Conference Schedule

This session covers the efforts our global office has made, in collaboration with our Wellness Team, to prepare our students before they go abroad to think about their multi-dimensional wellbeing. The session walks through the pre-departure session we offer to students on the 8 dimensions of wellness (Environmental, Spiritual, Financial, Physical, Emotional, Intellectual, Social and Career) as well as the efforts we take while they are abroad to check in with them, and ideas for scaling wellness initiatives.

Presenters: Brooke McCready (UNC) & Felix Morton (UNC)

It can be daunting to train a new DSO. Between the actual regulations, best practices, institutional policy, and student-facing requests, sometimes the training process goes less smoothly than hoped. This session breaks down how to build a training course that can be tailored to your own institution. The session will cover the importance of the foundation of the course, how to apply the information, as well as resources and best practices for an easy transition for your new DSO.

Presenters: Sara C. Nobles (Davidson College)

Innovative virtual global learning has the potential to increase access, mitigate inequities, and engage students in sustainable IE programming as part of a larger campus international plan, but how do you engage and encourage faculty to include these virtual offerings for students? Join us to hear how different institutions have done this successfully with specific examples from faculty who have internationalized their curriculum by creating virtual globally infused courses and course content.

Presenters: PJ Shoulders (Study Abroad Association) & Teresa Hall (Central Piedmont)

You regularly hear that you need an active social media presence, but you’re wondering how to manage this on top of all your other daily responsibilities. Have you considered creating an internship specifically to manage your social media platforms? Come learn how to conceptualize, plan for, and implement a student intern program to help you meet your social media needs.

Presenters: Cathy Knudson (ECU) & Erin Taylor (ECU)

The purpose of this session is to discuss how Photovice, an approach generally used for participatory-based research, can be used as a pedagogical tool for engagement within diverse communities
to help prepare learners to succeed in global societies. The session will include an overview of a Photovoice project developed for classroom use, as well as a discussion on how such projects can be used to foster student engagement within their diverse campus and surrounding communities. The session will include opportunities for participants to engage in hands-on collaborative and reflective tasks that will allow them to brainstorm ideas on how to design and implement similar projects in their own educational contexts. There will be time at the end of the presentation for questions from the audience.

Presenters: Laura Levi Altstaedter (ECU), Sydney Wilson (ECU), & Magali Krosl (ECU)

Session will be an open roundtable discussion in order to facilitate sharing of best practices. Presentation will begin by sharing results from survey on status of recruitment professionals in North Carolina and common challenges faced in the role. Speakers will share procedures at their individual institutions and then allow participants to share their practices, network, and ask questions of their colleagues. Conversation will focus around the following topics:

1. Travel: How to build an itinerary, find travel partners, decide which materials to take to the field
2. Budget: How to create a budget, maximize your convince higher ups your budget is sound and demonstrate ROI
3. How to cultivate and communicate with leads

4. Trends in Recruitment

Presenters: Hayley Hardenbrook (NC State), LaShawn Harvey (NC A&T), and Sami Smith (High Point)

The East Carolina Study Abroad Office is a registered Passport Facility which helps create a more seamless advising process for our students. This session will review the process of becoming a passport facility, including costs and required trainings, as well as some considerations for managing these duties and marketing them around campus.

Presenters: Rose Malone (ECU), Katie Erickson (ECU) & Erin Taylor (ECU)

This session highlights real-life case studies where open-source intelligence (OSINT) and social media intelligence enabled teams to attain comprehensive situational awareness during emergent incidents domestically and abroad. Led by career intelligence analysts, this session introduces free online tools and techniques that international education professionals can use during a crisis. The case studies cover geopolitical crises, protests, terrorism, extreme weather, and disasters.

Presenters: Paul Raffile (SafeAbroad) & Allison Mahr (SafeAbroad)

This session will discuss considerations for student services personnel and other student-facing campus constituencies when supporting LGBTQIA+ international students, including socio-cultural factors and potential barriers to communication and comprehension.

Presenters: Nicole Ianieri (UNC Charlotte), W. Patrick Bingham (WFU), Sarabeth Trujillo (UNC) & Sambuddha Banerjee (ECU)

Over the last few years, the field of international education has experienced a tremendous amount of change, forcing professionals to change or ‘pivot’ in their career trajectories. As new professional opportunities across the field have re-emerged over the last year, the population of professionals working in the field has evolved tremendously, with new professionals entering the field from a different sector of industry or leaving entirely for the private sector or other employment opportunities. Furthermore, IE professionals who have remained in the field have changed institutions, been promoted to leadership roles of their respective offices or units, and adapt to changing organizational and institutional challenges. This interactive panel session will explore the experiences and career pathways of current professionals in promoting discussion that helps others, especially newcomers, to understand the twists, turns, diversity, and nuances of a career in the post-pandemic international education workforce.

Presenters: Kyle Keith (Barcelona SAE) & Robert J. Van Pelt (WCU)

This session will provide an overview of ESL (English as a Second Language) strategies for working with and advising ESL/international students. This presentation will be shared with all attendees and can be taken back to your campus for you to share with other general faculty or staff. This interactive session will provide an overview of Second Language Acquisition Theory and activities to better understand the obstacles ESL students face on a daily basis in the college setting. Participants will also learn practical strategies that can be implemented each time they are working with or advising ESL students.

Presenters: Emily Carter (Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College)

While widening access and bolstering support for students from rural communities has been a long-standing commitment of many educators in North Carolina and elsewhere, this dimension of comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion has recently experienced an uptick in interest from higher education leaders, policymakers, and other stakeholders. For example, the UNC System’s “Higher Expectations” strategic plan for 2017-2022 made increasing rural student enrollments and degree completions a bold priority for its 17 institutions. But what about education abroad? How are we, as international educators, ensuring that the unique needs, experiences, and voices of students from rural communities are included and considered in our work? This session will center on these questions and many more through an interactive panel of diverse undergraduate students from rural North Carolina communities who will offer their insights and advice, as well as tangible actions for student outreach and success for education abroad advisors.

Presenters: Kyle Keith (Barcelona SAE), Rose Malone (ECU) & Andre Stevenson (ECSU)

While many universities have embraced diversity, equity and inclusion concepts for decades, there has often been little support for faculty and staff who are new to working with international students and scholars. This session details ECU’s new Global Zone training, which is designed to build a network of advocates and allies across campus, reinforce the understanding we are dedicated to the success of international students and scholars, and strengthen their sense of belonging.

Presenters: Jon Rezek (ECU), Melanie Robbins (ECU) & Cathy Knudson (ECU)

Your ISSS office acquired a new international case-management software; now what? Transitioning from a paper-based or minimally electronic process to a new software system that has extended capabilities can be challenging. What is the best approach to make the transition as seamless as possible, while also leveraging system capabilities to optimize your business processes? In this session, we will discuss some key lessons learned during our implementation and provide a framework for others to utilize for a successful shift to electronic processing. Although we will use the implementation of our J-1 scholar process as the primary example, the overall conversation will focus on the implementation of electronic processing as a whole.

Presenters: Trinh Copsey (UNC) & Ioana Costant (UNC)

Community College students deserve equal access to international education activities and experiences. How do we best serve them with so few resources? How can we develop rigorous concepts and authentic experiences for such a wide variety of students? International Education at Community Colleges is an emerging field of research and we will share data and innovative practices. We will also look to build from the wisdom of the audience.

Presenters: Allyson Daly (Wayne Community) & Suzanne LaVenture (Davidson-Davie Community)

How important is English language programming? ELPs have always played a crucial role in university recruitment, retention, and overall student success. This session takes a fresh look at the innovative contributions these valuable programs provide to university engagement with the campus multilingual multicultural community and beyond.

Presenters: Rebecca Yoon (App State) & Nicole Ianieri (UNC Charlotte)

The purpose of this session is to discuss the importance of mentorship and collaborative work on digital humanities projects with undergraduate students who study abroad. This session will include an overview of the benefits and challenges of implementing digital humanities projects related to study abroad experiences. Presenters will also discuss the impact of faculty/staff mentorship and student collaborative work while completing a digital humanities project related to their study abroad experience. There will be time at the end of the presentation for questions from the audience.

Presenters: Laura Levi Altstaedter (ECU) & Lily Johnson (ECU)

This session will focus on challenges and opportunities learned from rebuilding an education abroad program at a small, private university. Specifically, it will focus aiding development and facilitating of short-term faculty led programs-marketing, policy changes, administrative and logistical processes. Having recently rebuilt an program following leadership changes and the COVID crisis, we have learned some best practices to use in an already difficult situation.

Presenter: Minnu Paul (Methodist)

International student offices carry significant responsibility and institutional risk in addition to supporting and guiding international students. This session will discuss how ISS offices can become better advocates through improved education, programming, and outreach to campus partners. We will also discuss the sense of belonging provided to international students when they are supported by other offices outside of ISS.

Presenter(s): Kelia Hubbard (WFU) & Denise Medeiros (UNC-Charlotte)

Virtual exchange programming is becoming an increasingly important component of a comprehensive Internationalization at Home plan. In this session, participants explore four key components of effective virtual exchange programming and consider the role of virtual exchange in expanding access to and stimulating interest in international education. Presenters share empirical evidence demonstrating the positive impact of virtual exchange on students’ cultural intelligence, interest in study abroad, and overall student success. Participants will also consider how virtual exchange can be implemented at their own institutions to support local internationalization goals.

Presenters: Melanie Robbins (ECU) & Jon Rezek (ECU)

Join us for an overview of Study North Carolina (StudyNC) and the benefits of collaborative recruitment of international students to the state. To be followed by an open discussion with stakeholders to gain perspective on wants and needs surrounding recruitment initiatives and professional development. Members and non-members are invited to learn more and share their input.

Presenters: Hayley Hardenbrook (NC State), Olga Booth (Methodist) & Stephanie Bethel (US Commercial Service)