Conference to study relationship of globalization
and education

he relationship between globalization and education will be the focus of a two-day regional conference to be held on campus late next month.

     The Center for International Education is hosting the Northeast Regional Conference for the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) on Oct. 26-27. This conference theme is "Whose Globe? What Learning? Re-Imagining Education from an International Perspective."

     Co-sponsored by Teachers College of Columbia University and the School of Education at Harvard University, the conference will explore the ways in which education can shape and define globalization, while also seeking to broaden understanding about globalization's impacts on education. In addition to researchers and educators, conference organizers are inviting the participation of non-governmental and community-based organizations to deepen the dialogue on constructing and implementing educational alternatives in different international contexts.

     According to organizers, the two-day session will feature research and scholarly activities by students and faculty from throughout the Northeast.

     The conference will include a panel of three keynote speakers: Heidi Ross, president of the CIES and professor of education at Colgate University; Jean Grossholtz, professor emeritus in politics and Asian studies at Mount Holyoke College; and Steven J. Klees, professor of comparative and international education at the University of Maryland.

     The conference will continue Oct. 27 with four concurrent sessions of panels and book and poster displays.

     Graduate students and faculty from across the Five Colleges are encouraged to participate by presenting their research or attending the conference sessions. While individual papers are being accepted, conference organizers are inviting individual students, faculty or practitioners to organize their own panels around common themes.

     Presenters are being encouraged to use alternatives formats, such as roundtable meetings, poster-board sessions and theatrical presentations.

     The deadline for submitting presentation abstracts is Monday, Sept. 24 Information is available through the CIE Web site at (www.umass.edu/cie/cies2001/).