The need to increase international enrollment at SIUC likely will be a critical factor when the new International Programs and Services Director is chosen, one administrator says.

We need to give special attention to the number of international students we have lost, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost John Jackson said. We need someone to do that full time.

Undergraduate enrollment for international students dropped from 1,117 in Fall 1994 to 684 in Fall 1997.

Advertisement

The decline means recruitment is a priority for the department, Jackson said, particularly in light of the recent Asian stock market crash. The economic downswing has hammered Asian currencies to an all-time low against the U.S. dollar.

Consequently, the University is expanding its efforts to attract overseas students.

We are sending more people to international recruitment fairs, he said. We are working with area community colleges where there are a number of international students and we are trying to get them to transfer here.

Five candidates are in place to take over as International Programs and Services Director. The position was created because Rhonda Vinson, who currently heads International and Economic Development, will concentrate her duties on the economic sector of the department.

The five candidates are:David Ayers He received his doctorate in higher education administration and student personnel from Kansas State University in 1996; his Ed.S. in counseling from Pittsburgh State University, Pittsburgh, Kan., in 1991; his master’s degree in English as a second language/pre-counseling psychology from Ball State University in 1985; and his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Colorado in 1977.

Ayers has served as the assistant vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Services at Pittsburgh State University since 1996. From 1988 to 1996, he was the director of International Programs at PSU, responsible for immigration concerns and international exchanges.

In 1997, Ayers led a delegation of 15 students and 10 faculty members to visit sister institutions in South Korea and China. From 1985 to 1986, he taught English in China.

Advertisement*

Jared H. Dorn He received his doctorate in higher education from SIUC in 1973, his master’s degree in history from SIUC in 1966, and his bachelor’s in History from Bethel College, St. Paul, Minn.

Since 1988, Dorn has served as director for the SIU campus in Nakajo, Japan. From 1984 to 1988, he was director for international programs and services at SIUC.

Dorn has worked in the Middle East as a consultant to the University of Jordan and also has taught in Taiwan.

George Eisen Eisen received a doctorate in education from the University of Maryland in 1979, a doctorate in social psychology from Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary in 1990, his master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts in sports studies in 1976, and his bachelor’s in kinesiological sciences from the University of Massachusetts in 1973.

Eisen has served as professor at California Polytechnic University in Pomona since 1979. From 1985 to 1988, he was associate director of International Center at California Polytechnic. He has served as visiting professor at the University at Helsinki, Renvall Institute, since 1993.

Robert Gurevich He received his doctorate in international development and education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1972; his master’s degree in Educational Foundations from the University of Hawaii in 1967; and his bachelor’s in international affairs from City College of New York in 1960.

Gurevich has served as director of International Programs and Services for Western Carolina University since 1990. From 1969 to 1970, he served as Faculty of Education consultant at Khon Kaen University in Thailand.

Gurevich traveled to Kenya and the United Kingdom in 1996 for project supervision of international student recruitment. From 1971 to 1973, he also worked in the Far East.

Ray D. Ryan, Jr. He received his doctorate in vocational-technical education from the University of Missouri in 1975, his master’s degree in vocational and adult education from the University of Missouri in 1973, and his bachelor’s in individual education and vocational-technical education from the University of Wisconsin in 1970.

Ryan has been an associate professor in workforce education and Lifelong Learning Program in the College of Education at Ohio State University since 1986. From 1986 to 1996, he served as executive director of the Center on Education and Training for Employment at Ohio State University, during which time he was principal investigator for over $70 million in projects.

Jackson said the department is in the process of moving all the offices for International Development under one roof. Currently, five buildings spread around campus house the department.

The offices are scattered among Anthony Hall, the Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center, a house north of the Communications Building and a house on Oakland Avenue.

The University will conduct public forums for two of the candidates this week and next. Eisen will be on campus Thursday from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Gurevich will visit Jan. 22 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. The other candidates already have visited campus.

Jackson said the candidates will come to campus to meet with the public. The person selected will be challenged to halt declining international enrollment, he said.

We hope the director will give more leadership when chosen, Jackson said.