Expanding My World

Over the last few weeks I have had the good fortune of being able to attend two very good conferences within walking distance from my office:

1. Prepared Minds, Prepared Places - Hosted by the YMCA
   
2. Internationalization Effectiveness: Strategies for Success - Hosted by CBIE

One of the most impressive parts about each conference was the fact that participants came from all across Canada and beyond and a large number of people came from outside higher education. For instance, the Prepared Minds, Prepared Places conference had attendees come from the US and several European countries while the CBIE conference had a large contingent come from China and others from the US, Norway, Australia and other countries.

I took advantage of Twitter to share some of my thoughts already, but I wanted to highlight two of the speakers as they were the most memorable to me. Tricia Jenkins was one of the keynotes at the first conference. She has built a very impressive program that has helped several students reach PSE that would likely never have had that chance without her work. Check out Professor Fluffy to understand a little more about the reach of her work.

Dr John Hudzik, who is the Acting Provost at Michigan State University and President of the Association of International Educators, participated in a panel discussion at the CBIE conference. The panel was discussing how the current economic situation was impacting higher education. Dr Hudzik only had 15 minutes to speak and he took full advantage of the time. I took a few notes, but it was hard to keep up. I'm looking forward to accessing his PowerPoint notes once they are posted. He made the following statement, which I believe conveys a clear, concise and powerful idea about higher education for the coming century: To be an institution of value & distinction in the 21st century requires global reach & engagement.