Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 196
10
Increasing the Numbers of
Underrepresented Minorities in
International Service
I
t is generally recognized that the upper reaches of the U.S. diplomatic
corps do not reflect the diversity of the nation. To address this, former
secretary of state Colin Powell made the recruitment of minorities at the
U.S. Department of State a top priority, stating that he wanted a foreign
service that “looks like America” (Powell, 2003). However, recruitment
efforts at the late stages of a student’s career might also be augmented by
reaching out to them at earlier ages, to encourage interest in international
affairs, the study of languages, and study abroad. While minority students
make up 30 percent of the population of postsecondary students, they make
up only 15 percent of the students who choose to study abroad (Institute
of International Education, 2004). The Institute for International Public
Policy (IIPP) was created in Title VI by Congress in 1992 with the specific
mission of preparing minority students for careers in international service.
When the law was passed, the Senate Committee on Labor and Human
Resources noted with concern that only 13 percent of those serving in the
U.S. foreign service were minorities, and only 6 percent were black (Slater,
2006). Around that time, just below 25 percent of the U.S. labor force
consisted of people in minority groups, and 11.1 percent of the workforce
was black. In 2004, 30 percent of the U.S. labor force consisted of people
in minority groups; this is predicted to rise to about 35 percent in 2014
(Toosi, 2005).
There are two ways Title VI and Fulbright-Hays (Title VI/FH) pro-
grams strive toward the goal of increasing representation of minorities in
international service. The first and most direct way is through IIPP. The
second way that this goal is pursued is through projects that have some
OCR for page 196
INCREASING UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES IN SERVICE
focus on underrepresented groups, but are funded under other Title VI/FH
programs, such as Business and International Education (BIE), Centers for
International Business Education and Research (CIBER), Language Re-
source Centers (LRC), and National Resource Centers (NRC). Title VI/FH
efforts to increase minority representation also differ in the organizational
level of their focus. IIPP’s Fellowship Program focuses on individual par-
ticipants by encouraging their interest in possible careers in international
affairs, helping them learn a language, providing them with study abroad
opportunities, preparing them for and assisting them with graduate stud-
ies, and helping them enter employment in an international field. IIPP’s
Institutional Resource Development Grant Program and the projects funded
through other Title VI/FH programs focus at the level of the educational
institutions and ways that those institutions can more effectively engage and
educate minority students on international issues.
IIPP conducted an internal review in 2006 that provides some of the
data for this chapter (United Negro College Fund Special Programs Cor-
poration, 2006). In addition, the committee commissioned an analysis of
ongoing IIPP data and award information across programs to identify ways
in which Title VI/FH programs are attempting to increase the number of
underrepresented minorities in international service (Joyner, 2006a). Most
of the material in this chapter is drawn from these two sources. Joyner’s
analysis included a review of data collected by IIPP as well as its internal
review of its activities; a review of narrative information provided to the
U.S. Department of Education (ED) by institutions that received grants
through Title VI/FH programs; and a search of the Evaluation of Exchange,
Language, International and Area Studies (EELIAS) database using the mi-
norities subject area to identify other Title VI/FH programs that included
a focus on minorities. Joyner notes that this methodology may not have
identified all the projects that are targeting efforts toward underrepresented
minorities; the strategy used at the time of the committee’s review to code
subject areas in EELIAS may not have identified all relevant projects.1 She
identified some projects that were not picked up by the subject area search
but did not conduct a systematic search of all projects.
IIPP FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
IIPP is a fairly new program, created in 1992 when the Higher Educa-
tion Act was reauthorized. The program officially began in 1994 with a
congressional appropriation of approximately $1 million. The first award
1 Subject areas were coded by the ED contractor managing the EELIAS system based on
their review of the project abstract. In ED’s proposed redesigned system, subject area will be
entered by the grantee.
OCR for page 196
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES
was made to the United Negro College Fund, which established the insti-
tute. The grant was later transferred to the United Negro College Fund
Special Programs Corporation, which competed for it successfully in the
most recent competition in 2004. The current grant (FY 2004 through FY
2008) provides $4,871,428 in total funding for the four years.
ED describes its grant to IIPP as being intended to “establish an insti-
tute designed to increase the representation of minorities in international
services, including private international voluntary organizations and the
U.S. Foreign Service” (see http://www.ed.gov/programs/iegpsiipp/index.
html, accessed Nov. 2006). Program administrators identify part of their
goal as increasing the numbers of members of racial and ethnic minority
groups going into the nation’s foreign policy institutions with a broader
goal of “enhanc[ing] U.S. national security and global competitiveness
by promoting excellence, international service and awareness among a
broader, more representative cross-section of the American citizenry” (see
http://www.uncfsp.org/iipp/content/objectives.cfm, accessed Feb. 2007).
There are two main projects under IIPP: the Fellowship Program, which
reaches individual students, and the Institutional Resource Development
Grant Program, which targets institutions. Under the institutional program,
only one project is currently in operation, the Globalizing Business Schools
project, whereby historically black colleges and universities are paired
with CIBERs to internationalize the institutions’ business curriculum. Two
previous projects, no longer funded, involved creation of an Asian studies
program and Chinese language studies through distance learning for pre-
dominantly minority-serving institutions. Given that there are no available
evaluations of the prior projects and an evaluation of the current project
is still under way, the committee was not able to come to any conclusions
regarding the Institutional Resource Development Grant Program.
IIPP’s primary emphasis is on its Fellowship Program, which offers a
comprehensive six-component program to undergraduates who are mem-
bers of racial and ethnic minority groups aimed at preparing them for ca-
reers in international affairs. A total of 20 students enter the program each
year. Since the program’s inception in 1994, there have been 254 partici-
pants. IIPP reports that the racial/ethnic breakdown of participants to date
is 48.6 percent black, 24.1 percent Hispanic, and 15.6 percent Asian/Pacific
Islander; with the remainder in other categories or not reported (United
Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation, 2006). Participants
are predominantly female—almost 75 percent. The figure reflects enroll-
ments nationwide: 65 percent of black undergraduates and 74 percent of
black graduate students are female (Toosi, 2005). IIPP cites a study by the
Institute for International Education (2002), which reports that 65 percent
of participants in study abroad programs are female, to suggest that the
gender imbalance is not unusual and to highlight that the percentage of
OCR for page 196
INCREASING UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES IN SERVICE
women admitted to IIPP is higher than the national average for students
in study abroad programs. Fellowship students are offered the following
program components:
• Sophomore Summer Policy Institute—students are introduced to
international affairs as a field of study; included is a trip to Washington,
DC, for briefings at foreign policy agencies and nonprofits, such as the
Council on Foreign Relations.
• Junior Year Study Abroad—students study abroad for a semester
during their junior year at an accredited institution, following preparation
and orientation sessions. IIPP pays for half of the total cost of the semester
abroad, including program fees and personal expenses.
• Junior Summer Policy Institute—preparation for graduate study.
Students attend an eight-week Junior Summer Policy Institute at the Uni-
versity of Maryland School of Public Policy during the summer following
overseas study. The institute is designed to prepare fellows for the rigor of
graduate programs and the graduate school application process.
• Summer Language Institute—intensive language study to prepare
students for a career or to facilitate acceptance into graduate school. Most
fellows study at the Middlebury College Language Schools in Vermont.
• Internship—usually at one of the 100 federal agencies with area or
language needs.
• Graduate Fellowships—students are encouraged to enroll in gradu-
ate programs in international relations or a related field.
Joyner (2006b) found that students participating in the program are
not required to participate in all components; in fact, according to data
provided by IIPP, only 16 percent can be shown to have done so. Almost
all (99 percent) of program graduates completed the initial Sophomore
Summer Policy Institute, and 82 percent studied abroad. Most (91 percent)
also completed the Junior Summer Policy Institute. The completion rate
for other components was less impressive—35 percent completed the Sum-
mer Language Institute, 56 percent completed internships, and 43 percent
went on to graduate school (Joyner, 2006b). However, students can skip
the language portion if they feel they have adequate skills, and others may
choose to attend graduate school at a later date.
IIPP estimates that the program spends, on average, approximately
$70,000 to $80,000 per student for those who participate in the full set of
activities. Each of the components listed above costs between $9,000 and
$12,000 per student, except for the Graduate Fellowship, which costs IIPP
$15,000. The IIPP cost is matched by the graduate institution the student
is attending.
Given the Fellowship Program’s design (i.e., the number of years re-
OCR for page 196
00 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES
quired to complete all components and the relatively small number of
students in any given year) and its relatively short number of years in op-
eration, one would not expect to see a large number of program graduates
in international service careers. The first participants entered as college
sophomores in summer 1995, and it takes several years to complete an
undergraduate degree and a master’s degree and then find employment. By
IIPP’s own estimate, there are only 141 graduates who would meet these
criteria.
IIPP did conduct a survey to collect placement data on the first seven
cohorts of the program—those IIPP considers to have had time to com-
plete graduate school and enter the workforce. However, they point out
several limitations similar to the ones related to NRC graduate placement
data discussed in Chapter 6, including the lack of employment history for
35 percent of the students in these seven cohorts (placement data are also
unknown for about one-third of NRC graduates). For participants who
did provide employment data, responses are difficult to interpret because
the employment categories are not well defined in the survey. Participants’
employment choices were business, government, international organization,
educational organization, nonprofit organization, and research organiza-
tion, with no definitions or instructions on how the categories differed
(United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation, 2006).
Of the 141 participants in the first seven cohorts, employment data
were obtained for 93 of them. The program could clearly document only
38 placements (27 percent of all participants and 41 percent of those for
whom placement data were available) that they would consider a success:
22 participants employed in government and another 16 employed at an
international organization. IIPP considers employment in either government
or an international organization to represent employment in a position
“congruent with the IIPP program.” Given the ambiguity in definitions,
however, it is unclear whether this number overstates or understates the
number of program alumni in international service. For example, those
employed in government could be employed in federal, state, or local
government and in any kind of capacity, engaged in activity with no rela-
tionship to international affairs. Those who found employment in other
categories—educational, nonprofit, or research—might indeed be engaged
in international activities. There is also no record of how many program
graduates found employment with the State Department, in accord with
ED’s goals.
The goals of IIPP’s internal evaluation also included assessing the pro-
gram’s impact on the participants’ personal and professional lives. Of the
212 students who had entered in cohorts 1 through 10, 122 (57.5 percent)
completed the web-based survey that elicited self-reports on this aspect of
the program. Their responses indicated that the program led to multiple
OCR for page 196
0
INCREASING UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES IN SERVICE
personal benefits, such as an enhanced personal support network, goal fo-
cus, and personal insight; increased commitment to work in international
service; and provided multiple professional benefits, including expanded ca-
reer options and improved knowledge of international issues and events.
The internal evaluation also identified several ways in which IIPP could
improve its activities, including the collection of better data on employment
outcomes and doing more to encourage and facilitate careers in interna-
tional service. The latter point is an important one. While IIPP participants
report that the program has had a positive impact on them, it is not yet
getting large numbers of participants into international service. The Fellow-
ship Program produced only 212 students from underrepresented groups
in its first 10 years, and only a small number of the graduates who might
be expected to be employed can be shown to have gained employment in
international service or to be pursuing such employment. Its evaluation
states that there is a “gap between the commitment to international ser-
vice, the percentage of fellows that major in this area in graduate school,
and the number of fellows that pursue a career in international service”
(United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation, 2006, p. 39).
Former IIPP fellows have recommended that the program explore service
agreements with federal agencies (as with the National Security Education
Program); agreements with federal agencies and other organizations to open
entry-level positions would have to be negotiated as a means to address this
problem. IIPP also concluded that career advising had to be strengthened
in order to get more participants employed in international service careers,
and that current and former participants could be better used in a network-
ing or mentoring role in order to help other participants with decisions
about graduate school or career opportunities.
OTHER TITLE VI-FUNDED PROJECTS
AIMED AT MINORITY STUDENTS
Projects other than IIPP aimed at increasing opportunities for minori-
ties in international careers fall into two categories: outreach to students
and faculty and research on barriers to fuller participation of underrepre-
sented minorities in international service.
Table 10-1 summarizes some of the institutional efforts to increase
minority representation that have been funded by other programs under
Title VI/FH. For example, two CIBER programs have collaborated with
IIPP, through its Institutional Resource Development Grant Program, in
involving historically black colleges and universities. The University of
Washington NRC has introduced Arabic classes in Seattle high schools with
high minority enrollments. The University of the Incarnate Word, which
serves predominantly Hispanic students, has received a BIE grant to sup-
OCR for page 196
0 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES
TABLE 10-1 Title VI-Funded Institutional Projects Related to Increasing
Representation of Minorities
Grant
Grantee Cycle Description
Program: Institute for International Public Policy (IIPP)
United Negro FY Administers training, institutional resource development,
College Fund 2004- outreach, and research programs aimed at involving a more
Special Programs 2008 representative cross-section of the American citizenry in
Corporation international affairs.
Program: Business and International Education (BIE)
University of the FY The grantee, a Hispanic-serving institution, will expand
Incarnate Word 2005- internships and study abroad and other opportunities for
2006 students to acquire international business expertise in the
European Union; and strengthen faculty expertise and
instructional resources on the European Union.
Program: Center for International Business Education (CIBER)
Indiana FY The grantee’s CIBER participated in a consortium project that
University- 2002- pairs eight business schools with a partner from the community
Bloomington 2005 of historically black colleges and universities. This CIBER
assisted Norfolk State University with a BIE proposal to ED. A
collaboration with IIPP.
Texas A&M FY One of this CIBER’s outreach activities is its membership in the
University 2002- CIBER/United Negro College Fund initiative to promote the
2005 internationalization of business education at historically black
colleges and universities. A collaboration with IIPP.
Program: Language Resource Centers (LRC)
University of FY The grantee, an LRC, has focused on distance learning of less
Hawaii-Manoa 2002- commonly taught languages, particularly Asian languages. One
2005 project extended instruction to the beginning and second-year
levels via a mix of face-to-face and online instruction. Testing
of the beginning-level Mandarin Chinese course was done in
cooperation with the United Negro College Fund and Dillard
University in New Orleans. A collaboration with IIPP.
Program: National Resource Centers (NRC)
University of FY The Center for Southeast Asian Studies has emphasized
Hawaii-Manoa 2003- mentoring faculties from other minority-serving institutions in
2005 Southeast Asian studies. A collaboration with IIPP.
University of FY One outreach activity of this NRC was to teach Arabic in four
Washington 2003- Seattle public high schools, three of which were in economically
2005 disadvantaged neighborhoods with a high proportion of
minorities enrolled.
OCR for page 196
0
INCREASING UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES IN SERVICE
TABLE 10-1 Continued
Grant
Grantee Cycle Description
Program: International Research and Studies (IRS)
National FY The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher
Association 2005- Education, an association of 118 historically and predominantly
for Equal 2007 black colleges and universities, will conduct a survey of these
Opportunity institutions to understand their current status and capacity
in Higher to provide instruction in common and less commonly taught
Education foreign languages as well as international studies.
United Negro FY This project has four goals: (1) to provide relevant and
College Fund 2005- comprehensive data about the attitudes and participation
Special Programs 2006 patterns of minority undergraduates with respect to
Corporation international education activities and programs; (2) to
identify factors that impact their participation; (3) to develop
replicable strategies and assessment tools that institutions
can use to assess and increase minority participation; and (4)
to widely disseminate the results in an effort to broaden the
national dialogue among federal, state, and campus leaders
on international education issues to include topics of access,
diversity, and minority student interests and needs.
University of FY A national study of the effects of institutional factors at public
Pittsburgh 2003- four-year colleges and universities on the participation of
2004 undergraduate ethnic and racial minorities in international
education opportunities.
SOURCE: Joyner (2006b).
port study of the European Union. In addition to the above efforts, three
research projects have been funded by IRS to address barriers to minority
participation in international programs and subsequent careers.
These studies may yield useful insights about how to increase minority
representation in international education. Joyner (2006b) concludes that
the initiatives that are attempting institutional change have the potential
to affect a larger number of students than does IIPP’s Fellowship Program.
Current Title VI/FH programs aside from IIPP might be reworked in such
a way as to involve more minority students, even at the high school level.
Although there have been no studies of the success of these programs, it
appears that adding a component of outreach to minority students under
other Title VI programs, such as NRC, LRC, Undergraduate International
Studies and Foreign Language, BIE, and CIBER, is worth exploring.
OCR for page 196
0 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES
OTHER FEDERAL PROGRAMS WITH SIMILAR GOALS
Other federal programs with similar goals appear to be reaching out to
far larger numbers of students in minority groups and getting them to study
abroad, attend graduate school, and go into international service careers.
These programs appear to have a strong expectation that participants will
continue in international service careers. Some State Department programs
feature mentors who are currently in the Foreign Service to guide students
along in the process. While the committee did not undertake any review of
the effectiveness of these programs and makes no judgments about them,
we discuss these programs for the purpose of rough comparison and to
place Title VI/FH programs such as IIPP in the context of similar programs
that also seek to increase minority interest in international careers.
The State Department’s Thomas Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship
Program identifies promising students interested in careers at the State
Department. The legislation creating the program states that “special em-
phasis” should be placed on recruiting minority students. Fellowships are
awarded each year on the basis of academic merit and financial need to
sophomore or senior students attending a four-year college or university.
Participants selected as sophomores are eligible to receive funding for their
junior and senior years and first year of graduate school. Participating
schools provide financial support for the final year of graduate study, based
on need. Students selected as seniors are eligible to receive funding for both
years of graduate school.
Participants then attain a master’s degree in a field related to interna-
tional affairs from a leading graduate school. Also, participants complete
two required paid internships: a 10-week domestic internship in various
offices throughout the State Department, depending on their academic
interest, and a 10-week internship at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad.
In addition, all participants partner with a senior Foreign Service officer as
a mentor prior to the start of their graduate studies; the mentor keeps in
touch with the student to help make decisions about graduate study and to
prepare academically for the Foreign Service examination. Administrators
of the Pickering Program report that the mentoring component is crucial
to its success.
There also is a service requirement for the Pickering Program; that is,
fellows are contractually tied to employment as Foreign Service officers.
Students completing the undergraduate fellowship serve for a period of at
least 4.5 years, and graduate fellows must serve for a period of at least 3
years.
The Pickering Program has a high completion rate: 94.5 percent. Since
the program’s inception in 1992, it has funded 325 participants, and of
OCR for page 196
0
INCREASING UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES IN SERVICE
these, fewer than 20 fellows have withdrawn or resigned. Again, adminis-
trators attribute this in part to the mentoring aspect of the program. A total
of 40 new fellows are chosen each year. For an annual budget of $5 million
(FY 2007), the program funds 118 students at various stages of their studies
(email correspondence with State Department staff, January 3, 2007).
Additional programs that seek to increase minority interest in interna-
tional careers also exist:
• The Charles Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellowship Pro-
gram (administered by Howard University), is very similar to the Pickering
Program but is even more specifically aimed at getting minority students
into graduate international affairs programs and then into the Foreign
Service. Like IIPP, it starts with a summer session following the students’
junior year to prepare them for graduate school and educate them about
career paths. As with the Pickering Program, participants benefit from two
internships: one with a member of Congress and another at a U.S. embassy
overseas. Participants are required to attend graduate school in a relevant
field and then take the State Department’s Foreign Service examination.
Current Foreign Service officers act as mentors. A total of 10 fellowships
of up to $28,000 are awarded annually.
• The Louis Stokes Educational Scholarship Program was created
by U.S. Representative Louis Stokes (D-OH), whose tenure in Congress
included chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee. The purpose
is to bring more women and minorities into employment with the federal
law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The program is administered in
different ways by participating agencies. At the National Security Agency
(NSA), for example, applicants for the Stokes language program must be
minority college sophomores majoring in foreign languages, with at least
six credits completed in Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, or Korean. They must have
a minimum college freshman grade point average of 3.0. Grantees work
during the summer at NSA in areas related to their course of study. They
receive tuition at the college of their choice, reimbursement for books and
fees, housing and travel, a year-round salary, and employment with NSA
after graduation for at least 1.5 times the length of study.
• The Gilman Scholarship, sponsored by the State Department, aims
to broaden the student population that studies abroad by supporting un-
dergraduates who have been traditionally underrepresented and those who
might otherwise not participate due to financial constraints. This includes
students studying in nontraditional locations, community college students,
students of diverse ethnic backgrounds, students representing a diverse
range of institutions and institutional types, students with disabilities, and
students of nontraditional age. The scholarship program provides awards
OCR for page 196
0 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES
to students who are receiving federal Pell grant funding at a two-year or
four-year college or university; the average award is approximately $4,000.
There were 351 recipients in 2004-2005.
• The Public Policy and International Affairs Fellowship Program,
formerly known as Woodrow Wilson Fellowships in Public Policy and
International Affairs, has produced over 2,500 alumni since its inception
in 1980. Interestingly, it is not a federal program; instead, it was formed
when a number of professional associations for policy analysts and public
administrators joined with foundations to address the problem of minority
representation in positions of leadership in public service. Increasing mi-
nority representation in international service was added as a goal in 1989.
The program targets minority students in their junior year of college. Par-
ticipants are expected to attend a junior summer institute to prepare them
for graduate study; to attend graduate school and earn a degree related to
public policy, public administration, or international affairs; and then to
pursue employment in a public service-related career. The graduate schools
that form the consortium of participating institutions represent the nation’s
major public policy graduate schools. Graduates of the program have gone
on to employment with the State Department.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
International education programs appear to have had little effect so far
on the number of underrepresented minorities in international service, but
it is possible to make more of an impact in the future. Currently, primary
responsibility for encouraging minority involvement in international stud-
ies seems concentrated in one program, IIPP. There are two problems with
this approach. First, IIPP is not reaching very many students and, second,
greater potential may exist under other component parts of Title VI/FH to
reach many more minority students. The goal of maximizing interest by
minority students in foreign languages, area, and international studies is
too important to be left to one corner of Title VI/FH; instead, efforts in this
area should be made across a wide variety of the programs.
IIPP has enrolled approximately 250 students over the past 12 years,
but the grantees can document only 22 students who have entered any kind
of government employment and only 16 who work for an international
organization. While this may be an undercount, and collection of data and
analysis of job placements of graduates are difficult in general, the IIPP
Program has not yet demonstrated significant results and has few graduates
to date and significant costs per fellow. The general awareness of what IIPP
does is quite low; it might attract more students with a significant interest
in international service or the Foreign Service if its profile was raised.
The small number of graduates and significant costs per fellow for all
OCR for page 196
0
INCREASING UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES IN SERVICE
components is influenced by the comprehensive design of the program.
Yet few fellows complete all components of the program—particularly the
final components. Fewer, more targeted components would enable more
students to participate and might result in more fellows completing the
program and pursuing international careers. This would require an assess-
ment of the relative contributions of each component and should include
exploration of promising models from other similar programs. IIPP has
engaged in some institutionally based collaborative efforts with other Title
VI-funded projects, but no information is available about how successful
those have been.
Recommendation 101: The Institute for International Public Policy
should redesign its activities in order to increase graduation rates and
facilitate entry in careers in international service.
In considering how to redesign its programs, IIPP should examine other
programs with similar goals, such as PPIA and the Pickering, Rangel, and
Stokes fellowship programs. This should include exploring how these pro-
grams nurture an interest in international service, encourage completion of
the program, and facilitate graduates’ employment in the Foreign Service,
other federal bureaucracies, and international organizations. IIPP might also
do well to partner with institutions, such as those in PPIA’s consortium of
graduate schools, that already graduate large numbers of students who go
on to careers in international affairs. IIPP should also explore opportunities
for direct partnerships with potential government employers. In addition,
in accord with the recommendations of its internal review, IIPP should also
make more use of program alumni as mentors to assist current participants
in completing the program and finding relevant employment. Mentors can
also be identified at the foreign affairs bureaucracies who could advise par-
ticipants wishing to pursue a career in international service; the Pickering
and Rangel fellowship programs might serve as models.
There is potential in efforts under a wide variety of Title VI/FH pro-
grams to reach out to minority students. Greater responsibility for this
important goal should be shared among as many of the programs as pos-
sible. Because foreign language, area, and international studies programs
are already established at a wide variety of college campuses with significant
minority enrollments, minority outreach should be emphasized. ED should
do more to increase the numbers of minority students who see international
service as a viable career track and to indicate their interest in grantees
reaching this population. This might include ensuring that new initiatives
aimed at K-12 include efforts to recruit minority students. Universities’ abil-
ity to attract minority students will be dependent in part on the interests
students bring with them from high school.
OCR for page 196
0 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Recommendation 102: The Department of Education should encour-
age Title VI and Fulbright-Hays grantees to actively recruit minority
members.
The potential reach of other Title VI/FH programs is far greater than
IIPP alone and ED should convey its interest in enhanced efforts to recruit
minority students. Applicants might be encouraged, for example, to con-
duct outreach to K-12 school districts with large minority enrollments or
heritage and immigrant populations, and ED might facilitate partnerships
between Foreign Language Assistance Program grantees with substantial
minority enrollments and Title VI grantees. ED could award points for such
efforts in the review process. To help raise awareness of interest in recruit-
ing members of minority groups and to collect information on the overall
number of minority students who participate in Title VI/FH, ED might
also consider requiring grantees to report the number of minority students
served via its online grantee monitoring system. The feasibility of this data
collection should be discussed as part of the recommended continuous im-
provement process (see Chapter 11).