- WASHINGTON—American Councils for International Education and its Board of Trustees are pleased to announce the appointment of David Patton, PhD, as the third president and CEO to lead the 45-year-old nonprofit. Dr. Patton’s tenure as president began on August 1, 2019. For the past five months, Dr. Patton has served as acting president and CEO. Dr. Patton will lead the nonprofit’s nearly 500 employees worldwide, operating out of 39 offices to advance nearly 100 programs in 90 countries. This… Read More
- Editor’s note: Karissa Huntington is the senior program manager for field operations at American Councils, where she has worked for eight years. She didn't start her career in international education, but hosting international students changed her path. She and her husband have hosted a total of 45 students, au pairs, and foster children from more than 20 countries. She thinks she’ll probably always host, and she thinks you should also consider hosting, even just once. My interest in… Read More
- Editor’s note: Adrian Erlinger manages innovation and capacity building initiatives at American Councils. He has been leading the way on several internationalization projects, including the Central Asia University Partnership Program (UniCEN), which recently brought together representatives from 20 Central Asian universities and US experts in Tashkent, Uzbekistan to design action plans for partnerships. What is internationalization, anyway? The world faces big economic,… Read More
- It started with a text message in 2012: “Love it. Definitely!” That was Sheila Green’s response after her husband Brian asked if she was open to hosting a fellow from Ukraine. Five fellows later, the Green family has no plans of stopping. They’ve hosted two fellows from Ukraine, two from Georgia, and one from Armenia—all through the Professional Fellows Program (PFP). The State Department sponsored program, which is administered by American Councils, is a two-way exchange for young… Read More
- WASHINGTON — More than 200 exchange students celebrated on Capitol Hill last week, marking their graduation from the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program. The ceremony for the 26th graduating class included students from Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine, and featured special speeches by students from Ukraine and Moldova. State Department officials, congressional staff, and embassy representatives joined host families, local coordinators… Read More
- Editor's note: This letter to the editor was originally published in the Washington Post on May 10. I was disappointed to see in the April 29 front-page obituary for former senator Richard G. Lugar, “Senator was key in U.S. foreign policy,” no mention of his role as co-founder of the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program, which brings nearly 1,000 high school students to the United States every year. The Indiana Republican spoke annually to these students about… Read More
- The Master’s and Internship Program (MIP) was established in 2016 by the Albanian – American Development Foundation (AADF), to provide young Albanian professionals, future leaders, and managers a unique opportunity for master's degrees and professional internships in the fields of agriculture, business administration, heritage, eco-tourism and hospitality, education, information technology and computer science, public health, public policy, and public administration.Furthering the mission… Read More
- Renewing its commitment to making study abroad accessible to all, American Councils debuted the US Study Abroad Assistance Fund today to support American students preparing to study abroad. Students who have been accepted to select programs implemented by American Councils can now apply for an award of up to $300 to cover costs that are not typically included in scholarships, like passport fees, medical exams, luggage, and other incidentals. Applications for the US Study Abroad Assistance… Read More
- Caroline and Liza haven’t met yet, but the nearly two-year-olds have been destined for friendship since before they were born. Their moms, Laura Carll and Tatyana Movshevich, have helped them become pen pals, shipping care packages between London and Erie, Pennsylvania. (The toddlers are not yet ready to write their own letters, but they do enjoy remote playdates through video calls.) Nurturing their daughters' friendship was a natural next step for the moms, best friends who… Read More
- WASHINGTON — The US House of Representatives invited American Councils’ Acting President David Patton to offer testimony yesterday on the impact of citizen exchange programs. Speaking at the Public Witness Hearing for the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, Dr. Patton recommended increased funding for fiscal year 2020, and encouraged continued support of exchange programs, particularly in Eastern Europe and the Independent States of the former Soviet… Read More
Sign up for our newsletter.