WELCOME TO THE FORUM'S 18TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Globally Interconnected: New Opportunities and the Challenge of Change

In times of uncertainty, one thing is undeniable: we need each other more than ever. Global educators understand that solving complex global challenges is achieved by cultivating connections and collaborating across difference. We have adapted to new ways to connect and learn amidst the global health, economic, and climate crises that have underscored our shared challenges, humanity, and interdependence. Demands for social justice and equity resound throughout all systems, including education abroad and global learning contexts.  Join us in working together to reinvent and rebuild a field that prepares and empowers the next generation to contribute to a better world.     

Hybrid Conference

The 18th Annual Conference was a hybrid event, including 2 days of virtual programming and 3 days of on-site programming in Chicago, IL. » Enjoy 50+ sessions over 5 days! » Hear from fascinating plenary speakers! » Enhance your conference experience with pre-conference workshops! » Network with colleagues (virtually AND in-person!) » Engage in sponsorship & exhibit opportunities!

Host Institutions

The Forum is pleased to announce the following host institutions for its 18th Annual Conference. The Forum thanks these members for their support: IES Abroad Northwestern University University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Grand Valley State University Northern Kentucky University Loyola University Chicago Kalamazoo Chicago

Meet Our Conference Committee

Special thanks to the Conference Committee for their guidance as we prepare for this year's Annual Conference. Joy Phaphouvaninh, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, chair Michael Sandy, Bridgewater State University, past chair Lindsay Allen, UPCES & IEF Study Abroad (Czech Republic) Jerry Barnaby, Cooperative Center for Study Abroad Madiha Chafik, CIEE (Morocco) Jessica Driemeier, University of Miami Chrissie Faupel, Appalachian State University Brian Johnson, Loyola University Chicago Ermioni Karachaliou, Hellenic American University (Greece) Katherine Macfarlane, Northeastern University Lebethe Malefo, University of Johannesburg (South Africa) Damien Marshall, AIFS Abroad Erica Nikolaisen, New Mexico State University Margherita Pasquini, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy) Melquin Ramos, Southbridge Access (Chile) Melody Reichoff, Waukesha County Technical College Sabrina Starke, Absolute Internship (Spain) Nicole Stokes, Saint Joseph’s University Nicole Uhlinger, UC Davis Xia (Amy) Zhang, Alabama A&M University

PLENARY SPEAKERS

[caption id="attachment_29801" align="alignright" width="300"] Author and environmental activist Bill McKibben[/caption]

Virtual Opening Plenary Speaker: Bill McKibben

Author and environmentalist Bill McKibben will deliver the opening plenary address for the virtual portion of The Forum's 18th Annual Conference. Bill was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize in 2014, sometimes called the ‘alternative Nobel.’ His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages; he’s gone on to write a dozen more books. He is a founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, which has organized twenty thousand rallies around the world in every country save North Korea, spearheaded the resistance to the Keystone Pipeline, and launched the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement.  The Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he was the 2013 winner of the Gandhi Prize and the Thomas Merton Prize, and holds honorary degrees from 18 colleges and universities. Foreign Policy named him to their inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers, and the Boston Globe said he was “probably America’s most important environmentalist.”  A former staff writer for the New Yorker, Bill writes frequently for a wide variety of publications around the world, including the New York Review of Books, National Geographic, and Rolling Stone. He lives in the mountains above Lake Champlain with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, where he spends as much time as possible outdoors . In 2014, biologists honored him by naming a new species of woodland gnat--Megophthalmidia mckibbeni--in his honor.  To read more about Bill and his accomplishments, please visit: www.billmckibben.com.

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In-Person Opening Plenary Speaker: Ethan Rosenzweig

[caption id="attachment_31211" align="alignright" width="240"] Deputy Assistant Secretary for Academic Programs Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs[/caption] Ethan joins the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) from Atlanta, GA, where he worked at Emory University’s School of Law as Associate Dean overseeing enrollment management and student services including international recruiting and engagement activities.  A graduate of Emory Law, Ethan clerked for the Honorable G. Ernest Tidwell of the U.S. District Court of Northern Georgia and then practiced law in Charleston, South Carolina.  Before Emory, he completed a Presidential Management Fellowship at the U.S. Department of Education, and received his undergraduate and master’s degrees in public policy from American University.  Originally from Louisiana where his family still resides, he says he doesn’t return often enough and misses the crawfish and jambalaya.            

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Lunch Plenary Speaker: Steve Dolinsky

[caption id="attachment_30615" align="alignright" width="300"] © Todd Rosenberg Photography 2020[/caption] Steve Dolinsky has won 13 James Beard Awards for his TV, radio and podcast work. He is currently the Food Reporter at NBC5 (Chicago), where his “FoodGuy” reports air every Thursday night at 10p.m. As the Food Reporter for ABC7 (Chicago) for 17 years, his “Hungry Hound” reports covered a range of food and drink-related topics. Not only did he produce and report two stories each week, he also shot and edited them (and continues to do so at NBC 5). Steve is also the Producer and Host of “Pizza City”–a bi-monthly podcast featuring some of the greatest pizza makers in the nation, and was previously Co-Creator and Co-Host of The Feed Podcast with Chef Rick Bayless (which garnered a Beard award in 2015 for best podcast). He has also written food and travel stories for the Travel sections of the Chicago Tribune and Canada’s Globe and Mail, and was a frequent contributor to Public Radio International’s “The World.” There are many ways to learn about other cultures and Steve has always sought to understand cultures through their food and culinary traditions. He’ll share those insights with participants during lunch at the 18th Annual Conference on Friday, March 25, along with the story of how study abroad has influenced his own life and family. You can follow Steve's eating adventures on Twitter and Instagram @stevedolinsky, as well as his website: stevedolinsky.com.

Thank you to our sponsors and exhibitors

Diamond

	IES Abroad

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Platinum

	Education in Ireland

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Gold

	Critical Language Scholarship

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Silver

	Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship

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Bronze

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Exhibitors

	IES ABROAD	IES ABROAD
	CEA STUDY ABROAD	EDUCATION IN IRELAND
	AMERICAN COLLEGE OF GREECE	CAPA
	MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE	SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
	ISEP (INTERNATIONAL STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMS)	BOSTON UNIVERSITY
	INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES (IAU)	ADVANTAGE TRAVEL
	FIE: FOUNDATION FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION	JUNIOR YEAR IN MUNICH (WAYNE STATE)
	SCHOOL FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAINING (SIT)	ISDSI (INTERNATIONAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STUDIES INSTITUTE)
	AMIDEAST EDUCATION ABROAD	UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
	AMERICAN COLLEGE OF THESSALONIKI	BARCELONA SAE
	ACADEMIC PROGRAMS INTERNATIONAL	ROTHBERG INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
	SCHOOL FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAINING (SIT)	CARLETON COLLEGE
	SYRACUSE ACADEMY	CULTURAL INSURANCE SERVICES INTERNATIONAL, CISI
	IFSA (INSTITUTE FOR STUDY ABROAD)	GLOBAL LEARNING COLLECTIVE
	MILLENNIUM TOURS	VIA TRM
	DICKINSON COLLEGE	WESTLAKE UNIVERSITY
	GERMAN ACADEMIC EXCHANGE SERVICE (DAAD)	JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY
	ACADEMIC SOLUTIONS	UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA, INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
	THE IDEAS PROGRAM	GILMAN SCHOLARSHIP
	GLOBAL LEADERSHIP LEAGUE	WORLDSTRIDES
	INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION (IIE)	ACADEMIC PROGRAMS INTERNATIONAL
	ACADEMIC PROGRAMS INTERNATIONAL	STUDY IN SPAIN
	DON QUIJOTE / ENFOREX	AUGSBURG
	CRITICAL LANGUAGE SCHOLARSHIP	BARD ABROAD
	ARCOS LEARNING ABROAD	AUTHENTICA
	EF EDUCATION FIRST	DIS - STUDY ABROAD IN SCANDINAVIA
	USAC (UNIVERSITY STUDIES ABROAD CONSORTIUM)	THE LEARNING ABROAD CENTER: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
	UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN (VIRTUAL)	ON CALL INTERNATIONAL (VIRTUAL)
	COLLEGE YEAR IN ATHENS (VIRTUAL)	UPCES
	CIS ABROAD	STUDENTUNIVERSE
	MARY IMMACULATE COLLEGE	DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY
	UNIVERSITY OF NICOSIA GLOBAL SEMESTERS	DANKOOK
	LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO	UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK
	GEO BLUE	SEA - SEA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
	CET ACADEMIC PROGRAMS	AIFS
	CIEE	TERRA DOTTA
	AMERICAN COUNCILS FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION	DIVERSITY ABROAD
	INEXT INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE	GO OVERSEAS
	INTERSTRIDE	TECHNION, ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

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Other Items

	Pre-Conference St. Patricks Day Cocktail Reception (virtual)	EDUCATION IN IRELAND
	Wifi	INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES (IAU)
	Welcome Reception	INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES (IAU)
	Newcomers Session	THE IDEAS PROGRAM
	Lanyards	ON CALL INTERNATIONAL
	Pens	CIEE
	Thursday Coffee Break (am)	THE LEARNING ABROAD CENTER: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
	Thursday Lunch	THE LEARNING ABROAD CENTER: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
	Thursday Coffee Break (pm)	ADVANTAGE TRAVEL
	Friday Coffee Break (am)	UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
	Friday Coffee Break (pm)	CRITICAL LANGUAGE SCHOLARSHIP
	Sustainability Award	AUTHENTICA