Professionals from international businesses, governments, and non-profit organizations will gather at Northern Kentucky University during its third annual International Education Week Nov. 15-19, to host an International Careers Panel to allow student to explore options beyond our county’s borders.
“The panel is designed for students,” Connelly said. “The purpose is to give students examples of what to do with their degrees.”
The panel will be held in Room 109 of the Student Union from 2-3:30 p.m. on Nov. 15. According to Caryn Connelly, a Spanish professor who helped organize the panel, the speakers will be asked a series of four to six questions by a moderator. After the panelists have answered the questions posited by the moderator, the floor will be open for questions from students.
The U.S. departments of State and Education declared the third week in November International Education Week in 2000, and it is now celebrated in more than 100 countries, according the IEW website. Study Abroad organized NKU’s first International Education Week in 2008.
According to Connelly, the panel is directed at students who are in programs that are represented by the panelists. These are not the only students who can benefit from attending the panel, though. Connelly said that students majoring in history, geography, anthropology, and sociology may find the panel useful as well.
International Business will be represented by panelists who work for La Verdad Marketing, Proctor & Gamble, and General Electric. A panelist from U.S. Commercial Service will speak on behalf of International Government. Representatives from World Affairs Council and Su Casa will be the panelists for International Non-profit.
Whitney McIntyre, an assistant professor of Organizational Leadership, hopes that the panel will give students an overview of what is out there in the way of international careers.
“We’re sort of closed into boxes about what we’ll be when we grow up,” McIntyre said. “I was lucky enough to travel and have my eyes opened. Even if you don’t work abroad, you’re constantly dealing with other cultures.”
“There is an international aspect to all kinds of jobs,” said International Business professor Stephen Mueller, who assisted in organizing the panel.
A student who works for GE may get a job assignment which requires them to live in another country. But according to Mueller, even if a career is not an international career, students need awareness of globalization and interdependence on other countries.
“Students should come away from the panel with a better understanding of how to prepare for their careers,” Mueller said. “It will help answer questions like, ‘Should I take a foreign language?’ or ‘Should I study abroad?’ Students need an awareness of skill sets needed for a job. The panel will show them why they need to learn certain skills, and how it helps.”
In addition to the International Careers Panel, IEW will feature foreign films, bake sales and a trivia night.
“There is increasing interconnectedness for people, cultures and countries through mass media and business,” Caryn Connelly said. “You can’t escape that we live in an international world.”
Story by Roxanna Blevins