Colorado State University to Host 13th Annual International Leadership Conference

The 13th annual International Leadership Conference, focusing on intercultural awareness and communication, will be held on April 10 at Colorado State University.

Hosted by the Office of International Programs at Colorado State, this nation-wide conference will host more than 100 participants, representing nine institutions of higher education from as far away as Florida State University. Many participants are international students from countries such as Japan, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Germany.

Participants from Colorado include Colorado State, the University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Northern Colorado, Colorado Institute of Art and Metropolitan State College.

Ten workshops on topics ranging from the importance of effective listening, stress management and creative problem solving to the changing job market and the best job prospects beyond the year 2000, will be presented.

The conference focuses on increasing awareness of global perspectives and stresses the importance of strong leadership abilities, intercultural awareness and effective communications in an increasingly international world. The program is considered a national model and several institutions have tried to replicate it.

"Other institutions of higher education, such as the University of Northern Arizona, have tried to duplicate this conference unsuccessfully," said Jean Griswold, former director of International Student Services, and currently with the International Center of Fort Collins. "Several institutions have held similar conferences for one year, but are unable to sustain the program year after year."

A representative from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., will be attending the conference to try to see how it is run and to determine if a similar conference would be successful at EMU.

"I inquired about similar conferences on the East Coast, but couldn’t locate one," said Delores Blough, Director of International Student Services at EMU. "I received several responses in support of developing a similar conference. It is a great way to support international students."

The conference is modeled after national and regional conference held by the National Association for Foreign Student Affairs: Association for International Educators. The national conferences are expensive to attend, leading representatives from Colorado State, the University of Denver and the University of Colorado to design a similar conference at a more affordable cost. In 1986, the first year of the conference, students paid three dollars to attend. This year, the registration fee is only ten dollars per participant.

For more information, contact Viviane Abt at (970) 491-3948.