2010 AIEA Conference Summary

 

The 2010 AIEA Conference was held Feb 14-17, in Washington DC with over 500 participants from 25+ different countries, which marked AIEA’s largest conference to date.  Participants came from diverse countries like Finland, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Cyprus and Brazil.  The countries with the largest representation, besides the United Sates, were United Kingdom, Australia, Russia and Canada.  The state with the largest representation at the conference was New York, followed by California, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.  Nearly two-thirds of the attendees were AIEA members.

With 250 presenters, 86 sessions and 5 well-received pre-conference workshops, the conference program provided participants with the rich opportunity to explore key issues within international higher education, including partnerships, assessment, recruitment, and internationalization of the curriculum. The clear highlight of the 2010 AIEA Conference, based on post-conference evaluations, was the Plenary Speech on the last day by Dr. Arthur Levine, president of The Woodrow Wilson Foundation.  Many called his speech “inspirational” and “visionary,” and some even said it was the best plenary ever at an AIEA conference. There were many other highlights of the conference, according to the evaluations, including the Opening reception at the National Press Club, Martha Kanter’s opening plenary talk, the exhibitors, the pre-conference workshops and Global Dialogue, the invaluable networking opportunities, including the networking luncheon and reception, and especially, the high-quality sessions and discussions.  One participant remarked, “the diversity and range of speakers/topics were wonderful and very informative,” and another commented that “the issues presented and discussed are current and of significant relevance.”
 

Another highlight of the conference was the awarding of the Klasek Award to Madeleine Green of the American Council on Education for outstanding service to the field of international education and the awarding of the Josephson Award for outstanding graduate work to Martha Bloehm of The University of Texas at Austin, whose work as a graduate student has focused on the intersection of education policy and sustainable socioeconomic development in developing countries. Martha presented her work in a poster presentation in the exhibit hall during the conference. A special thank you to Awards Committee Chair Joe Tullbane and his committee members for their work on the awards process this year.  Members are encouraged to start thinking now about possible nominees for these and other AIEA awards to be given at next year’s conference; a call for awards nominations will go out to members via the listserv this fall.

 

Almost half of the conference participants submitted online evaluations, with nearly 90% rating the conference as "outstanding" or "very good" (with "outstanding" being the highest possible rating), which marks this as the highest rated AIEA conference to date. Comments from participants described the conference as a “must meeting,” and one said that the conference was a “great size and scope- everyone seemed very engaged.”  As to its value, one participant observed, “AIEA is one of the best conferences I attend, as it provides excellent opportunities to learn about new developments in the field that pertain to my work and also allows me to meet and network with the right individuals.”  And one participant concluded that this year’s conference was the “best conference I've attended in a very long time!”

 

Excellent suggestions were made as to session topics and plenary speakers for next year's conference, as well as suggestions for more networking opportunities, substantive discussions, and logistical input. The feedback from the post-conference evaluations is greatly appreciated, and the 2011 Conference Chair, Susan Buck Sutton, and the Conference Advisory Board will work to incorporate as many of the suggestions as possible into the 2011 conference next year in San Francisco on Feb. 20-23.  Please note that the Call for Proposals for the 2011 conference will be sent out later this spring, with an Aug. 15 deadline. The theme of the 2011 conference is Competition and Collaboration in the Global Transformation of Higher Education.  We look forward to your participation at next year’s AIEA conference!

 

Deep appreciation is expressed to all those who made the conference possible including local host universities of Georgetown University and George Washington University, which provided wonderful volunteers at the conference, the conference sponsors and exhibitors, AIEA Conference Chair Bill Lacy and the AIEA Conference Advisory Board, and the session chairs and presenters.  A special thank you goes to AIEA’s All-Conference Sponsor Platinum Sponsor, ELS Educational Services, whose generous support helped make this conference possible.

 

Note: For those of you who may want to access some of the presentations (or links to presentations) made in Washington DC, you can find those online on the AIEA website homepage (www.aieaworld.org). An updated attendee list is also available there. Appreciation is expressed to those presenters who shared their presentations and/or links with AIEA.  Note that not all presenters submitted presentation materials for the website.  Transcripts of all the plenary talks are unfortunately not available.

2010 Annual Conference

The 2010 Conference Chair is AIEA President-Elect Bill Lacy of UC-Davis. AIEA's Conference Advisory Board consists of Content Subcommittee: Susan Sutton (IUPUI), Maria Crummett (USF), Jim Scott (University of Missouri-Columbia), H. Stephen Straight (SUNY-Binghamton), Everett Egginton (New Mexico State), Jim Cooney (Colorado State), Nick Entrikin (UCLA), Sonny Lim (Singapore); Promotions Subcommittee: Carl Holtmann (ELS), Bertrand Guillotin (Duke), Uma Gupta (USAsiaEdu), Rahul Choudaha (WES), John Deupree (Global Education Solutions), John Hayton (AEI), Nicole Ranganath (UC-Davis), Margaret Heisel (Center for Capacity Building/NAFSA/A.P.L.U). Many thanks to all those who are helping to make this conference possible. The Conference is being managed by the AIEA Secretariat based at Duke University, under the leadership of AIEA Executive Director Darla K. Deardorff.

A special word of thanks to the 2010 AIEA Conference Platinum Sponsor: ELS American Education Centers.

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Call for Session Proposals

Internationalizing Higher Education: Essential to our Future

AIEA invites the submission of proposals for its 2010 conference at JW Marriott in Washington DC on Feb 15-17, 2010.  Pre-conference workshops will be held February 14-15.  The conference will begin in the afternoon of February 15 and end in the afternoon of February 17.

Please carefully read the information in the Call for Session Proposals – very important details are included.

*2010 AIEA Session Proposal deadline is extended until Sept 15.*

This Call for Proposals contains the following information:
Conference theme and subthemes
Session format
Guidelines for submitting a proposal
Required information on the proposal
How to submit an electronic proposal
Selection criteria
Frequently asked questions
Contact Info
Key dates to remember

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2010 AIEA CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The 2010 AIEA Conference will be held on Feb 14-17, 2010 in Washington , D.C. The theme for the 2010 AIEA conference is “Internationalizing Higher Education: Essential for our Future.” As the title implies, internationalizing our campuses will be core to maintaining academic and institutional excellence across all functions of the university.

Session proposals, due September 15, 2009, are invited to address internationalizing higher education in the US and globally across the full range of university functions including the following key areas.

Internationalizing:

•  Undergraduate teaching and learning (e.g., curriculum, study abroad, internships abroad, dual and joint degrees, service learning, recruitment);

•  Graduate education (e.g., exchanges, international fellowships, field studies collaborative graduate programs);

•  Research and discovery (e.g., multi-university collaborative research and education, joint conferences, seminars and workshops);

•  Building campus communities (e.g., conferences and workshops, student organizations and clubs, international centers and houses, international education week, performances, lectures);

•  Local, national and international outreach and engagement (e.g., international development with universities, state agencies, non-governmental organizations, World Bank, United Nations);

•  Campus leadership (e.g. strategic planning, management, partnerships and joint ventures, risk management, roles of the President, Provost, functional vice presidents and provosts, deans, and senior international officers)

•  International alumni and development (e.g., international alumni events, chapters, fund raising, student and faculty recruitment);

•  Public policy to include state, national and international laws and policies and governmental agencies.

Session Format: Session format will be 75-minute sessions (maximum of 3 presenters and at least 15-20 minutes of discussion included in the 75 minute session)

  Guidelines for Submitting a Proposal

* Interactive: We ask that all sessions be designed to include significant time for discussion

* Multiple Perspectives: We are interested in sessions that include multiple institutions and diverse perspectives. Student perspectives are most welcome.

* Regional Diversity: We are interested in sessions that include perspectives from institutions and presenters located outside of the United States

  Information Requirements of Proposal     

Session Title, Abstract and Full Description (see note below)**
Name, Contact Details, and Biography of Chairperson
Names, Contact Details, and Biographies of all proposed speakers (see note below)
Conference subtheme category
Audio-visual needs
URL where handouts will be posted (all chairs are responsible for posting session handouts to their own website; AIEA will publicize the website URL)
Additional Comments

* Session chair will serve as the key contact on the session and is responsible for communicating all session information and details with presenters

**Note:  The abstract and bios submitted are the ones that will be printed in the conference program, should the proposal be selected.  Please pay careful attention to word limitations of no more than 75 words for the abstract and 75 words for the bio. Biographies are to be a maximum of 75 words. They may include presenter/s positions, career facts, and major work accomplishments. The biography should be written in the third person and consist of full sentences. Abstracts are to be a maximum of 75 words. Proposals submitted without an abstract, full description, or complete bio information on all presenters will not be considered.

FULL SESSION DESCRIPTION (500 word detailed description of your proposed session). Include a content outline which describes the major theme(s), challenges, lessons learned, successes and failures, application possibilities for other institutions, etc. that will be addressed in this session. In addition, include the goals of the session and methodologies to be used. Remember to include time for discussion. If there is more than one presenter, explain what each presenter will discuss. Please be as complete as possible and remember that the content needs to go beyond "here's what we do" to wider applicability, comparative perspectives and "lessons learned."

How to submit an Electronic Proposal: Click Here to access the online proposal.  If unable to access, please cut and paste the following link: 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=kGK7AIwPpRCrKShqUd7qSA_3d_3d

Online proposal fields must be complete in order to continue with the proposal submission - if you are unable to continue with the submission, it is most likely because you did not provide the necessary information required. BE SURE TO SAVE A COPY OF THE PROPOSAL BEFORE SUBMITTING IT TO AIEA !
                                          
If a hard copy of the proposal is necessary for completion or if technical difficulties are encountered, please email aiea@duke.edu.

Selection Criteria

Proposals will be reviewed by the Conference Advisory Committee and evaluated on the following criteria:
            -Connection/Applicability to the Conference themes
            -Originality and quality of the proposed session
            -Relevance to domestic and international audience
            -Extent of Multiple Perspectives                   
            -Diversity of Presenters

Frequently Asked Questions:

When will I hear about whether my proposal is accepted or not?
You will hear by early November, if not sooner, regarding the status of your proposal.

How are the proposals reviewed?
Members of the conference advisory committee will review proposals.  There are at least 3 readers on each proposal.

Do presenters receive a discount in conference registration fees?
No, there is no discount in conference registration fees for presenters.

What if one of my presenters is coming only for this session and will not be participating in any other part of the conference?
It is possible for a presenter to just come to his/her session and then leave. However, there will be no nametag or conference materials provided and the presenter may not participate in any other part of the conference.

If I am using PowerPoint, am I required to bring my own computer?
Yes, you will need to provide your own laptop. 

If I have handouts, am I required to bring copies to the conference?  
Yes, you should be prepared to bring at least 50 copies of your handouts to the conference.  Handouts are strongly recommended.

Questions and Contact Information: AIEA Secretariat, aiea@duke.edu , 919-668-1928