Dear AIEA, AMPEI, and South American Partners:
On behalf of the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA) and the Asociación Mexicana para la Educación Internacional (AMPEI), we invite you to apply to be a participant in the Dialogue of the Americas, a retreat of senior international officers modeled on the highly successful AIEAGhost Ranch Seminars and the AIEA-EAIE Transatlantic Dialogues. This second edition of theDialogue of the Americas will take place November 2 and 3 inZacatecas, Mexico, just before the 2009 AMPEI conference. It will bring together international educators from the Western Hemisphere to discuss common issues and challenges in international education and cooperation in the Americas. To get an idea of the issues to be discussed, please visit the AIEA website at (events) or the AMPEI website at (talleres). We are confident that the Dialogue of the Americas will give us all a unique and exciting opportunity to meet, share thoughts and ideas, and prepare for a common future.
The Dialogue of the Americas will take place at the hotel El Mesón de Jobito in Zacatecas, Mexico. For more information on the hotel, please visit their website at A series of rooms has been reserved for the participants for the days of the meeting. If you should like to arrive early in order to explore beautiful Zacatecas, Mexico’s silver capital and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, please contact the hotel directly.
The main theme of the Dialogue of the Americas will be agreed upon prior to the meeting once the participants have all been selected. For this purpose, the results of a Delphi survey conducted in the United States will be distributed among the participants a few weeks before the retreat. Yourreflections on this report will be an important input for the Dialogue.
The conveners for the Dialogue of the Americas are:
Everett Egginton, Dean of International and BorderPrograms at New MexicoStateUniversity and immediate past president of NAFSA: Association of International Educators,
Riall Nolan, Associate Provost and Dean of International Programs at Purdue
University
Thomas Buntru, Director of International Programs at Universidad de Monterrey
and current president of AMPEI,
Franco Antonio Osuna, Director of International Affairs at Universidad
Panamericana Guadalajara and former president of AMPEI
Rosa Marina Meyer, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and
International Programs at Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de
Janeiro,
Everett Egginton and Riall Nolan will be the facilitators of the retreat. As mentioned above, the participants will play a very large role in determining the agenda by proposing topics for discussion. We anticipate that critical trans-American issues will be at the forefront, as we focus on collaboration, competition, exchange, mobility, comprehensive internationalization, campus initiatives, pedagogy, learning outcomes, research, and degree structures, among others. The overall goal of the Dialogue of the Americas is to bring us all together to establish strong professional networks that are built on trust, shared experiences, and common goals. Perhaps the most important aspect of the retreat is the opportunity to meet with engaged colleagues in an inspiring environment, where we will be able to freely share information and experiences, engage in constructive dialogue, brainstorm new concepts, and dream of a common American future in the true, continental sense of the word.
The deadline for signing up for the Dialogue of the Americas is 18 September2009. In order to sign up, please contact any of the conveners at their e-mail address. Applications will be accepted via e-mail until all participants are selected. We ask interested colleagues to include in their application a short statement of the reasons why they wish to participate in the retreat and to indicate three topics they would like to discuss. Once you have been confirmed as a participant, you will receive further materials on the schedule, the Delphi survey, and a request to submit a brief bio-sketch for distribution to the other participants.
The registration fee for the Dialogue of the Americas is USD 200. Participants are expected to cover airfare, hotel, and meals on their own.
We look forward to having you with us at the Dialogue of the Americas and to two days of stimulating and enriching discussions. For any further information and in case of doubt, please contact any of the conveners.