2015-2016 FEA Scholarship Winners Announced

The Fund for Education Abroad (FEA) just announced their 2015-2016 scholarship winners.  Due to the generous support and donations received throughout the year from those committed to the value of study abroad, FEA was able to fund thirty six scholarships of up to $10,000 to undergraduates from across the United States to study abroad.

Notable highlights from the FEA press release include:

• The 2015-2016 scholarship winners were selected from a pool of almost 1650 applicants representing approximately 525 US colleges and universities. 
• A team of 110 reviewers individually read and reviewed each application.
• Of this year’s recipients, 72% are first-generation college students, 75% are of minority background, 53% attend minority-serving institutions or community colleges, 58% will study in non-traditional destinations, and 92% are studying the host country language.

If you would like to learn more about FEA and how you can support their efforts and help future students incorportate a study abroad experience into their higher education programs of study you can do so via the FEA website.


Disclaimer:  I am a member of the FEA Board of Directors and am proud of the work that they do so I am more than happy to promote the 2015-2016 scholarship winners.

Follow the Twitter Backchannel from the 2015 Forum on Education Abroad Conference #ForumEA15

#ForumEA15 Tweets

Indiana University's 5th Annual Institute for Curriculum and Campus Internationalization

MAY 17-20, 2015

Attention, College & University Faculty, Staff, and Administrators -

If you work in a public or private university, research, Liberal Arts, minority, or community college, by participating in this institute you will:

• Learn how to internationalize your curriculum and campus
• Understand comprehensive internationalization and the importance of collaboration and dialogue
• Identify innovative pedagogies, technologies, and best practices
• Explore the teaching and assessment of global learning objectives
• Examine strategic planning and measurements of institutional success
• Become a member of a network of international educators and administrators and much more ...

WHY ATTEND ICCI?  This unique institute facilitates the internationalization of your campus or unit, curriculum, and/or individual course, to better prepare students, faculty, and staff to be effective scholars, practitioners, and citizens of the 21st century.

WHAT WILL YOU DO?  ICCI includes two distinctive tracks (Course Focus and Campus Focus), each with workshops. Whole group highlights include key presentations by national leaders, sessions to identify common ground among disparate campus audiences, an Innovative Internationalization Best Practices panel, a poster session,  a multi-regional cultural evening for networking, and a summative taking action session.

PRE-INSTITUTE WORKSHOP:  If you are new to internationalization, consider joining the optional pre-institute workshop The Increasingly Comprehensive World of Academic Internationalization: The Essential Context.  

ICCI Alumni come from 60 different higher education institutions from around the world!

Individuals and teams are welcome.     Registration now open.     Space is limited.

Deadline:  April 15, 2015 

Costs: Institute- $450 (includes all events, materials, all meals except 1 dinner); Pre-institute- $75 (includes materials & meals).

Dates (Location): May 17-20, 2015 (in Bloomington, Indiana)

Details/contact information:  globalinstitutes.indiana.edu

                                                           

For Questions: icci@iu.edu

Follow the Twitter Backchannel from the Association of International Education Administrators 2015 Annual Conference #AIEA2015

#AIEA2015 Tweets

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Delivers a Video Message for the 75th Anniversary of Exchange Programs

Live Stream of the White House Travel Bloggers Summit on Study Abroad and Global Citizenship, December 9, 2014 #WHTravelBloggers

This morning I learned via Twitter that the White House in collaboration with Hostelling International USA is hosting the first White House Travel Bloggers Summit on Study Abroad and Global Citizenship today.  You can learn more about the Summit via the HI-USA News webpage at http://bit.ly/1w9mQ9x and this blog post by HI-USA CEO Russ Hedge at http://bit.ly/1s92a1S.  As the title of the Summit suggests, invited participants are the top 100 travel bloggers and digital influencers.

Based on my limited available time to fully research this event it seems that the National Security Council may have played a significant role in planning the event.  The Summit will stream live via the White House Live Events page at http://1.usa.gov/1w9sOHo at 2:15pm EST.

Speakers include:

Penny Pritzker, Secretary of Commerce, Department of Commerce

Denis McDonough, Chief of Staff, The White House

Benjamin Rhodes, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting, National Security Council

Evan Ryan, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), Department of State

Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Director, Peace Corps

Daniela Kaisth, Vice President, External Affairs and IIE Initiatives, Institute of International Education

Alex Montoya, Alumnus, Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship Program

Angel Cabrera, President, George Mason University

Samantha Brown, Host, Travel Channel

Don Wildman, Host, Travel Channel

Robert Reid, Digital Nomad, National Geographic

Robin Goldberg, Chief Experience Officer, Minerva Project

James Howard, National iHeartRadio Brand Coordinator, iHeartMedia

If you wish to follow along via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook you can do so via #WHTravelBloggers.

#WHtravelbloggers Tweets

I'll be posting this in a few moments over on SECUSS-L for two reasons:  

First - to inform everyone about this event as it seems to have not have made it to the larger study abroad community.  Kudos to @CIEEstudyabroad for engaging via Twitter to see if any of their alumni, and possible travel bloggers, are attending the Summit!

Second - to possibly generate some discussion within the SECUSS-L community about the Summit.

While I haven't come across the complete list of 100 travel bloggers attending the Summit I posit that very few (if any) are Study Abroad professionals and aside from Evan Ryan of ECA and Daniela Kaisth of IIE it appears that the international educator voice is missing from such an important Summit on Study Abroad and Global Citizenship hosted by the White House!  Perhaps that is a good thing?  Your thoughts?

Sips for Scholarships - Fund Raiser for Study Abroad Scholarships

Friday, December 5th from 7:00pm-9:30pm EST

Cottage Park Yacht Club
76 Orlando Ave.
Winthrop, MA  02152

Enjoy a night of wine-tasting, great food and the opportunity to bid on exciting silent auction items.

All proceeds will benefit the Fund for Education Abroad (FEA) and their life-changing study abroad scholarships. FEA is a 501(c)3 non-profit and all donations will be tax-deductible as provided by law.

For more information please contact Assistant Director Olivia Moore at 202-349-73456 or omoore@fundforeducationabroad.org

Tickets available at: http://fundforeducationabroad.givezooks.com/events/sips-for-scholarships-boston-2014

You must be at least 21 years old to attend