Internationalization of U.S. Education in the 21st Century: The Future of International and Foreign Language Studies
A Research Conference on National Needs and Policy Implications Sponsored by the Coalition for International Education and William & Mary
April 11-13, 2014
Williamsburg, Virginia
The United States faces an urgent education issue that will directly affect our nation’s wellbeing for generations to come: the global competence of Americans. Global competence includes deep expertise in the languages and cultures of other nations and regions, to basic understanding of the rest of the world and the United States’ role today. It ensures our national security, economic competitiveness, and foreign policy leadership. In short, global competence enables Americans to understand and cooperate with others to meet global challenges at home and abroad in the 21st century. Yet international and foreign language education—the essential means to building global competence—is in jeopardy due to shifts in institutional priorities and shrinking public and private investment. Leaders in academia, K-12 education, business, government, and the NGO sectors share timely research and engage in a discussion of national human resource needs and strategies for enabling U.S. educational institutions to address the broad national policy goals to:
- Ensure a globally competent citizenry and workforce
- Strengthen the U.S. ability to solve global problems
- Produce international experts and knowledge for national needs
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
- Governor Jon Huntsman, American politician, businessman, and diplomat who served as the 16th Governor of Utah from 2005 to 2009, and as United States Ambassador to Singapore from 1992 to 1993, and China from 2009 to 2011. He has served in the administrations of four U.S. Presidents and was a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
- The Honorable David Obey, United States Representative for Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District from 1969 to 2011, former Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and Senior Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service (WIPPS).
- Kurt Kuehn, UPS's Chief Financial Officer, who has been on the front lines of UPS's transformation from a private U.S.-focused small package delivery company to one of the world's largest publicly-traded logistics companies with more than 397,000 employees.
- Mark Rosenberg, President, Florida International University. Dr. Rosenberg has served as the fifth president of FIU since August 2009. A political scientist specializing in Latin America, Dr. Rosenberg is the first FIU faculty member to ascend to the university's presidency.
- Additional keynotes by: Thomas Fingar, Distinguished Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, and former Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis and Chairman of the National Intelligence Council; Anthony Jackson, Vice President, Asia Society; Robert Keohane, Professor of International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, Helena Kolenda, Program Director for Asia, Henry Luce Foundation.
