KU News Release

KU is site of orientation program for international educators

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas is the national site of an orientation program for 72 junior faculty members from the Balkans and former Soviet republics. They will be on campus until Jan. 11.

At the request of the U.S. State Department, KU’s International Programs is coordinating the four-day Junior Faculty Development Program orientation, which helps the fellows acclimate to the United States and its higher education system before they go to their host institutions for the semester. Orientation activities include presentations about intercultural conflict, higher education and U.S. society. Participants also will go bowling and attend a folk dance.

Sponsored by the U.S. State Department, the development program increases access to academic resources and new educational perspectives and promotes the development of a growing network of academics in the United States and the countries represented. Staff members from the American Councils for International Education, which coordinates the program, will participate in the orientation, along with KU faculty and staff.

Five fellows will stay at KU to work with faculty members in the schools of business, journalism, architecture, fine arts and education.

KU has hosted fellows since the development program began in 1991. This is KU’s third time to host the orientation. The Applied English Center hosted 21 of the fellows for a month prior to the orientation for language and culture instruction. This is the fourth year the Applied English Center has provided this part of the program.

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