OXFORD, Miss. – Expanding the University of Mississippi’s impact locally while extending its reach globally is a flagship goal in the UM2020 strategic plan. It is also the mission of the new Office of Global Engagement that is combining the efforts of the Office of International Programs, Study Abroad, Intensive English Program and International Outreach.
“The Office of Global Engagement will create synergy between related international offices and, as a result, enhance our ability to recruit more international faculty and students, develop additional study abroad opportunities and support our efforts to globalize our curriculum,” Provost Morris Stocks said.
To lead the initial integration and consolidation of the university’s global programs, and to head the search committee for a permanent department head, Stocks selected John Z. Kiss, dean of the university’s Graduate School.
Kiss has a personal interest in and a broad range of international experience, including representation of the United States and NASA at meetings of international space agencies in Europe and Japan, research that has taken him to 14 countries throughout Europe, Asia and Australia, and serving as an international peer reviewer for government projects in Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, the Ukraine, Israel, Hong Kong and Japan. Earlier this summer, he visited Vietnam to evaluate proposals for the Vietnam Education Foundation.
Kiss says he is excited to oversee the first steps of establishing the new office and sees immediate value for the university, its faculty and students.
“Combining these efforts on campus is important to the future of the university because it will allow us to strengthen our capacity to both bring students here and to send our own students out into the world,” Kiss said. “It may sound like a cliche, but the world is getting smaller, and it is vital to our entire university’s success that students have as much international exposure and experience as possible.”
Informal research by Kiss reveals a national trend among research universities to consolidate their global programs into one office. Stocks agrees.
“Many universities are purposeful and deliberate in their commitment to encourage global engagement,” Stocks said. “Our decision to consolidate these offices was based on the careful advice from nationally-recognized external experts, our internal constituents and by the Priorities of Excellence defined in UM2020.
“UM2020 calls for our university to educate students for global citizenship and stewardship. The consolidation of these important offices and functions will allow us to accomplish this goal more effectively and efficiently.”
The consolidation begins with combining financial resources, bringing the staff of the various departments together and evaluating opportunities for more synergy to strengthen the university’s overall international programs and outreach. One example Kiss provides is the signing of contracts with foreign universities. The new office will ensure that when those contracts are signed, everyone involved in global affairs will be involved, creating better collaboration and enhancing the overall impact of the agreement.
While he is guiding the consolidation and leading the national search for a permanent department head, Kiss, who recently completed his first year as Graduate School dean, is not relinquishing that role.
“International students and programs are an important part of the Graduate School, so I envision the two departments collaborating closely. It will be quite a natural relationship,” Kiss said. “We have accomplished so much in the Graduate School, but we have ever more to do. The new focus on global engagement will certainly help us achieve our goals.”
The search committee hopes to have a senior international officer in place by the end of this academic year. By that same time, they also hope to have made substantial progress toward physical and functional consolidation of the various offices that will comprise the new Office of Global Engagement.
“The position will be attractive, and the new office should bring more visibility to our international efforts and allow more people to know about opportunities for global engagement,” Kiss said. “We have already received much support from across our campus, and there is a lot of potential for other departments to get involved. There is collaboration that has not even begun to be explored. This is truly an exciting time for the university.”