THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR INNOVATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION (ICIE)
The International Council for Innovation in Higher Education (ICIE) will be meeting for their 28th annual conference from June 6th to June 10th in the United Arab Emirates. The council is a growing network of academicians, educational administrators, scholars and government and industry practitioners who are interested in sharing innovation in education, both pedagogically and administratively, to the international community. The 2010 conference's primary host is Abu Dhabi University, with the keynote opening speaker to be Dr. Nabil Ibrahim, Chancellor of Abu Dhabi University; the council will also meet one day at United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, with keynote speakers, Dr. Gary Ingersoll , Dean of the Faculy of Education, and Dr. Donald Baker, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. This is a pivotal year for the council as this is the first time the council has met in the Middle East.
ICIE was founded in 1980 and has met in such locations as Rome, Honolulu, Belfast, Panama, Beijing, Prague, and last year in St. Johns, Newfoundland. The delegates represent colleges and universities of distinction from all over the world, including Columbia University in New York, USA, and the University of Ottawa in Canada. The president of this organization, Dr. Eugene (Gene) Simko, and the First Vice-President, Professor Maureen Sheehan Paparella, also the director of the 2010 event, are on the faculty at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, USA, a private, masters institution of approximately 6000 undergraduate and graduate students that is ranked as a first tier institution (of a 4 tier ranking system) in U.S. News and World Reports (Masters, North category), and ranked among the "best colleges and universities" in the United States by the Princeton Review (Best 371). Dr. Simko, a member of the School of Business, and Professor Paparella, a member of the School of Science (Computer Science and Software Engineering Department), began a sixteen year collaboration in research through ICIE. They have directed management strategy and training for industry, government and education and recently coauthored their third university textbook (Current Topics in Technology, social, legal, economic and ethical implications of technology).
Director Paparella explains that the communities of these organizations have traditionally held a deep interest in Middle East relations. At Monmouth University, for example, Dr. Saliba Sarsar, Associate Vice-President for Academic Initiatives and Professor of Political Science at Monmouth University, and the closing keynote speaker is a specialist in Middle East studies. Among his many noted contributions to the global community, he co-founded Project Understanding in New Jersey and received the Humanitarian Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice. His writings have been featured in the New York Times, APP, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Newsweek, The Jordan Times, Gulf News, PeaceJournalism.com, Middle East Times, Common Ground News Service, Middle East and North Africa-Financial Network, Frontier Post, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, to name a few.
President Simko suggested that he and Paparella strongly encouraged the Board of Directors of the conference to consider the Middle East as the 2010 destination. "We believe that your country represents harmony between tradition and progress. Following a call by leaders of many nations, as in the case of the U.S. president's speech in Cairo in 2009, we believe it is prime time for our conference to take part in defining the "new beginning" described in that address - that indeed, it is education and innovation that is "the new currency." It is our goal to provide delegates the opportunity to learn how this region and others overlap and share the common principles of truth, justice, progress, tolerance and dignity. We offer academicians, business leaders, government officials and entrepreneurs the opportunity to join to discuss technological developments, transfer ideas, pursue scientific excellence, and seek solutions to health, education, business, environmental and social issues of interest as part of a global effort of affiliation, discourse and study."
