Dr. Karim Ismaili, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, traveled to Washington, D.C., to present at the annual conference of the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA).
The four-day event took place last month at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park.
According to its website, AIEA is the only association dedicated exclusively to senior leaders in the field of international education. The organization brings international education leaders together to share their ideas to help with the shaping and management of international higher education.
Dr. Ismaili said he was invited to attend the event by the American Council on Education (ACE) to, as he put it, “recognize the terrific global work that’s going on at BSU.”
In Jan. 2016, Bridgewater took its global engagement efforts to another level by participating in the ACE’s Internationalization Laboratory. That affiliation ended last spring, but the connection to the organization remained.
“That’s how they learned of the great work we do,” Dr. Ismaili said.
BSU’s global initiatives include social justice-related efforts in Cambodia, Belize and Cape Verde.
The ACE laboratory helped the university develop a comprehensive model for internationalization to reflect the global work being done at Bridgewater. It also allowed for collaboration with 12 other participating institutes, where best practices were shared.
During his AIEA presentation, Dr. Ismaili shared his thoughts on “perspectives on internationalization during a round table discussion. ACE’s Senior Associate Barbara Hill chaired the session. Other speakers included provosts Gail Simmons of Hofstra University and Bonnie Irwin of California State University Monterey Bay.
As part of the roundtable discussion, Dr. Ismaili stressed the importance of being proactive in communicating to all constituencies and that comprehensive public regional universities, like BSU, must engage in the world.
Dr. Ismaili also spoke to establishing and documenting the impact of global engagement and regularly communicating that impact to internal and external audiences. He encourages continued strategic planning and board participation in making internationalization decisions. (Story by Heather Harris Michonski, University News)