The International Board of Advisors gathered for the Internationalization Awards Banquet April 1, where Director General Andy Chin of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Seattle was the keynote speaker. Front (L-R): Susan Frye, Ollie Walter, Jill Johnson, Johnnie Burton, Megan Degenfelder, Mary Katherine Scott, Sophia Chi, vice consul for TECO. Back (L-R): Cameron Nazminia, Brian Schueler, Andy Chin, Brian Deurloo, Ashley Willms, Celeste Colgan, Nathan Nicholas, Paul Bergman.
Made up of more than two dozen accomplished individuals, the University of Wyoming International Board of Advisors (IBOA) supports international knowledge and experiences at UW and throughout Wyoming.
“The UW IBOA is the single advisory board that promotes and encourages internationalization among the students and faculty,” says board member Celeste Colgan, whose career includes serving as a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, vice president for administration for Halliburton, director of the Wyoming Department of Commerce and deputy chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
“The IBOA is committed to having 25 percent of UW students studying abroad by 2025—‘25 by 2025’ will become our mantra and our tagline for fundraising,” Colgan says. To help facilitate this goal, the board has created the International Board of Advisors Endowment.
“From a job standpoint, it will open a lot of opportunities they wouldn’t have otherwise,” board member Johnnie Burton says of studying abroad. Burton’s career highlights include serving in the Wyoming Legislature, as director of the Wyoming Department of Revenue and as director of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service.
“Somebody who has spent time overseas will add a dimension to their education and their academic work that will make them very valuable to companies that today operate almost everywhere in the world,” Burton says. “So study abroad not only develops their potential, their view of the world and their knowledge of different cultures—it also makes them very desirable for companies.”
Board chair Cameron Nazminia agrees. “Possessing international knowledge and experiences beyond being fun is critical to so many professions today. Many UW graduates will have to compete with students from around the world,” says the UW graduate whose work has spanned the world with engagements with the World Bank Group, Newmont Mining Corp. and most recently as a policy adviser to Gov. Matt Mead. “The pace of knowledge and activity in the world has become faster throughout history, and if UW students are to succeed in the future as they have in the past, understanding the international competition and different ways of approaching issues is vital.”
Colgan adds: “Even if a UW graduate has no ambition to work for a large global corporation and intends to stay in Wyoming to start a business or teach school, the international world is coming to Wyoming and will impact the lives of everyone in the state. By any measure—tourism, commerce, engineering, art, agriculture, education—people are moving around the world and learning from each other. UW students need to understand how to integrate themselves into the future.”
In addition to study abroad, the board promotes all types of internationalization. “The board is really working on bringing programs and speakers here that will open the eyes of students to global issues,” Burton says.
To learn more or to express interest in joining the board, visit uwyo.edu/intprograms/board.