KU News Release

KU sponsors summit on teaching foreign languages in Kansas schools

LAWRENCE — Officials from the National Foreign Language Center in College Park, Md., and the Confucius Institute in Chicago will join Kansas policymakers, legislators, educators and business representatives to develop a plan to increase the capacity of Kansas schools to teach world languages critical for success in the 21st century.

On Tuesday, Dec. 19, the Kansas Committee on International Education in the Schools, the University of Kansas College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and KU’s Center for International Business Education and Research will sponsor the Kansas Summit on Strategic Languages. The public meeting will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Bradbury Thompson Center at Washburn University in Topeka. Pre-registration is required.

Catherine Ingold, acting director of the National Foreign Language Center, and Robert Davis, director of the Confucius Institute in Chicago, will join two panels of Kansans to discuss the need for teaching critical languages such as Chinese, Arabic and Russian in Kansas.

Panelists are:
— Betsy Degen, director, curriculum and instruction department, Shawnee Mission School District, USD 512
— Raffaele DeVito, Emporia State University professor of management
— Sue Gamble, member of the Kansas State Board of Education, Shawnee
— Jim Hill, president, Vektek Inc. of Emporia
— Jacob Kipp, director, Foreign Military Studies Office and Joint Reserve Center at Fort Leavenworth
— Gary Price, superintendent, Pittsburg USD 250
— Kansas Sen. Chris Steineger of Kansas City, Kan.
— Carol Woolbright, Greenbush Southeast Kansas Educational Center of Girard

In the morning, panelists will focus on “Stakeholders on the Future of Strategic Languages in Kansas.” An afternoon panel will focus on developing a policy agenda and identifying statewide leadership for the effort to expand world language training.

Ingold will speak at 10 a.m. on “National Capacity in Critical Languages: What is it, and how do we build it?” Davis will speak during the luncheon on “Chinese Language in the Chicago Public Schools,” a model program.

More support for the summit is provided by three KU units: the Kansas African Studies Center, the Center for East Asian Studies and the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies. Other sponsors are the Kansas State University Office of International Programs, Kansas World Trade Center in Wichita and the World Trade Center of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

Lunch will be provided for those who pre-register. To register online or view a full program, visit www.kansasintheworld.org.

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