NAFSA Latin America Special Interest Group (SIG)

Dear All,

This message is to ask for your support in the creation of a new Special Interest Group focused on the region of Latin America. I would like to ask that you read the text below and provide a signature indicating your support for this SIG.

To provide you with some background, as I was reviewing the 2004 NAFSA Annual conference schedule in Baltimore, I noticed that although SIGs exist for many other regions of the world, Latin America is not represented through a special interest group/committee. Therefore, an informal announcement was made at a session dealing with Latin America during the conference about the possibility of creating a SIG for Latin America. Immediately following the meeting, more than 50 persons expressed interest in the formation of such a group. During our informal May meeting at NAFSA, the group of interested persons decided it would be worthwhile to send a proposal to formally create a SIG for Latin America (SIGA—Special Interest Group of the Americas). If you are interested in a 1-page overview of the proposed SIG, please see below.

Since May, I have been working with some other interested professionals in the field to write up a formal petition to create this SIG. The proposal must be sent into NAFSA along with a document indicating support from 1% of NAFSA membership.

If you do support this initiative and would like to "electronically" sign our petition, please fill out the following form:

Full Name:
Institution
Email Address:
NAFSA Member ID:

I, the undersigned member of NAFSA: Association of the International Educators, petition the Board of NAFSA to recognize and support a special interest group (SIG) for NAFSA members who are interested in the issues related to Latin America and international education.

I will collect all the "signatures" and send together to NAFSA. To see the list of supporters, click here.

Thank you for your time and support.

Best regards,

Christine Wintersteen
Program Director, Latin America
CIEE: Council on International Educational Exchange

SIG: Latin America
December 2004

Why Form this Special Interest Group?
The proposal of forming a SIG with an emphasis on the region of Latin America is important due to following three reasons:

1. Increase in the interest and number of study abroad participants in Latin America. (Open Doors 2003: “The percentage of all study abroad students going to Latin America has more than doubled since 1985, from 7% the first year of the survey to 15% this year, and the number of students going to Latin America increased by 4% to 23,300 this year.”).
2. Desire on the part of study abroad advisors to learn more about the Latin American region to better prepare students before they study abroad and to understand how to establish contacts and work effectively with Latin American universities.
3. Increasing interest and efforts on the part of many Latin American universities to increase relations and collaborations with international educators in the United States and beyond but with few local resources.
4. Serve as a resource base and diffuser of information regarding issues of concern related to the region for those in the study abroad community, such as visa issuances, health concerns, security situations, and more.

What are the goals of this Special Interest Group (SIG)?
Our specific goals and objectives directly relate to NAFSA’s mission to advance international education and exchange through its commitment to disseminate region-based knowledge and provide training on the Latin American region and support further collaboration and networking between U.S. and Latin American international educators and advocates.

Specifically, our goals and objectives are as follows:

1. Sponsor panels at the national NAFSA conference on themes relating to the region of Latin America. (Potential themes may include how to prepare students to study abroad in Latin America, strategies to best administer study abroad programs in Latin America, how to effectively collaborate with Latin American higher education institutions, strategies for reciprocity and “giving back” to the Latin American host community in the study abroad context).
2. Sponsor panels at the regional NAFSA conference on themes relating to the region of Latin America.
3. Provide a forum for discussion on governmental policies and political situations of importance to the Latin American region
4. Encourage and Foster the consolidation of resources for a Latin American presence in the Exhibition hall.
5. Promote a social event at the annual NAFSA conference highlighting the Latin American region.
6. Organize periodic 1-2 day workshops based on specific-country knowledge within the Latin American region aimed to both U.S. study abroad advisors to prepare students studying in Latin America and U.S. international student advisors to better understand the origin of their Latin American students.
7. Support and promote collaboration among Latin American universities, North American universities, international education organizations based in North America and Latin American-focused international education organizations, including country-specific international organizations (i.e. Brazil, Mexico, Peru) as well as research centers, non-profit organizations and internship providers that work with study abroad programs in varying capacities.

It is our belief that through the establishment of a SIG focused on Latin America, the implementation of these goals will serve NAFSA’s values of “advancing learning and scholarship, building respect among different people and enhancing constructive leadership in the global community”.