News

Last week, the Administration released its FY27 President’s Budget Request (PBR), which proposes a 68% reduction in funding for U.S. Department of State international exchange programs.  

If adopted, these cuts would significantly weaken (or eliminate) many deeply impactful programs supported through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). 

The education abroad community’s advocacy has proven powerful in the past. Just last year, a proposed 93% cut to ECA was met with strong opposition from education abroad supporters nationwide. More than 20,000 messages were sent to lawmakers, and Congress responded by rejecting the cuts and funding exchange programs at $667 million for FY26. 
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Now, our community must step up again to clearly demonstrate the value and impact of these programs. ​

The Nominations Committee of The Forum Council is pleased to announce the following slate of candidates for the open positions in this year’s election:

• Angela Schaffer, Fund for Education Abroad
• Asia King, University of Maryland College Park
• Brenda Meira, Dublin City University (DCU)
• Brian Henry, Southern Illinois University
• Cara Lane-Toomey, Where There Be Dragons
• Daniel Ponce-Taylor, Intercultural Outreach Initiative (IOI)
• Dr. Gayathri Banavara, Community College of Philadelphia
• Miko McFarland, Expanish
• Vanessa Nichol-Peters, Fashion Institute of Technology

​Main Contacts from Forum member institutions and organizations will receive an email with voting information on Friday, April 3, 2026 (please check your spam/junk folders!). If you are the Main Contact and you do not receive the email ballot, please contact us at [email protected] 
 
The deadline to vote in this year’s Forum Council election is 5 p.m. ET on April 17, 2026.

To conclude an inspiring Annual Conference 2026, The Forum on Education Abroad recognized outstanding leadership, advocacy, and innovation during the Closing Celebration Luncheon held in Nashville on Friday, March 13.  
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The luncheon honored recipients of several distinguished awards, including the Peter A. Wollitzer Advocacy Award, the Ron Koehn Conference Grant Award, the Loren Ringer Award for On‑Site International Educators, and the second annual InnovateEA pitch competition. ​