Worldwide education celebrated this week

By Shannon Milliken
The Collegian

High school and college campuses nationwide are participating in the International Education Week this week.

International Education Week is an annual event geared toward increasing awareness about study abroad programs, international exchange and other global opportunities. The theme this year is “International Education: Engaging in Global Partnerships and Opportunities.”

Bill Erysian, Fresno State’s interim director of International Programs and coordinator of the week, said the theme makes a lot of sense because the goal of the week is to get more people “engaged” in international programs.

“We try to increase awareness [about international opportunities] every day,” Erysian said. “This is a great chance for this office to do some recruiting for study abroad.”

The keynote speaker for International Education Week is Mary O’Hara-Devereaux, founder and president of Global Foresight, a strategic consulting firm for predicting the global future. Devereaux will speak Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Concert Hall in the Music building. Devereaux’s speech, “Mastering Your Global Future,” will provide a “futurist perspective” on where people are going to be as a nation — and as a world — 10 years from now, Erysian said. Since the topic is Devereaux’s specialty, Erysian thought it was appropriate to bring her in as the keynote speaker. “The world is changing very rapidly,” Eysian said. “It is important for everybody, especially students, to understand what that means for down the road.” Devereaux’s background comes from more than 25 years of experience in more than 50 countries. She is the best-selling author of “Global Work: Bridging Distance, Culture and Time,” and has taught at universities internationally, including University of Hawaii and Peking University in Beijing.

In addition to the 17 activities planned for International Education Week, Erysian will be visiting classes on campus every day to introduce study abroad. The week’s activities include Tuesday’s lecture by Ruth Fremson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer from the New York Times and films and presentations about study abroad programs. “There’s really something for every student,” Erysian said.

“We’ve tried to make it as broad as possible.” Several of the activities this week will include discussions from Fresno State students who have studied abroad.

Erysian was a study abroad student when he attended Fresno State. He was part of a program in England in 1978 and liked it so much he went back to North London University to earn his master’s degree. Erysian uses his experience as background to promote study abroad but also finds more students relate when he brings along current Fresno State students to talk about their more recent adventures.

Admission to Devereaux’s keynote speech and the rest of the week’s activities is free and open to students and the public.

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