged more than 200 leaders in international affairs and diplomacy who strongly endorse a revival of citizen diplomacy as a critical component of U.S. public diplomacy strategy and U.S. foreign policy.

With support from the U.S. Department of State – Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, the proposed Summit and national campaign are being submitted to the White House for the President’s endorsement. The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy will partner with the administration to organize the summit and collaborate with some 1,000 U.S. NGOs devoted to providing opportunities for Americans to be involved in international activity whether at home or abroad. Leaders in international affairs are organizing twelve private sector task force groups to solicit and prepare summit presentations. The sectors include Business, Community and State-based Exchange Organizations, K-12 Education, Higher Education, International Service, Development Assistance, Cultural Diplomacy, Sports, Travel & Tourism, Volunteer Youth Service, Global Health, and Environmental organizations.

OBJECTIVES of THE SUMMIT

The National Summit on Global Citizen Diplomacy is the first such meeting since President Eisenhower’s People to People conference on the same subject in 1956. Most importantly, the summit will support current efforts of President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Undersecretary of State for Public Affairs Judith McHale to make global citizen diplomacy a national priority through efforts to:

· Focus national and international attention on the importance of citizen involvement in international activities as citizen diplomats, whether at home or abroad and show why citizen diplomacy is a vital foreign policy tool;

· Establish the United States as a collaborative world leader in the promotion of international understanding through the interaction of Americans with people throughout the world;

· Enhance current U.S. best practices and strengths of global citizen diplomacy and present new, creative and collaborative programs that build upon and leverage the strengths of existing U.S. international organizations and engage international partners throughout the world;

· Accomplish the first important recommendation in the Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy report (publication) – to conduct a national summit; and

· Provide showcasing opportunities for the expansion of funding for innovative programs from the public and private sector, both in the United States and worldwide.

Ultimately, the Summit will stimulate a significant increase in the engagement of global citizen diplomats in the U.S. and throughout the world by:

· Energizing the private sector to support and engage broad citizen involvement throughout the globe;

· Increasing opportunities for international volunteer service both in the United States and abroad;

· Increasing private sector interest and funding from individuals, corporations and other philanthropic foundations and organizations; and

· Increasing media support and coverage of citizen diplomacy in both the United States and abroad

Learn more about what you can do lend your support by clicking here.

Urge Your Rep to Support H. RES. 569 in Support of Citizen Diplomacy

Yesterday I posted to IHEC Blog about H. Res. 569 and urged readers to contact your Representatives in Washington, D.C. to support and cosponsor this resolution. The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy has now made contacting your Representatives very easy to do via Change.org which you can do right here!

Please take one minute out of your day to send a letter!

Supporting the Work of Citizen Diplomacy Organizations and Encouraging the Convening of a Presidential Summit on Global Citizen Diplomacy

Last Friday, June 19, 2009 Representative James Moran (D-VA8) introduced House Resolution 569 Supporting the work of citizen diplomacy organizations and encouraging the convening of a Presidential Summit on Global Citizen Diplomacy.

This, of course, is huge in terms of gaining attention for citizen diplomacy, exchanges, study abroad, etc. as it comes at a time when the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act has just passed with the House Foreign Affairs Reauthorization Act.

H. Res. 569 currently has the following eight cosponsors: Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC9); Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY22); Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA1); Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-AZ5); Rep. David Loebsack (D-IA2); Rep. Thomas Latham (R-IA4); Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT3); and, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA3)

The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy just circulated a “Dear Colleague” letter throughout the U.S. House of Representatives to sign on and cosponser this Resolution. I urge all IHEC Blog readers to contact their Representatives and encourage them to cosponsor this Resolution. The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy is working on a letter that citizens and organizations can use to send to their respective Representatives and I will update IHEC Blog readers on this as soon as I receive word from The Center. I want to thank my colleague Derek Forsythe from the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy for putting this on my radar last Thursday and to Google Alerts for providing me a link to the House Resolution itself.

You can learn more information on H. Res. 569 here on Govtrack.us.

I also want to encourage IHEC Blog readers to learn more about the Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy and to take 30 seconds out of your day to sign the letter to President Barack Obama in support of this initiative. You can learn more about the Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy and sign the letter on The Center’s website right here!

You can read past IHEC Blog posts focusing on Citizen Diplomacy here.

Update on the Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy

I received an update from my colleague Derek Forsythe at the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy on their Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy and the online letter and petition for President Obama. The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy has surpassed 1,000 signatures from individuals from 39 countries and 47 states (missing Rhode Island, Alaska, and Hawaii). The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy hopes to meet with the State Department in May and then it’s on to President Obama!

If you haven’t already done so (especially those of you from Rhode Island, Alaska and Hawaii as well as those of you from abroad) please take one minute to sign the petition here.

In addition to signing the Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy petition I encourage IHEC Blog readers to bookmark the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy webpage as they are doing some really great things. You can follow their blog (as well as on Twitter @CitizenDiplomat) and subscribe to their newsletter. You can access their home page here.

Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy - Update

I received an update on the Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy from Derek Forsythe of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy.

Those of you who support this effort will want to sign the online petition to President Obama here. Additionally, the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy media kit has some great resources such as a pdf of the letter to President Obama, the Report of the Leadership Forum on Citizen diplomacy on Strengthening U.S. International Relationships, and a Call to Action: An Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy to name a few.

You can link to my previous post on the Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy here.

Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy

The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy has scheduled the national launch of their Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy scheduled for Thursday, February 5, 2009 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the National Press Club. You can read more about this initiative here. The reception will ffeature commentary by:

David H. Roe, Ph.D., HostPresident, Board of Directors, U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy

Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann President, American Academy of Diplomacy

Ambassador Uri Savir President, Peres Center for Peace, Tel Aviv, Israel

Ms. Harriet Mayor Fulbright President, J. William and Harriet Fulbright Center

Mr. Doug Wilson Board of Directors, The Howard Gilman Foundation

The Honorable Barbara Lawton Lieutenant Governor, State of Wisconsin and Chair, National Lieutenant Governors Association

Mr. Amr Badr Managing Director, Egypt and Middle East, Abercrombie and Kent, Cairo, Egypt

The Honorable James A. Leach (TBC) John L. Weinberg Visiting Professor of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

Mr. Aaron S. Williams Vice President, International Business Development, RTI International

Mr. Anicet G. Dologuele (TBC) President, Central African States Development Bank, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo