On Monday, March 3, the priority deadline passed for proposal submissions to the first annual DU Internationalization Summit. The summit will be hosted by the Office of Internationalization in the Morgridge College of Education building on Friday, April 11.

“[The summit] aims to highlight, celebrate, challenge and discuss the various ways in which DU faculty, staff and students connect with and participate in the global community now and over the last 150 years,” according to a university-wide email sent on Monday, Feb. 17.

Luc Beaudoin, associate provost of internationalization, said the summit is loosely modeled after the annual Diversity Summit. The Internationalization Summit will last most of the day, depending on how many proposals are received and will consist of poster sessions, lectures, multimedia presentations, workshops, roundtables and panel discussions.

“With the sesquicentennial it’s the perfect time to look at where we are and where we think we should go in terms of internationalization,” said Beaudoin.

He added that the summit will be held the day before the annual Festival of Nations on Saturday, April 12.

“It’s kind of a lead-in to the festival and a good way to get the community focused on these questions,” he said.

According to Beaudoin, all members of the DU community are welcome to submit proposals for the summit and attend the event.

“We’ve been deliberately vague [about submissions],” said Beaudoin. “The whole idea of the summit is to have the community talk about internationalization, so we don’t want to be prescriptive. What people choose to submit will be part of the discussion.”

Beaudoin said there was a boom of submissions on Friday, Feb. 28. However, he added that if there were not enough submissions they may extend the deadline. Successful submissions should be notified by March 10.

“We think we’re going to start small. We’ll see how it all pans out when we look at the submissions,” he said.

Beaudoin discussed why the Office of Internationalization is holding the event and why internationalization is an important topic at DU.
“DU is a university that has a significant number of international students. It’s the number four doctoral-granting school in the U.S. in terms of the percentage of undergraduates it sends abroad. There are academic programs across campus that engage in international issues,” he said. “The summit is an opportunity for us to talk about all of that.”
According to the email, the summit will highlight international perspectives and experiences as they relate to teaching, learning, research, service and engagement.

“The summit intends to serve as a conduit for discussion and sharing of what internationalization means to the DU community,” said the email.
Beaudoin also discussed the reception that the idea of the summit has gotten so far.

“I’ve heard a lot of excitement about the summit from the people I’ve talked to, so that’s good,” he said.

There will be more information about the registration process closer to the event, and there will be no registration fees.