WKU Signs Agreement For North American Mobility Program

February 26, 2009

Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University President Gary A. Ransdell has signed a consortium agreement as part of the North American Mobility Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC), and the Secretary of Public Education in Mexico (SEP). 

“This grant offers our students and faculty a wonderful opportunity to help WKU continue to be a leading American university with international reach,” said Dr. Ransdell, who signed the agreement on Feb. 12. “The involvement of our students and faculty who visit our partner schools and the interaction that will occur through the use of joint case studies and consulting projects among the partner schools will magnify the impact of our participation in this program.”

The grant, submitted by the Gordon Ford College of Business and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, is one of only nine programs supported by the program in the 2008 fiscal year. FIPSE is providing $180,000 over the four-year period of the grant to support student mobility, faculty mobility, curricular development, and student and faculty engagement in the communities served by the participating institutions. 
“We are grateful to FIPSE for providing this opportunity for WKU, and would like to thank our Senators Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning and Congressman Brett Guthrie for their assistance in helping WKU to secure these and other funding opportunities,” Dr. Ransdell said.

The project, Alliance to Enhance Entrepreneurial Impact to Stimulate Economic Growth Among Underserved Groups in North America, provides opportunity for student and faculty mobility, along with curricular development in the area of entrepreneurship. Primary among the goals is to develop a relationship between the students and faculty of the partner schools and underserved populations associated with each partner school, including: immigrants, rural entrepreneurs, females, persons in poverty, and indigenous persons. 

Participating students will be awarded a stipend up to $2,500 for a semester to study at one of the partner schools.  According to Dr. Daniel Myers, project director and economics professor, the consortium members are busy working on curricular review, identification of joint research projects, and the development of a summer institute.

The summer institute will train individuals to serve as resources to entrepreneurs in a cross cultural setting. 
“This is a wonderful opportunity to expand the internationalization experiences for students,” Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara Burch said. “We have many students who want to get engaged in international learning experiences, and the financial support provided in this consortial grant removes one of the major barriers to their participation.”

The first students supported under the U.S. grant should participate in the program in the fall of 2009. “This is an exciting opportunity for WKU and the Gordon Ford College of Business as we further increase our international connections and involvement of our students,” Dr. Myers said.

In addition to Dr. Myers, faculty participating in the program are Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation professors Dr. Matthew Marvel, Dr. Dawn Bolton and Dr. Wil Clouse.

Other lead schools include Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.  Western Illinois University in Macomb, Universidad Panamericana in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and Universite de Moncton in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada are the other participant schools. The agreement has been signed by the president of each of the participating schools.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu and at http://wkunews.wordpress.com/. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Dan Myers at (270) 745-3684.