Program Implements Part of His Vision for University

Johnson C. Smith University President Dr. Ronald L. Carter launched his Global Education Initiative Thursday afternoon aimed at affording students an opportunity to travel abroad to experience other cultures and their languages.

"A component of global education is that students must be able to appreciate and master foreign languages," Dr. Carter said. "There are some things that students are not going to understand about other cultures and world experiences if they cannot speak the language. We want our students to be able to do this with ease so that they are more marketable once they graduate from JCSU."

Dr. Carter launched the program during a lavish reception at the University Thursday attended by faculty, staff, students, and members of the community. The following highlights segments of Thursday's event:

• New Center: Dr. Carter introduced the new Center for Excellence in Global Education headed by Dr. Adelheid Eubanks. Dr. Eubanks, who currently is Coker College's Liberal Arts Studies Program Director, will start in her new JCSU position January 2009. The center's goal is to ensure that all students acquire a passport to study abroad and gain substantive international experiences by broadening their knowledge, understanding and appreciation for world cultures in terms of language, economic, health, environmental and social issues. The second goal focuses on faculty who will play a central and critical role in the Center for Excellence in Global Education as they are linked with senior fellow scholars to stimulate fresh thinking in teaching and researching while they probe and understand critical issues that span geographic and cultural boundaries. Faculty will gain firsthand experiences in studying issues of global concern that will lead them to integrate global content and learning in their teaching and coursework development activities. Dr. Carter said his goal is to use international travel as a way to help JCSU students have that extra edge in the job market once they graduate.
• Free All-Expense Trips Abroad: For two weeks, the University promoted a passport initiative to encourage JCSU students who did not have passports to apply for them. As a bonus, the university paid all application fees and offered 12 all-expense paid trips to Rome for JCSU students. Approximately 329 students either successfully completed passport applications or already possessed one by the November 20th deadline.. Twelve of those students won the trips Thursday during a random drawing. The winners are as follows: Kasie Whitfield, Jermaine Gassaway, Jillian Ryan, Kelle Nelson, Deondric Booker, Holisha Alexander, Desiree Deville, Ranndi Reed, Jasmine Seals, Carleton Beamer, Lilian Futch, and Mykeal Trueheart. The students will be traveling to Rome in May.
• Keynote Speaker: Dr. Leonard Haynes, White House Initiative on HBCU's Director served as the keynote speaker for the event. A veteran of many top education posts, Haynes now implements Executive Order 13256, which supports the work of the nations Historically Black Colleges and Universities.