Globally Connected Strategies
The University at Albany’s International Education Leadership Expert Series presents a module with Nancy Ruther designed to address how virtual strategies can enable international education to be more resilient, increase access and create efficiencies by tapping existing faculty, program and technological resources.
June 21, 2023 – July 10, 2023
Registration Fee: $399
About the module
This synchronous interactive course will address how virtual strategies can enable international education to be more resilient, increase access and create efficiencies by tapping existing faculty, program and technological resources. After a tour of the horizon, we will develop “virtual readiness” profiles of your campus, faculty and international partnerships. We will explore virtual exchange and shared network strategies among other approaches aligned with your campus and curriculum. With your peers, you will create a roadmap to that integrates new connectivity strategies into your chosen international education focus area.
Successful completion of this course will result in a digital micro-credential acknowledging completion of this professional development expert module from the International Education Management & Leadership Program at the University at Albany (SUNY).
Expert Series Presenter
Nancy Ruther
Nancy L. Ruther is principal and founder of Gazelle International, a non-profit helping innovative university leaders break out and harness technology to expand access to high quality international higher education. She has guided the Connecticut Community Colleges internationalization effort with CT CLICKs modeled on SUNY’s COIL and other virtual exchange efforts. She also serves as Senior Fellow in Higher Education and Strategy with the Yale Women Faculty Forum helping re-energize their research-based advocacy program and faculty membership. In senior leadership with The MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University, she grew budgets from $3 to $40M, kept Yale in the winners circle with Title VI grants and developed degree and certificate programs, expanded language teaching, developed faculty and graduate student exchanges and collaborations, managed scores of visiting faculty and competitions for student field projects, fee-based programs as well as outreach to the larger K-12 and college education communities. She also has developed simple, effective approaches to assessing the impact of international higher education, with a particular eye to graduate and professional students. Read more…
- Participants will receive a set of resources tailored to the course, including both readings and workbook materials.
- Kick starter examples of globally connected approaches and results in international higher education (virtual exchange for STEM, shared language teaching consortium, shared research-teaching network humanities &/or management)
- Other recommended research resources and virtual exchange resource networks.
- Globally Connected Strategies: An Overview. You will have a sense of the key examples of technology-based innovation in international higher education worldwide. You will have a connected strategies framework to consider innovations with current international education programming such as curricular internationalization, language learning, service learning, education abroad, international student programming, overseas partners and research networks or other areas of your choosing. You will be ready to complete the virtual needs assessment and update it as your develop your connectivity project plan.
- Clarifying project scope, goals, results for the connectivity program. You will review the alignment of a globally connected strategy with the mission and vision of your international programs and also identify the units and groups on campus involved directly and tangentially. You will be able to do a basic strategic analysis using SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) at the appropriate levels to determine readiness for adding a globally connected strategy to your focus area. You will be ready to use “force field analysis” to gauge the capacity of key stakeholders on your campus to advance/delay your efforts and develop an approach to engage them as allies.
- Refining operational targets, implementation paths and metrics. You will adapt the “virtual needs assessment” to gauge the readiness of key allies and stakeholders in the critical triangle of on-campus units, overseas partners and faculty/teachers. You will revisit the SWOT analysis to fine tune it for your chosen project focus, identifying the different stakeholders in your project sphere of influence. You will use force field analysis to develop approaches for enlisting allies among the critical stakeholders on campus involved directly and tangentially in developing your globally connected initiative. You will be able to identify a clear set of 3-5 measurable results to make clear the value proposition of your initiative. You will be able to design a simple, cost effective assessment plan with both process/formative and outcome measures.
- Final project presentation and discussion. You will present a summary of your 12-18 month global connection strategy and test at least one advocacy argument that you expect to use in launching your initiative to a key audience on campus or back at work. You will understand and be ready to advocate for and defend your connectivity initiative at strategic and operational levels, working with relevant leadership and more immediate colleagues and stakeholders.
Expert Series Design structure
The instructor-led synchronous sessions will include four meetings of 2 hours each via Zoom (UAlbany).
Synchronous Sessions:
- (Optional) Monday, June 19 – 12pm – 1pm EDT (GMT-4)
- Wednesday, June 21 – 12pm – 2pm EDT (GMT-4)
- Monday, June 26 – 12pm – 2pm EDT (GMT-4)
- Wednesday, June 28 – 12pm – 2pm EDT (GMT-4)
- (Optional) Wednesday, July 5 – 12pm – 1:30pm EDT (GMT-4)
- Monday, July 10 – 12pm – 2pm EDT (GMT-4)
Instructions for connecting to synchronous sessions and accessing the online material will be provided after registration.
Registration Fee: $399
15% Discount on registration for SUNY employees.
Reach Us
Albany, NY, 12222
+01 (518) 442-5080
ieml@albany.edu
