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).

The National Security Language Initiative (NSLI) Pipeline

Back in January, 2006 then-President George W. Bush announced the launch of the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI) with the Secretaries of State, Education and Defense along with the Director of National Intelligence coordinating this national effort to dramatically increase the learning, speaking and teaching skills of U.S. citizens in foreign languages deemed critical to U.S. national security. 

The NSLI is a “long-term investment in the nation’s critical foreign language learning capabilities and competencies” working to accomplish the following three goals[1]:

1.      Increase the number of U.S. residents studying critical-need languages and starting them at an earlier age;

2.      Increase the number of advanced-level speakers of foreign languages, with an emphasis on mastery of critical-need languages; and

3.      Increase the number of teachers of critical-need languages and providing resources for them.

The following figure provides a great visual of the National Security Language Initiative Pipeline and the various programs that are available for critical language learners.[2]

Those of you who are interested in learning more about NSLI and the preliminary results of the program will want to download the following report:

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, Enhancing Foreign Language Proficiency in the United States: Preliminary Results of the National Security Language Initiative, Washington, D.C., 2008.

Related IHEC Blog posts:

National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y)

The Language Flagship – Statements Before the House Armed Services Committee

Project Go – The ROTC Language & Culture Project

Cross-Cultural Awareness in the U.S. Military

Towards a More Cross-Culturally Competent United States Air Force

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[1] U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, Enhancing Foreign Language Proficiency in the United States: Preliminary Results of the National Security Language Initiative, Washington, D.C., 2008, 1.

[2] Diagram of the “National Security Language Initiative Pipeline” obtained from Ibid., 2.

"Review of Global Studies Literature" a pilot project of NAFSA's Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship (TLS) knowledge community

The NAFSA Teaching, Learning and Scholarship (TLS) knowledge community has just launched their new and exciting pilot project entitled “Review of Global Studies Literature” and I thought IHEC Blog readers would be interested in checking out.  Under the leadership of Rebecca Hovey and Bryan McAllister-Grande (co-editors), this e-compilation of book reviews features 12 different international educators analyzing sixteen recent books related to our field.  The Review encompasses not only traditional international education literature, but also literature from converging fields: comparative education, global studies, human rights, and academic textbooks.  The Review can be found at: www.nafsa.org/GSLreview

Since this is new project, the editors welcome any and all feedback. They are also looking for contributors for upcoming additions to the compilation, and a call for reviewers will be announced in the next few weeks.

Please contact the editors using the email addresses below with your feedback

Rebecca Hovey
Rebecca.Hovey@sit.edu

Bryan McAllister-Grande
bgrande@brandeis.edu

Photo credit:  G & A Sattler

Supporters for an Increase in the International Affairs Budget in the form of a Word Cloud by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition

I came across this word cloud by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition showing the names of a bi-partisan group of leaders who agree on the need for an increase in the International Affairs Budget.

Photo credit:  This word cloud is the fine work of Andy Amsler from the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.  I first met Andy when he was working for NAFSA and he's now continuing his great work over at USGLC.  You can also find Andy blogging over at Change.org and you can read his work here.  Finally, Andy also has a blog "Socially Acceptable Strategies" that I follow and I think you might want to visit frequently or add to your Reader.  Great stuff!

Research and Scholarship Forum: A preview of NAFSA conference sessions and seminars

The following is a more or less copy and paste job from a message that my colleague Bryan McAllister-Grande, from Brandeis University and the NAFSA Research/Scholarship Network Leader, recently posted to the Research and Scholarship Network.  I am reposting it to IHEC Blog with his permission.  I'm actually involved with one of the seminars and one of the meetings listed and will post more about them as the conference approaches.

Over the next few weeks, as the NAFSA conference in Kansas City approaches, we'll be highlighting some network sessions, seminars, and events that you might have particular interest in. Today, I'm going to preview some of these below. To find out what's going on overall in the Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship community, visit the TLS "Experience" page here.

Research based Seminars

·  Strategies for Implementing Peace and Justice Initiatives in International Education
 Thursday, 6/3 - 2:00 PM

International educators strive to actualize NAFSA's Values Statement through study of developments in peace, justice, and civil society; and by building knowledge and programs that yield skills in coalition-building, conflict resolution, and citizen diplomacy. This seminar focuses on new ideas in this area and how they can be applied in our work.  More here.
 

·  From Theory to Practice and Back: Applying Social Science Theory to International Education
Thursday, 6/3 - 2:00 PM

Explore ways to improve your practice through intentional and reflective use of relevant social science theories. Using case problems and sample theories, you will learn to apply theoretical approaches to achieve the highest impact for your educational efforts. Theories to be explored include examples from international relations, modernization, and peace and justice studies. More  here.

·   Advancing Internationalization on Our Campuses Through Research
 Friday, 6/4 - 8:00 AM

As individuals or individual institutions, our research efforts are admirable and growing. But what might be done if we merged our efforts into some kind of collective research agenda?  This seminar will work towards creating a research agenda when considering U.S. international education policy goals, including policy goals on education abroad, international students and scholars, campus internationalization, and others. More here.

Expert Speakers

·  Internationalizing the Academic Self: Learning and Teaching in International Higher Education (Guest faculty member Gavin Sanderson, University of South Australia)
Wednesday, 6/2 - 1:30 PM

This interactive session draws on theory and research to illuminate personal and professional characteristics that underpin university teachers' internationalized outlooks and classroom practices. It promotes a range of items in relation to an 'ideal teacher' that have the potential to assist lecturers to further develop their international and intercultural perspectives. More here.
 

·  Global Regionalisms and Higher Education (Guest faculty member Kris Olds, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Thursday, 6/3 - 8:00 AM

Despite ubiquitous rhetoric about globalization, most mobility (of knowledge, students, and researchers) remains regional or inter-regional in scope. This seminar focuses on the nature of these global regionalisms, and identifies implications for NAFSAns. It will also focus on the use of a geographic lens to explore the international education landscape.
 

·  View all the "Expert Speaker" seminars here.

Open Meetings, Networking, and Food for Thought

·  TLS Networking Reception - all are welcome
Monday 5/31 - 5:00 PM
  

·  TLS Knowledge Community Update - "The State of Research Innovation"
 Tuesday 6/1 - 1:15 PM

Our annual knowledge community update is a chance to hear what we're working on, how you can get involved, and also network with like-minded colleagues. The update will include an award presentation to Prof. Joe Mestenhauser and his comments on "the state of research innovation" in international education.
 

·  Graduate Student Research Roundtable
 Wednesday 6/2 - 3:45 PM
 
Our annual gathering of graduate students from across the world who are interested in international education research. We'll break off intro groups based on topics of interest to participants.

Poster Sessions - Wednesday morning

·  International Education to What End? Peace and Justice and Global Citizenship Revisited
Wednesday 6/2 - 9:00 AM
Details here
 

·  International Education Research
Wednesday 6/2 - 9:00 AM
Details here

Sessions

For a full list of TLS-related sessions during the conference, visit here.

Looking Forward to Finishing my Dissertation!

The last week or so I've been working under a very tight timeline to submit a draft of my dissertation proposal which is due tomorrow.  I will still need to work on the draft for the final submission in a few weeks.  A special word of thanks goes out to my wife with all of her help and for flying solo much of this past weekend with my three wonderful [but tiring] kids, who also deserve a word of thanks for putting up with daddy!

Once my proposal is approved I will be able to talk and post more about my topic and will most likely turn to IHEC Blog, Facebook and Twitter if I have questions or in an attempt to learn of tips on where to find additional information and resources!  I haven't been able to respond to most e-mail messages or work on other projects that we may have communicated about but I hope to be able to return to them soon.  Last Friday I created my own Google search story [you can create your own you search story here] about my time in graduate school to date which follows...

See you at the #NAFSA10 Tweetup