The establishment of a broadly-represented task force to improve the quality of international education opportunities was announced Monday at a meeting of University of Tennessee faculty and staff.
It will be a “task force with a committee structure that has broad representation,” Mary Papke, associate dean of graduate studies, said.
Papke and Carolyn Hodges, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said the task force will consist of six committees that will focus their efforts on studying abroad, internationalizing the curriculum, intercultural awareness, global competency of faculty and staff and recruitment of international students and interns.
A report of the plan will be due Dec. 1. This is the beginning of an effort to realistically implement the long-term changes, Papke said.
Many changes are already taking place on campus that gives UT the start it needs for more diversity, according to Papke. These changes were inspired by a group of 13 faculty and staff members who went to a conference in April on “Internationalizing the Curriculum through Study Abroad” at the University of Minnesota.
Papke said in the first steps of developing a “quality enhancement plan” UT faculty and staff will receive a survey that will collect information on language skills and experiences abroad.
“We got an idea of where we can go with this at Minnesota,” Papke said, “and we need to urge commitment, eliminate obstacles and ensure all graduates and undergraduates have awareness.”
Director of the Center for International Education Jim Gehlhar said that the plan for UT is not just about studying abroad, but also includes a more broad scale of grants for staff and workshops to internationalize the UT curriculum.
“Each of our daily lives depends on what goes on overseas and vice versa,” Gehlhar said. “An unconscious university wouldn’t address that.”
Gehlhar said by applying for grants, the University of Minnesota was able to internationalize four schools with much success. The University of Minnesota has had so much success by building on existing study abroad and exchange options and by convincing faculty and staff to commit to involvement by informing and encouraging students, he said.
The conference at the University of Minnesota was a “very inspiring time,” Gehlhar said.
Monica Christen, interim assistant director for Programs Abroad at the Center for International Education, said the goal is to initially get more students abroad. She said the number of students at UT that study abroad comes and goes, and “we have a long way to go, but we’re heading in the right direction.”
Director of the advising center and business administration Fred Pierce said that curricular restructuring began in the business department in 2001. Since then, he said, studying abroad has become a critical part of student advising and orientation. A handbook has been created to help “bring the list down” of places to go for students to help identify courses that can be brought back and used with their major. The department has also created International courses that can be used for primary and secondary fields of concentration.
The department of agricultural sciences and natural resources is also making the study abroad program a part of their student orientation, Clark Brekke, assistant dean of the department, said. He said he has a “liaison with faculty and students to help get the word out.”
The agriculture department has an exchange student agreement with an institution in Mexico and Jamaica, which helps to increase cultural aspects for UT students as well as exchange students, Brekke said.
He said that in order to remain competitive in the global marketplace, agriculture and natural resource students must be able to meet challenges and opportunities offered.
