A new structure for functions previously administered through the office of international affairs took effect Thursday, Sept. 1.
 
Due to the changing nature of international outreach and current trends, the office of international affairs has been dissolved. All personnel and functions that previously reported to Dr. Jeanie Hofer, former vice provost of international affairs, will continue but now report to organizations that are closer aligned to their roles.
 
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Jeanie, who has been a member of our development team for several months reporting to Tory Verkamp, interim vice chancellor for university advancement,” says Dr. Colin Potts, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. “I would also like to thank Amy Gillman, senior director of program/project operations for international affairs, who has stepped in to perform many of Jeanie’s former managerial functions.
 
“The functions listed below are all vital but have little in common except for their global reach,” says Potts. “I am confident that we can re-build our global brand, serve our international students better, and provide opportunities to domestic students to study abroad.”
 
The functions have been distributed as follows:
 
Celebration of Nations
This event will continue. Starting next year, it will be organized through institutional diversity, equity and inclusion to reflect the celebration of S&T’s globally diverse student body, staff and faculty. More information will be available after this year’s event, which will be held Saturday, Sept. 24.
 
Distinguished international visitors
S&T occasionally hosts distinguished international visitors. These visits will be managed by either the chancellor’s office, University Advancement or the hosting academic department as appropriate.
 
Global Engineering Program
The Global Engineering Program will continue to be directed by Dr. Michel Gueldry, professor of French, while the program requirements and the involvement of College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) in the program is evaluated. The program and the qualifying courses offered on campus will continue to be administered through the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education. The study-abroad component of the program will be administered through the University of Missouri-Columbia as described below.
 
Gulf University for Science and Technology and Mazoon College
These two institutions in Kuwait and Oman, respectively, are operated under separate contracts with principal investigators. The Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) principal investigator is Dr. Joseph Smith, professor of chemical and biochemical engineering, who will continue to be supported by Amy Gillman. The home unit for GUST will be CEC. Dr. Robert Marley, Robert B. Koplar Professor of engineering management, will leave S&T temporarily for a one-year extendable term as GUST’s inaugural dean of engineering. The principal investigator for the Mazoon College collaboration is Dr. Susan Murray, acting vice provost and dean of the Kummer College, and the home unit for this will be CASE.
 
Immigration Functions
All immigration-related services, such as I-20 processing, optional practical training and curricular practical training, will be provided by existing staff led by Susan Potrafka, assistant director for international affairs. This team has moved to graduate and international admissions under enrollment management and reports to David Spivey, interim vice provost for enrollment management and director of graduate and international admissions.  For convenience and consistency of approach, this team will continue to support international scholars processing.
 
Intensive English Program
The non-credit intensive English classes offered to international students will continue. The program will be administered by the English and technical communication department with probable reorganization of the program’s classes starting in January.
 
Study abroad
To better serve S&T students, the University of Missouri-Columbia is managing the study abroad program. More opportunities will be available to our students and 24/7 support will be on hand when they are overseas. The MU team will provide recruiting opportunities at S&T, branded as S&T opportunities. The experiential learning team under Dedie Wilson, experiential learning coordinator for undergraduate education, will act as a point of contact for working with S&T students but all program operations are being managed by the MU team.