By the time you read this, the snow and cold should be
on its way back north. However, the cold didn’t slow us
down in having fun and improving the services we bring to you.

We’ve been busy at your alma mater. In November we held our first career fair designed to connect Alumni employers with Alumni seeking jobs. The reviews indicate that we provided a valuable service to alumni. Remember, if you are an employer and you see a resume from a fellow alum, interview him or her. We have to stick together in this highly competitive world.

We held three networking receptions this winter with more than 30 alumni attending each “Alumni Happy Hour.” Thanks to Phil Kiernan for putting these together. I attended the last one at Pub 46 in Clifton. Alumni from the class of ’58 to the class of ’00 attended.

In January, we held a group outing at a New Jersey Devils game. Nearly 600 tickets were sold and the stands were rocking and blinking with MSUAA flashlights. We are already planning additional events where alumni can purchase professional sporting event tickets at tremendous savings. Thanks to all who helped host this event.

In February, we launched the MSU Alumni Online Community. The alumni Web site is your link to valuable programs, member benefits and events. The Online Community has a directory, alumni yellow pages, class notes with photos and a place where groups of alumni can form. Stay in touch. This is an exciting program and kudos to our fantastic staff for bringing this about.

This spring is also a time for new benefits to bloom. We’ve executed a contract with COMPSolutions, PEO to help alumni who are either employees or owners of small businesses.

We also have secured a full range of benefits and services for you with our Beneplace program, which will be accessible through the alumni Web site this summer. The program will offer a broad range of benefits from long-term care insurance to pet insurance; from discounted consumer goods to rental cars. Watch the Web site for details.

Finally, remember that Alumni Weekend is right around the corner.

We will have a wild time this year. Everything from Salsa Dancing in the Rathskeller to the 30th reunion of the Chapin Hall Experimental Living Program will take place. This could be the best Alumni Weekend yet, so don’t be left out.

Stay tuned and stay in touch. Carpe diem.

Many higher education institutions have aggressively pursued agendas for global education for a number of years, and Montclair State University has taken a lead role in these activities. We recently were recognized by NAFSA: Association of International Educators as one of the top 16 colleges in the country for outstanding campus internationalization. One of our most successful initiatives has been our annual conferences on global business and economic development, the most recent of which was held in January in Guadalajara, Mexico in partnership with the Universidad del Valle de Atemajac in collaboration with the New Jersey Commerce and Economic Growth Commission.

In many ways, the academic community has been ahead of the curve, recognizing the great importance of increasing global knowledge and understanding in a world that is shrinking in size every day as communication methodologies become more effective and more widely dispersed throughout the population.

Nations once separated by awkward transportation structures, uncertain communication links and lack of knowledge can now easily acquire information, communicate and do business electronically. In fact, it is largely the business sector and the academic institutions that study how business is done and train the next generation of business leaders that have understood the relevance of international partnerships and strategic alliances as a strategy to sustain economic and human development.

It is largely the universities of the world that have been called upon to provide the education and training that can enable people to have sufficient understanding of others to be able to partner, trade, and create and sustain economic growth in ways that are constructive and productive—in ways that contribute to global stability and minimize the potential ill effects of globalization and political destabilization.

Our colleges and universities have been advancing the idea of global education for some time, and we have made definite and solid progress in internationalizing our curricula and developing programs that encourage all our students to attain some measure of global literacy. There is no question that contributing to economic development, political stabilization, cultural understanding and societal advances when we study the literature of other nations, when we share our arts, when we learn each other’s languages, and when we work together in cooperative ventures of any kind enable us to learn something about how our different international colleagues think about things.

In this issue you will read about a few of the international initiatives in place at Montclair State. Our cover story introduces you to two remarkable women, Alean Haider and Samira Panah, who are studying at Montclair State under the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women Program. You also will read about some of the international projects faculty members are spearheading.

Historically and internationally, the role of higher education has gone well beyond the teaching of practical, or even theoretical, knowledge. The fundamental purpose of the university is to preserve and transmit culture. Universities create spaces for the free exploration of ideas, at least to the extent politically and intellectually possible at any given time and place. And above all else, universities educate citizens—people capable of thinking critically and exercising leadership roles as citizens of the world.

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