Betz to Deliver Keynote Address at Global Consortium

TULSA -- Dr. Don Betz, president of Northeastern State University, will deliver a keynote address at the 11th Annual Oklahoma Global Education Consortium Conference at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the southeast campus of Tulsa Community College.

This years conference theme explores Windows of the World, an appropriate topic for Betz as he returns from a week-long journey to Chile where he met with higher education authorities and attended the XV World Congress of the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP).

This presidential mission is focused on building sustainable partnerships with Chilean universities at a moment when the Chilean government is committed to encouraging such connections, Betz said.

These partnerships can include attracting qualified Chilean students to our institutions, student and faculty exchange and joint research projects. In this way, we are able to enhance our students informed global perspective. One of NSUs continuing objectives is the promotion of global literacy and global engagement in service to our students and communities.

Breakout sessions during the two-day OGEC conference focus on a variety of topics, including faculty exchanges, fostering globalization in education communities, opening windows with East Asia and China, seeking understanding between cultures, and the use of global technologies as an education tool.

Betz, a nationally known expert on Middle East issues, has extensive international experience and a lifelong interest in promoting cross-cultural understanding. He began his 20-year plus affiliation with the United Nations in 1982 and holds a Ph.D. in International Studies from the University of Denver.

Through his association with the United Nations and its affiliated non-governmental organizations, Betz has an international reputation for teaching and encouraging students, leadership development, and diplomacy. His international activities have taken him worldwide as a member of various delegations seeking global student and faculty exchanges, as well as joint research opportunities.

While in Chile this past week, he joined chief executive officers from institutions throughout the U.S., representing the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, including Kutztown University (Pa.), Western New Mexico University, California State University, Arkansas State University, the University of Virginia, Troy University, and the University System of New Hampshire.

Betz will soon begin a two-year term as chair of the AASCU International Education Committee, after having served as vice chair since 2006.

AASCU is a higher education association representing 430 accredited public colleges and universities and systems of public higher education throughout the United States, serving nearly 3.5 million students, more than half those enrolled nationwide.

In his 37 years as an educator, Betz has been an active participant in organizations which seek to promote prosperity and global understanding by developing initiatives which reach into the social, cultural, and economic sectors. In 2006 and 2008, he was selected to attend the Higher Education Summit for Global Development sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

On July 1, Betz returned to NSU as the institutions seventeenth president. He began his teaching and leadership career at the Tahlequah campus in 1971, and left in 1994 to pursue higher education administrative opportunities at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Iowa, University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, and University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His lifelong interest in global issues has taken him to more than 80 countries, and he is a frequent writer and speaker, addressing international, educational and motivational topics in print and broadcast media and at professional conferences throughout the world.

9/30/2008

Published: 2008-09-30 00:00:00