Looking Up and Outward

At the end of December 2022, I complete my tenure as executive director and CEO of NAFSA. It has been a profound honor to lead a professional association committed to an important mission and energized by enthusiastic members, dedicated expert staff, and steadfast supporters.

Throughout my career, I have sought to answer the question, how can we enhance international cooperation? I do not think that world affairs are only characterized by strife. There are paths to more peaceful conditions, but they will not emerge on their own. It takes sustained and concerted, action in many fields of human endeavor to build the structures and habits of interaction that can enhance peace and human well-being. Some of these structures are visible in the formal interactions of governments, such as diplomacy at the United Nations. Other examples involve non-governmental organizations engaged in humanitarian relief or care for refugees in times of crisis.

Governments and humanitarian organizations must grapple with danger or disaster to try to prevent conditions from getting worse. Forestalling the worst is fundamental, but building the best requires a different, longer-term vision. Enhancing respect for human rights, improving public health, and advancing international education—especially relevant for NAFSA––are all part of building better human societies through international cooperation.

Stronger Together

It has been an honor to work for an association grounded in its values. A copy of NAFSA’s strategic plan graces the notebook on my desk. Among recent accomplishments was the revision of the strategic plan in 2020 to create the current one, which spans from 2021–2023. Management, the Board of Directors, and members were part of the multi-month process to streamline the plan into three goals: educate, advocate, and innovate. Each goal is accompanied by a list of overarching actions, and this framework liberated member-leaders and volunteers to innovate as they implemented the strategic plan in their work for NAFSA.

Building cooperation among associations was another goal of mine during my tenure at NAFSA. Amid rising xenophobia and authoritarianism, those of us who care about human dignity, higher education, and international cooperation need to work together. Since I started at NAFSA in 2017, I have been delighted to speak at conferences hosted by other associations inside and outside the United States, beginning with the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA) in 2017.

NAFSA cooperates with other associations on various programs; we attend each other’s conferences and collaborate on research projects. Our staff often participate on panels with and consult colleagues in other international education associations. NAFSA is very active in the Network of International Education Associations (NIEA), which brings together fifteen organizations from around the world. I was honored to chair the NIEA in 2022. I also worked closely with associations in the wider higher education space to see the success of international education as part of enhancing inclusion and broadening opportunities for students.

There a long tradition at NAFSA of fostering international education associations in other countries. Indeed, even as we celebrate NAFSA’s anniversaries—as we will do in 2023 for our 75th anniversary—we also cheer the success of others. For example, in 2018, I had the opportunity to speak at the annual conference of the United Kingdom Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations. In April 2022, I was happy to speak at the launch of the Indian Network for International Education at a virtual conference cohosted by Symbiosis International (Deemed University) and the Association of Indian Universities (AIU). The creation of this network was accelerated by organizational planning meetings held during our visit to India in early 2020. Celebrating both new beginnings and historic milestones, like 50th and 75th anniversaries, is an encouraging sign of the health and relevance of work international educators do every day.

What’s Next

In my professional life after NAFSA, I will continue to pursue the question: "How can we cooperate internationally to enhance human well-being?" In an era of climate change, we need to expand this question to consider our ecosystem. In my next position, I will hold the James H. Binger Chair in Global Governance at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a think tank headquartered in New York and with a large office in Washington, D.C. Both NAFSA and CFR care about education and international affairs.

I began my professional life during a period of change. I received my doctorate in 1989. The Cold War was ending; by 1990 apartheid was ending. There were new possibilities for international cooperation. Now, we live in an era of major technological, economic, social, and climatic change, further complicated by the pandemic. The impact of these changes is inherently transborder. Will this continue to be an era of disintegration and distrust, or could there be a more positive alternative?

International education can be part of the better alternative. As we repair the field after the pandemic and other disruptions, we must not only look inward, but also up and outward. The knowledge and cultural competencies imparted through international education will be crucial for helping people solve complex interrelated problems. In the short term, international educators need world conditions to stabilize. In the long term, the world needs international education to succeed.  •