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Second Annual Meeting Minutes
2003 Business Meeting
Kathleen Sideli called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m.
Sideli, President of The Forum, welcomed those in attendance, commenting on how pleased she was at how generous the membership has been over the past two years and how much has been accomplished by The Forum in such a short period of time. She recognized Geoffrey Bannister, The Forum's Executive Director, and complimented him for the wide range of activities he has single-handedly accomplished in a short time, including negotiating the partnership with Smith College and the creation of our office and systems on the Smith campus. She also introduced the Advisory Council members, other individuals engaged in the various goals committees throughout the year and supporters of The Forum, including EDU.Directories and Frontiers. She encouraged all the members, who should have recently received their free copy of Frontiers, to be sure to read this interesting issue on experiential education, including articles by a number of Forum members. The publication serves to remind us that the field takes the time to ponder pedagogical and educational philosophy issues even as we grapple with health, security, liability and disciplinary issues.
Sideli highlighted some of the activities listed in the Annual Report, included in the packets, making a special mention of the projects in the past year that have resulted in documents that are (or will be) available on The Forum Web site:
She urged the membership to read about these projects and other Forum activities on the Web site.
Geoffrey Bannister reported on the importance of the changes in governance. Following The Forum's plan from its founding, the current Interim Board is beginning to phase out, and new members are being recruited who will bring additional talents, expertise and contacts to the organization. There remains a challenge to balance the Board in its diversity, but the Nominations Committee has this firmly on its agenda. In addition, the recent transfer of responsibilities from the Board to the Advisory Council for the five Goals Committees represents another important step in The Forum's evolution.
He reported on the growth of the membership. As of the beginning of the meetings in Salt Lake City, The Forum's membership totaled 165, of which 65 are U.S. universities, 22 are U.S. colleges, 21 are U.S. providers, 11 are overseas universities and providers, 42 are Associate Members and 4 are corporate supporters.
Michael Delaney, in place of Mary Dwyer, Vice-President of The Forum and chair of the Nominating Committee who is currently on sabbatical, reported that two individuals had been identified for the Board of Directors. He reminded the membership that eight members of the current Interim Board were cycling off on June 30 and, as per our by laws, we were downsizing the Board to a group of 9-15 members. The self-perpetuating Board had unanimously voted to accept the following two nominees. There are two other individuals currently considering whether they wish to be nominated and those decisions may be made in time for the July Board meeting.
Madeleine Green:
Dr. Green is vice president and director of the Center for Institutional and International Initiatives at the American Council on Education (ACE), a membership association of 1800 member institutions and associations. It is the major voluntary coordinating body for U.S. higher education. Madeleine Green has served as an ACE staff member since 1974 and as vice president since 1987. She currently oversees ACE's international agenda, which has a major focus on research and good practice in internationalization. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Sweet Briar College (VA) and chair of its Educational Programs Committee, and a deputy member of the board of the International Association of Universities.
James W. Langridge
Mr. Langridge holds the joint appointment of Vice-President (International) of the University of Wollongong, with that of CEO and Managing Director of the Illawarra Technology Corporation Ltd., the University's commercial arm. He is responsible for international affairs at the University of Wollongong, and has been actively traveling and promoting international education throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America since 1986. He is an active participant in the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA), the European Association for International Education (EAIA), NAFSA, and a member of The Forum on Education Abroad. He is on the Board of several companies, including IELTS (Australia) LTD., and the University of Wollongong Foundation Ltd., and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
David Larsen reported that The Forum is in good financial shape, pointing out that the first year of The Forum' activities actually lasted two years since the first fiscal year did not begin until July 1, 2002. We accrued revenue in the first year with minimal expenses but have had a series of expenses since setting up our office and staff last October.
Peter Wollitzer, Chair of the Advisory Council, discussed how this has been a difficult year for Education Abroad, a year that would tempt us to abandon all but the most pressing program duties, but precisely because it has been such a tough year, we should redouble our efforts to professionalize our field through research and through considered, thoughtful attention to what we do every day, how we do it, what outcomes we seek, and how we can improve all of these. After all, the higher our standards are, the better integrated our curricula are with the academic mainstream at home. The more compelling our outcomes are shown to be, the stronger our supporting data become; then the more convincing our advocacy for our field will be and the better we will be able to serve our students with outstanding opportunities for education abroad. This ultimately is what The Forum is all about and what our five goal committees are striving to do.
He then explained how the five goals committees of the Advisory Council focus on the content projects of our organization. A special meeting of the outgoing Board chairs and the incoming AC chairs focused on how the five groups can and should work in consonance with each other on a regular basis. Since the Board had established the goals of the organization, five Board members had served in the past year to kick off a range of projects in each of these five areas. Now that the Advisory Council is in place, the Board members are passing along the leadership to Advisory Council members. Peter introduced each outgoing committee chair who, in turn, introduced the new chair:
- Advocacy (Outgoing Chair, Carl Herrin and Acting Chair, Adrian Beaulieu). The Advocacy group is focusing on providing programs and information for campus advocacy. The group wants to strengthen links with other professional groups interested in Education Abroad. The committee will rely on products produced by the other Goals Committees to assist with their task.
- Data (Chair, J. Scott Van Der Meid (outgoing chair, Bill Hoffa, wasn't in attendance) ) The group will soon have an Open Doors profile of Forum members available for the membership. It will also arrange for a cross-relational analysis of students from Forum member institutions. The committee also plans to repeat a version of the Third Party Provider Survey, widening the pool for the next round.
- Standards (Outgoing Chair, Jon Booth, and Chair, Bill Anthony) The committee plans to have basic standards available on-line along with interactive/ reflective queries for staff, program review and program development. They will also develop a toolbox of recommended resources and materials. The committee has a preliminary draft of basic standards included in the meeting materials and invites the members to send comments to Bill Anthony by June 30 (wanthony@northwestern.edu).
- Curriculum (Outgoing Chair, Al Balkcum; Chair, Jane Edward, wasn't in attendance) The committee will define rationales for education abroad in relation to the home campus and generate a working document on the elements that further the specific goals of education abroad. The group will gather information towards the mapping of programs and courses available abroad in respect to their academic relationship to work on the home campus. The group is also planning to be involved with the Curriculum Integration Conference at the University of Minnesota, April 15-17, 2004.
- Outcomes (Outgoing Chair, Mick Vande Berg and Chair, Brian Whalen). The committee will continue to be involved with Frontiers, particularly with a special volume on outcomes (2004). The committee will expand to include international experts on outcomes. It plans to convene a student research conference to showcase study abroad research being completed by students. And it will sponsor a multi-institutional outcomes assessment research project in addition to disseminating resources about outcomes research and establishing a relationship with the new SECUSSA committee on research.
Wollitzer concluded this part of the meeting by inviting international participation, and asked participants in the Annual Meeting to provide input to the chairs, reminding members that this is a golden opportunity to be engaged in the practical but vital business of the profession. The complete listing of the plans and timetables of the Goals Committees is available on the Web.
Bannister explained the first annual 'quicktime' survey of The Forum membership. The simple survey to Forum members was designed for two reasons: to give us an idea of the combined purview of Forum members' influence and impact on students and to gauge what has happened in the field AFTER September 11. This was the largest survey of its kind assessing the impact of 9/11 on education abroad numbers. Complete data on 2001-02 will not be published until November of 2003.
The Forum's membership encompasses over 40% of the students engaged in education abroad today. The estimate of non-overlapping student numbers is 64,918*. This is an impressive statistic, given that The Forum currently has 120+ institutional or organizational members.
Growth in enrollment levels have dropped out of the double-digit levels the U.S. was experiencing pre-September 11, 2001. Growth has been greater for universities than for providers and the numbers at larger universities appear to be growing the fastest.
One interesting fact that emerged is that a significant fraction of the membership (67%) open their programs to external students.
*For information about the methodology used to reach this figure, contact gbannist@smith.edu
Sideli pointed out that the eight outgoing Board members had invested innumerable hours in The Forum over the past two and half years. To create this organization they set aside past histories, competitive concerns, other organizational allegiances and busy schedules. Together the Board worked as one unit. Although the members may not have always agreed at the outset they have always worked cooperatively towards reaching consensus. Sideli remarked that she is aware that many anecdotes have circulated regarding the intentions of various Board members but she assured the membership that the founding Board members have always wanted only what was good for the field, not what was good for them or their institutions or organizations. Theirs has been a labor of love. In recognition of their service, she recognized each member with a plaque:
Click here for photo of outgoing members
Jon Booth (Syracuse University)
Joseph Brockington (Kalamazoo College)
Michael Delaney (University of Colorado)
Geoffrey Gee (University of Pennsylvania)
Harlan Henson (College Consortium for International Studies) not present
Maryelise Lamet (Boston College and formerly of U-Massachusetts-Amherst) not present
William Nolting (University of Michigan)
Tom Roberts (formerly of the Institute for Study Abroad at Butler University)
The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m.
The board of directors met briefly upon the official adjournment of the meeting.
Respectfully submitted by Kathleen Sideli
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