Good afternoon. A special welcome to our honored guests Associate Vice President Meredith McQuaid and Professor Shu-Ching Kao from Taiwan. We’re thrilled you are here today.
You know this year has been a tough one. The economies of both our College and the US in general are in bad shape. The past year has also not been a great year for foreign policy in the US. In the face of these challenges, it is instinctive to become protective of ourselves… Systems theorists tell us that external shocks almost always bring about internal panic and self-preservation. In common terms, when things get hard we circle our wagons.

While such behavior is natural (in fact, it is instinctive), it is also dangerous to organizations. I don’t believe we as a College are in any danger of disappearing. Rather, drawing back from the world or, what my colleague in an international educational organization calls “navel gazing� is dangerous in terms of our relevance as a College.

It is during challenging times that we have to make a conscious choice about whether to engage the world, and therefore remain relevant, or withdraw ourselves from global participation. I am thankful and very proud to report that this College has chosen the former.
Despite our challenges, new international research grants continue to come in to the College, and our faculty and staff are finding new and innovative ways answer difficult questions across cultures and languages.

Despite our challenges, new international agreements with international institutions are being written and existing agreements revisited. This year alone, we are reviewing relationships with institutions in Uganda, Iraq, Brazil, and revisiting our relationship with a Jamaican university.

Despite our challenges, our university ranks 4th in the US in Study Abroad student participation. In our College, you can choose from a variety of existing Learning Abroad Center programs or take a short course in international settings from faculty in Social Work, Curriculum and Instruction, the Undergraduate Leadership Minor, Kinesiology, or Educational Policy and Administration.

Despite our challenges, we are still exploring ways to be more competitive in recruiting and retaining international students.

Despite our challenges, we are moving forward with promoting short programs for international scholars, like when 16 visitors from 10 different countries will visit our College this spring as part of the State Department’s International Leadership in Education Project.

Despite our challenges, we remain relevant in the world. For this, I wish to thank you – faculty, staff, students, and alumni for showing the world that the people of CEHD are global thinkers, global citizens, and globally relevant. Congratulations for all you are doing, and thank you all again.

The project taps into two important dilemmas - access to, and quality of schooling. The first diliemma is that girls in many places in the world still do not have access to schooling. The disproportionate workload girls face (compared to their boy peers) often keeps girls from attending or benefitting from formal schooling. Some girls also lack access to schools because of safety issues (girls who must walk to school in remote areas may face harrassment from boys or older males).

When girls do get to school, quality is an issue. Some girls face discrimination in schools, others participate in curriculum that is irrelevant to their gendered experiences. Finally, at times girls face the same challenges as boys - pedagogy that reflects the practices of colonial practices (which, many argue, is no longer appropriate).

CARE is working in these countries to make a difference for the most margenalized girls in their communities. The underlying belief is that education is power, and power is one factor that may reduce margenalization (some would argue power - or lack thereof - is THE issue influencing margenalization). CEHD's role in this process is helping CARE to develop an evidence base that is applicable both within and across countries. The two and one-half year project is already underway. Site visits have taken place in all countries and CEHD and Miske Witt representatives (under the consortium name Minnesota International Development Education Consortium), just returned from a weeklong meeting in South Africa sponsored by CARE's Basic and Girls Education Unit. Questions about the project can be directed to the Principal Investigator Joan DeJaeghere (deja0003@umn.edu).

Programs like these represent our commitment to both reaching out to the world and benefiting from an internationalized campus. It is clear that the ILEP fellows who will join us in January will bring new perspectives and fresh energy to our College. We are anxiously awaiting their visit!