Reshaping education abroad
The University at Albany’s International Education Leadership Expert Series presents a module with Dr. Brian Whalen to understand how key trends affect the education field abroad.
Summer 2020
Registration Fee: $399

About the module
This module, Reshaping Education Abroad, is designed to advance the professional development of both senior and line officials who are directly – or tangentially – responsible for building and sustaining education abroad programs and services. This is a unique opportunity to step back, survey the landscape of higher education, and learn how to adapt education abroad to succeed in the future. After critiquing current approaches and questioning our assumptions about education abroad, we will identify and analyze the key trends that will impact and change the field. We will discuss and outline approaches, strategies, models, resources, and practices that will be needed in order for education abroad to remain a high value part of higher education offerings. Participants will work together in small groups and individually to create a vision and plan for a robust education abroad program of the future. The program design will include the program rationale and strategy, type of participants, structural model, goals, student learning outcomes, curriculum and activities, etc. Each participant will give a brief presentation of their program outlines in the final session.
Successful participants will receive a digital micro-credential acknowledging their completion of this professional development expert module from the International Education Management & Leadership Program at the University at Albany (SUNY).


Expert Series Presenter
Dr. Brian J. Whalen
Dr. Brian J. Whalen is among the most well-known and influential international education leaders currently working in the field. Chief Academic Officer and Dean of Education at Atlantis since 2019, he served for more than a decade (2006-2018) as the President and CEO of The Forum on Education Abroad, the first Standards Development Organization (SDO) worldwide focused on international education. During that time, he oversaw The Forum’s growth into a leading international association, and formidable quality assurance organization for the field of education abroad. He is also an experienced senior international academic officer, having served in that role at Dickinson College and Marist College. A widely published scholar, Dr. Whalen was founding editor and for many years the publisher of Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad. During his long career, Dr. Whalen has developed or overseen education abroad programs in more than 50 countries, has delivered dozens of presentations and trainings in the U.S. and many other countries, has collaborated to secure nearly $4 million in grants in support of international education initiatives, and has participated in high level meetings as a discussant on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Education, and the White House. Read more…
Expert Series Design structure
Participants will receive 7.5 hours of synchronous sessions with the instructor and about 4.5 hours of asynchronous sessions during which participants prepare their final project. The synchronous sessions will include the following 5 meetings of 90 minutes each via Zoom (UAlbany).
Synchronous Sessions:
- Monday, July 20 – 4-5:30pm EDT (GMT-5)
- Thursday, July 23 – 4-5:30pm EDT (GMT-5)
- Monday, July 27 – 4-5:30pm EDT (GMT-5)
- Thursday, July 30 – 4-5:30pm EDT (GMT-5)
- Monday, August 3 – 4-5:30pm EDT (GMT-5)
Instructions for connecting to synchronous sessions and accessing the online material will be provided after registration.
Registration Fee: $399
15% Discount on registration for cohorts of three (3) or more from the same institution.