International educators to meet;
reception will note ELI's 25 years

By PATRICIA DONOVAN
News Services Editor

The conference, "International Education: THE Peace Bridge," will take place Oct. 21-23 in the Buffalo Hilton, with pre-conference workshops on Oct. 19 and 20.

Helen Stevens, director of International Student and Scholar Services at UB and chair-elect of the regional association, will chair the conference.

Stevens said that conference workshops and presentations will emphasize the important role that international educators play in promoting improved communication and understanding across linguistic, cultural and political borders.

The program will address such topics as English language training, study-abroad programs, recruitment and admission of international students, community-based programming and immigration regulations for international students and scholars, and international student advisement.

Keynote speaker will be Hans de Wit, vice president for international affairs at the University of Amsterdam and past president of the European Association for International Education. He will be introduced by Stephen C. Dunnett, UB vice provost for international education and director of the university's English Language Institute (ELI).

Dunnett will host a reception in the UB Center for the Arts on Monday, Oct. 21, in connection with the conference to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the ELI and the university's sesquicentennial year.

Founded in 1971, the UB English Language Institute was one of the first English language institutes in the nation. It was marked then by virtues that have become its trademarks: innovative curricula, outstanding teaching by professional instructors sensitive to the needs of international students, and effective academic and cultural orientation that has had enormous influence on the field of international education.

Since that time, the institute has trained more than 18,000 students from most nations around the globe and has set the standard for such programs in universities here and abroad. In virtually all of its activities, the ELI has contributed in an important way to making UB and Western New York better known overseas.

Originally called the Intensive English Language Institute or IELI, the program had its antecedents in UB's Foreign Student English Program (FSEP) founded in the early 1960s by the late Judith Malamed.

Twenty-five years ago, Dunnett, then an administrator and instructor in the FSEP, was appointed to organize and direct a new, year-round, non-credit intensive English program at UB. The result of his effort was the institute, which originally offered English training and orientation to foreign students preparing for university study.

Since that time, many ELI graduates have earned advanced degrees from UB and other U.S. universities and several occupy high positions in academe, business or government in their own countries. The ELI has provided a professional apprenticeship for staff and instructors who went on to establish their own English-language institutes in the U.S. or in their native countries, using the UB program as a model.

Jeffra Flaitz, a former faculty member in the UB Graduate School of Education, will attend the conference under ELI sponsorship to present a workshop on language learning. Flaitz, assistant professor of linguistics at the University of South Florida, directs USF's English Language Institute.

Among UB faculty and staff involved in conference planning are: Barbara Campbell, ELI assistant director; Kathy Curtis, John Fitzer, Jan Nersinger, Linda Silvestri, ELI staff members; Lisa Felix, Rosemary Mecca, Diane Stolarski, International Student and Scholar Services staff; Sandra Reinagel, director of UB's study abroad programs, is conference registrar. Mary Idzior, immigration specialist with International Student and Scholar Services at UB, directed planning of special conference events.