The Department was delighted to host teachers and school administrators on Nov. 7 for the Powered by Teach to Lead mini-summit with the theme "Global Competencies for Career Success." A joint initiative of ED's International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) office, International Affairs Office, and Teach to Lead team, the summit was attended by nine teams of educators from across the country looking to incorporate global competencies into their schools' career and technical education (CTE), and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education programs. Participants included teachers and school administrators at the middle school, high school, and postsecondary levels from five states, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas, and the District of Columbia.

The Powered by Teach to Lead model helped teams create and develop action plans for specific projects to be implemented in their schools and communities. Teams collaborated with representatives from private- and public-sector businesses and organizations, who helped the teams create their project plans. The day-long collaborations also allowed the participants to make critical connections with subject matter experts whom they could call upon in the future. The day's events included skills sessions for attendees to learn about resources offered by different organizations working in the field of international education, and a panel discussion on global skills and their value for and relevance to CTE and STEM programs. The panel featured representatives from the Center for Global Education at the Asia Society, the Association for Career and Technical Education, Lincoln Electric, and the Department's Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education. A recording of the discussion is available to stream on IFLE's YouTube Channel.

In addition to the Nov. 14 workshop, the Department's International Affairs Office hosted a fascinating panel discussion on the intersection of career and technical education, workforce development and global and cultural competencies on Nov. 7. The panel featured representatives from Switzerland's State Secretariat for Education Research and Innovation; USAID's Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment; the Department's Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education; and a current student at the Fashion Institute of Technology and alumna of Family, Career and Community Leaders of America. A recording of the Nov. 7 panel is also available to watch on YouTube.

Finally, the Department hosted a #FellowsatED Twitter chat on the evening of Nov. 14, giving teachers, students, and parents across the country the opportunity to share their thoughts on global competencies as they relate to career, technical, and STEM education. The chat had strong engagement and reached over 1.5 million Twitter users! To participate in future #FellowsatED chats, make sure to follow the Department's main Twitter account at @usedgov. You can follow us at @GoGlobalED to keep up with the latest from IFLE.

The following grant programs will hold competitions for new awards in 2019. Below you will find the expected timeframe for each competition, program officer contact information, and links to each program's "Applicant Info" website, where competition information will be posted as it becomes available.

• Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad
  (competition expected in January or February 2019)
  This program provides short-term seminars abroad for U.S. educators in the social sciences and humanities to improve their understanding and knowledge of the peoples and cultures of other countries. Educational lectures and activities are designed specifically for each seminar group, including visits to local schools and organizations, meetings with educators and students, and visits to cultural sites. Participants draw on their experiences abroad to create new curricula for their classrooms and school systems back in the U.S. FY 2019 programs will be offered in Czech Republic/Slovakia, Taiwan, and Uruguay.
  Contact: Maria Chang at maria.chang@ed.gov
  
  
• Title VI Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language (UISFL) Program 
  (competition expected in February or March 2019)
  The UISFL program provides grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs), consortia of IHEs, partnerships between nonprofit education organizations and institutions of higher education, and public and private nonprofit agencies and organizations, including professional and scholarly associations, to strengthen and improve undergraduate instruction in international studies and foreign languages.
  Contact: Tanyelle Richardson at tanyelle.richardson@ed.gov
  
  
• Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Fellowship Program 
  (competition expected in March or April 2019)
  The DDRA program provides opportunities to doctoral candidates to engage in full-time dissertation research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies. The program is designed to deepen research knowledge and increase the study of modern foreign languages, cultural engagement, and area studies not generally included in U.S. curricula.
  Contact: Pamela Maimer at pamela.maimer@ed.gov
  
  
• Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) Program 
  (competition expected in March or April 2019)
  The GPA program provides grants for overseas projects in training, research, and curriculum development in modern foreign languages and area studies by teachers, students, and faculty engaged in a common endeavor. Programs are designed to help integrate international studies and culture into an institution's or school system's general curriculum, to acquire resource materials for curriculum development and dissemination in the U.S., or to conduct group research or study projects abroad.
  Contact: Cory Neal at cory.neal@ed.gov

The Center for Global Business (CGB) at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, a Title VI Center for International Business Education (CIBE), concluded a second successful year of its Maryland Global Export Consulting (MGEC) Program. The program offers Maryland companies the opportunity to work with a team of MBA or undergraduate students to address challenges in engaging in the global marketplace. The program is a collaboration between the CGB and the Maryland Department of Commerce, and is funded in part by a Title VI CIBE grant from the U.S. Department of Education. 

This year, three companies were matched with three University of Maryland MBA teams:

• MBA students Elcin Chang, Mozella Williams and Andrew Sakhaee consulted with Vasoptic, an early-stage medical device company located in Baltimore, on a market assessment between India and China, and ultimately an entry strategy for India. Vasoptic’s mission is to develop affordable, innovative medical diagnostics that specialize in blood flow and vascular status. The client sought these particular markets to potentially export their device because of its suitability for developed and emerging markets. The student team developed an assessment and accompanied the team to India to conduct primary research to inform its market entry strategy. The team presented their findings in May to Abhishek Rege, Vasoptic’s CEO. He was ultimately pleased with the results his company received through the program, stating, “It allows companies with limited resources to gain critical insight into international expansion. Once the merit is established at a high level, a company may be able to push for a deeper dive into the detailed strategy.”
  
  
• Rife International LLC, a company headquartered in Maryland that provides energy efficiency, renewable energy, and construction services, worked with MBA students Elizabeth Dow and Osei Yiadom to expand their renewable energy pursuits to Africa. The team conducted a feasibility study of Rife’s proposed energy-efficiency pilot program targeting secondary and tertiary education institutions in Ghana. The team's goal was to reduce the energy costs of Ghanaian education institutions in order to lower the cost of tuition and ultimately increase matriculation. Dow and Yiadom traveled to Accra in March to meet with key stakeholders to understand the need, challenges, and opportunities that the pilot program could address. The team’s final deliverable offered recommendations on how to tailor the company's messaging, branding, and services to fit the market and the motivations of each stakeholder.
  
  
• MBA students Ja’Nel Edens and Jerry Kande traveled to Tanzania with Anandasivam Gopal, professor of information systems at the Smith School, for in-country research to inform a market entry plan for Quiacle, a certified woman-owned small business based in Frederick, Maryland. The project looked at Tanzania's health IT and cybersecurity industry as Quiacle specializes in developing information systems and information program security support for government and commercial clients. During the trip, the team confirmed strategic alliances with local academic institutions to help Quiacle develop human capital in the short term, and, in the long term, to become a direct vendor of health IT and training. Student Ja'Nel Edens said, “One of my biggest takeaways from the experience was learning to navigate global business challenges by asking "how and when?" rather than "why?" I learned to see the opportunities rather than what appeared as obstacles at face value.” 

All three client companies indicated that they intend to follow through with their team's recommendations and that the program has been beneficial to their business' global reach and international expansion. As Rife’s CEO, Kwabena Osei-Sarpong, stated, “It is important for Maryland-based companies with global strategies to get support, and this platform provides the needed support.”

Five doctoral candidates from The Ohio State University were awarded prestigious Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) fellowships for the 2018–19 academic year. The DDRA program provides opportunities to doctoral candidates to engage in full-time dissertation research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies. The program is designed to deepen research knowledge and increase the study of modern foreign languages, cultural engagement, and area studies not generally included in U.S. curricula.

John Bundschuh, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, Ashlee Dauphinais, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Katherine Fitzgerald, Department of Comparative Studies, Barbara Y. Roth, Department of Political Science, and Nathan Young, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, are the recipients of the fellowship.

These Fulbright-Hays DDRA awards represent more than $220,000 in research funding. A total of 100 DDRA fellowships were awarded nationwide across all disciplines.

William Baptist grew up in Baltimore, went to college in Delaware, taught for five years in Japan, and is now an international student-services adviser at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. But he will always have a soft spot in his heart for Urbana and Champaign in Illinois.

Baptist earned his master’s degree in 2017 in Global Studies in Education (GSE) from the University of Illinois. Baptist chose the GSE program, he says, because it connected to his professional experience in international education and international relations.

“The program itself, with its concentration in international education and administration and leadership, goes hand in hand with the work that I do and with my career,” he says. “It was a combination of opportunity, personnel, and reputation.” It was the personnel that stood out the most for Baptist. “I didn’t meet a single person who was just there doing a job,” he said. “Dr. Witt [Allison Witt, director of the Office of International Programs and a faculty member in the GSE program], she lives this work. It’s her passion.”

It was Witt’s passion that prompted Baptist to take a study-abroad trip to Indonesia, a trip that impacted him greatly. It was supported in part with funds from the university's Center for Global Studies, a U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center.

“I tell people if Dr. Witt tells you something, do it,” Baptist said. “I took that trip and it was like wow, she was right.”

Now available for free as a downloadable PDF!

This guidebook offers specific suggestions for students to prepare for their study-abroad stay, enhance their chances of success while abroad, and nurture the abilities they have developed outside the classroom.

The author explains why language educators and study-abroad professionals should develop an activist stance in promoting language in study-abroad programs.

This guidebook was produced by the Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research (CALPER) at Penn State, a Title VI Language Resource Center.

We are delighted to welcome Bryan Jenkins and Cory Neal to the IFLE team! 

Bryan Jenkins joins IFLE as a program officer for the Title VI National Resource Centers and Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowships program, overseeing the Africa, Canada, International, and Western Europe portfolios. Previously, he served as a management and program analyst in the Department’s Office of Federal Student Aid, where he conducted assessments of the effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity of financial aid programs. Jenkins is a nationally certified school psychologist, licensed in the states of Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, where he has served large metropolitan-area as well as rural school districts. Bryan earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Kennesaw State University, an educational specialist degree in school psychology from the University of Tennessee, and a doctorate in educational administration and policy studies from The George Washington University.

Cory Neal oversees IFLE's Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program, which provides grants to support overseas projects in training, research, and curriculum development in modern foreign languages and area studies for teachers, students, and faculty engaged in a common endeavor. Cory has over a decade of experience in education, ranging from serving as a middle school teacher and varsity tennis coach to serving as both an educator and education specialist in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP). Neal's passion is helping others pursue their highest education endeavors. He has taught and mentored countless youth and incarcerated men in achieving their educational goals. Each year while working at the FBOP, Neal exceeded the goals set for inmates to earn their General Educational Development diplomas. He also introduced numerous new courses for inmates to earn certifications and licensures they could use upon release. In his spare time, Cory enjoys traveling abroad, playing and writing music, and studying history. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Virginia Commonwealth University.

IFLE is on Twitter with the latest from the world of international and foreign language education. Follow us @GoGlobalED and tell your friends! We'll see you in the Twittersphere!

We're on YouTube with informative webinars and exciting grant program videos. Subscribe to IFLE's YouTube channel to enjoy the latest content!

Have you received a Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship or participated in a Fulbright-Hays grant program? Join our alumni groups on LinkedIn!

FLAS Program Alumni          Fulbright-Hays Program Alumni

We seek motivated students who are eager to learn and work as part of our team as an unpaid full- or part-time intern during the summer, fall, and/or spring. Visit our website for more information.

We want to hear from you! Do you have suggestions for webinar topics? Ideas for things to include in future newsletters? Send them to Carolyn Collins at carolyn.collins@ed.gov.