February 2009
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported today on a session at last week's Forum on Education Abroad conference dealing with the economic depression's effect on study abroad--both the programmatic reaction of study abroad advisors and directors, as well as student response to the economic downturn in terms of study abroad participation.
The full article is pasted below (subscribers can view it here: http://chronicle.com/daily/2009/02/12231n.htm?rss) .
Rick Steves, the globetrotting author of more than 30 bestselling guidebooks and the host of several public access TV and radio travel shows, spoke at the National Council for International Visitors (NCIV) 2009 National Meeting last Wednesday, where he was presented with the NCIV Citizen Diplomat Award. Steves blogged about NCIV and his experience at the conference on his website, RickSteves.com. Check out the full blog post here.
A short piece on the importance of citizen diplomacy for improving international relations aired on American University Radio, WAMU 88.5, on Friday, February 6. Harriet Fulbright, president of the J. William & Harriet Fulbright Center, and Karen Hasara, board member for the U.S. Center on Citizen Diplomacy, are quoted.
Listen to the full report at http://www.wamu.org/news/09/02/06.php#25034.
The Alliance convened a meeting of its State Department Task Force on Wednesday, February 11, to discuss the position papers that will be used for the conclusion of FY 2009 appropriations, as well as the FY 2010 appropriations season. Colleagues from the American Councils for International Education, the Fulbright Association, the Institute of International Education, IREX, NAFSA, and Sister Cities International participated. The main issues discussed and decided during the Task Force meeting include:
Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) submitted a resolution on Friday, February 13, to express “the sense of the Senate regarding the importance of public diplomacy.” Sen. Lugar called for the reopening of publicly accessible American Centers, which beginning in 1999 were renamed Information Resource Centers, moved inside U.S. embassy compounds, and often made accessible by appointment only.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a roundtable with Indonesian journalists in Jakarta on Friday and highlighted the importance of international exchange programs. In response to a question regarding the Obama Administration's plan to "intensify the dialogue" between Indonesia and the United States, Secretary Clinton said:
Career Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering called for the doubling of international exchange programs during his testimony on February 25 at the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations subcommittee hearing on “Building a 21st Century Workforce.” As part of his testimony, Pickering described the urgent need to rebuild our entire public diplomacy capacity through hiring, training and reorientation, and reconfiguration.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived yesterday in Japan on the first stop of her Asian tour. The Washington Post reports that, on Tuesday morning, Secretary Clinton met with 200 U.S. Embassy employees and told them that the notion of peace and harmony was “a good concept for America’s role in the world. We need to be looking to create more balance, more harmony.”
See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/16/AR2009021600829.html?hpid=sec-politics for the full article.
An op-ed by Col. David Tohn, an Iraq war veteran and National Security Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, appeared in yesterday’s Miami Herald. Col. Tohn argues for increased support and funding for soft power, telling the story of a potential jihadist turned Fulbright Scholar to support his case.
Read the full article at here.
