“Global and international issues are not discipline-specific and should not be taught in silos,” explained Bobrowski. “We are fortunate that the deans of the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Business recognize the importance of interdepartmental collaboration and encourage their faculty to work with one another to achieve a common goal. It is important to prepare our constituents for the complexities of globalization.”

“Creating opportunities to position the College of Liberal Arts for the future is critical. Establishing an interactive global environment for our students is of the utmost importance to us,” said Dr. Anna Gramberg, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “This grant allows new relationships to take place and grow in an academic world as well as in a world of commerce, thus creating a unique and beneficial opportunity for everyone involved.”

The BIE grant, which is approximately $250,000, will provide funding for two years and will be used to support three major initiatives. The first initiative, expected to begin in fall 2007, is aimed at creating faculty awareness of the social, political, economic and business environments in Latin America. Some of the grant activities include trade missions to key destinations for Alabama exports, language immersion programs, faculty attendance at varying seminars, and conference presentations on international trade issues.

“In addition to the collaboration between business and liberal arts, we have also partnered with Tuskegee University and the State of Alabama Development Office – International Trade Division (ADO) in hopes of expanding the project beyond the university community,” said Marshall. “We believe that the faculty participating in this project can be a resource not only to their own campus but to a number of community colleges throughout the state and to the non-traditional student population.”

A second initiative under the BIE grant involves student programs and academic enrichment. Though both the Colleges of Business and Liberal Arts offer international education curricula, neither program focuses on Latin America specifically. With the BIE grant, both the international business curriculum in the College of Business and the international trade curriculum in the College of Liberal Arts will be restructured so as to provide undergraduate and graduates courses in export management as well as courses on Latin American society and culture. The BIE grant will also be used to develop an international trade certificate program designed for students not enrolled in either curriculum. Such curricular changes are expected to be implemented in 2009.

“We would be remiss if we did not prepare students for the global economy,” said Marshall. “Unfortunately, there is sometimes a misconception that international trade negatively impacts state and local business. The reality is that companies engaged in international business actually yield economic growth. We need to prepare our students to enter today’s global workforce.”

“Such initiatives, as this by the College of Business and the College of Liberal Arts, to create cross-disciplinary, international opportunities for our students is an Auburn University response to the private sector requirements for the 21st century university graduate,” remarked Dr. Paul Bobrowski, Dean of the College of Business and Wachovia Professor. “I hope that this type of collaborative, international effort becomes an Auburn University standard.”

The third initiative outlined in the BIE grant proposal is targeted at the state and local business community. In coordination with Tuskegee University, the State of Alabama Development Office, the Auburn University Small Business Development Center and the Auburn Technical Assistance Center, project co-directors will develop outreach programs designed to encourage and facilitate trade with Latin America. A series of community seminars are expected to be available by fall 2008.

(Contributed by Dina Roberts and Vicky Santos)