Alumni Newsletter - Fall 2021

Do you have any updates, stories, memories, or information you would like to share in the next alumni newsletter? IAU alumni are welcome to contact Rebecca Coyle, Associate Director of Admissions and Alumni Affairs, for any alumni-related items at alumni@iau.edu.  We'd love to hear from you! 

President's Report

Challenges and Accomplishments Since the Beginning of the Pandemic

The last eighteen months have been some of the most difficult in the history of IAU and ACM since the founding of each institution in 1957 and 2016 respectively. The total decimation of international higher education worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on students, faculty, and institutions as a whole. In March of 2020, IAU and ACM had just welcomed our largest cohort of study abroad and degree-seeking students in all locations and we were forecasting an unprecedented number of faculty-led and direct-enroll students for that same summer with over five hundred potential participants. We were on schedule to finish the fiscal year with over 1,200 students with a sizable surplus going back to the endowment. The pandemic has lasted much longer than we had expected and the fallout of the consequences is real and will have a lasting effect on our institution.

The most devastating initial consequences of the pandemic resulted in an 80% reduction in student enrollments. As many other universities were experiencing the same enrollment fallout, this led to the unfortunate furlough of faculty and staff in France, Spain, and the U.S. and the elimination of thirty-seven part-time faculty and staff positions in all locations. Despite our best efforts to explain the financial crises, there was an inevitable psychological malaise that threatened the overall wellbeing of our relationships with longstanding faculty and staff as well as a deep sense of survivor’s guilt among the personnel who were fortunate enough to remain in their positions. We have been blessed with a team of dedicated and committed staff who fortunately now understand the global context. Managing this fallout has been one of the most challenging aspects of my duties in the last ten years.

One positive outcome of the pandemic was that it gave us time to work on the Accreditation Self Study report that was submitted in February of 2021 to the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).  The Self Study report is the key reflective document presented to NECHE as part of the candidacy stage of the process. Become a candidate for accreditation is a major step in the process and I am pleased to report that on November 18, 2021, I represented ACM at a formal commission meeting where ACM was approved for candidacy. This is excellent news for our institution. We greatly appreciate Vice President Philip Breeden's efforts with this process. Looking back over this past year, he worked closely with the deans, directors, and faculty to form the appropriate committees to address each of the nine accreditation standards and organized several Academic Affairs Committee meetings to draft our Self-Study before it was reviewed by the Visiting Team in April of 2021. This exercise and the final document represented a necessary phase in the professionalization of our institution. The self-reflection and examination of all that we do as an institution have helped us all understand more clearly our areas of growth and improvement. Since our candidacy review was scheduled over a year in advance and the Commission decided to move forward with the April 2021 visit, we proceeded to present our best possible dossier to the visiting team. Given the reduction in students on campus and the fact that our faculty and staff numbers had been reduced, this was not the most ideal time for us to be reviewed by an accreditor. Nevertheless, I consider the NECHE accreditation and ultimate approval of ACM for the candidacy stage as one of the highlights of this year and an enormous accomplishment for the faculty, staff, and the institution. I don’t say this because of the positive outcome of the report and our approval for candidacy but much more to do with the overwhelming solidarity we all felt during this time period leading up to the NECHE visit, during the visit itself, and certainly for many weeks after. I was edified by the overwhelming show of support and participation of our board members, faculty, and staff who all represented us in the most professional and meaningful ways. I am very pleased with the measure of success we have had now in trying to rebuild the radius of trust among faculty and staff who all came together in earnest to represent and celebrate what we are all trying to accomplish at IAU and ACM.

One of the most poorly elucidated aspects of this pandemic is how it has severely divided our societies. The reality of the fear continues to be more relevant than the reality of the threat. This has been especially true for our study abroad operations through IAU. In the last eighteen months, we have witnessed the complete effacement of study abroad offices across the country. Risk-averse institutions fearing litigation and backlash from students and parents have decided to cancel international programs all over the world. Long-standing colleagues at partner institutions have disappeared from their posts. The last eighteen months have been spent on Zoom and phone calls trying to reconnect us with colleges and universities that were once our largest senders before the pandemic. The institutional memory has now been compromised and much more work needs to be done to reestablish partnership agreements that have been severed due to a downsizing of approved programs on many campuses. In addition, many other schools have decided to only work with study abroad programs with a specific financial threshold. This new model is becoming more popular among universities looking to reduce costs and keep tuition dollars at home. Conversely, since ACM's degree-seeking students are not bound by institutional policy and bureaucracy, most of this intrepid group stayed in Aix to continue their classes and instruction, even at the height of the pandemic. 

In the fall of 2020, we worked closely with the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board to review the possibility of a new MA Program in International Education offered through ACM. The MAIE (MA in International Education) was created to respond directly to the need to professionalize the field of international education. Our program was modeled after New York University, George Washington University, and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. The MAIE was approved by the Board of Trustees in February of 2021 and we began marketing the program immediately. The development of this program during the pandemic represented an innovative opportunity to remain visible and illustrate strength and confidence among our university partners and constituents. We hope to enroll our first cohort in the fall of 2022.

As soon as the pandemic started in March of 2020 we were forced to send all students home with little knowledge and preparation for what would come next. This included almost 200 students in Aix and over 160 students in Barcelona (the largest cohort of students since my arrival in 2011). I immediately held meetings with our deans, directors, and faculty to use our Microsoft Teams academic platform to convert all courses to an online format so that we could fulfill our obligations and promise to our students and our partner institutions that all students will finish out the semester with full credit in all courses. Within one week we had the online platform ready in both Aix and Barcelona and the gratitude from partner schools was more pronounced than ever since they were also struggling with the same issues on their own campuses. Our experience with virtual programming to finish out the spring 2020 semester held us in good stead to plan for the summer program and we successfully enrolled over 90 students in virtual classes and internships in the summer of 2020.

IAU and ACM have always had a robust offering of in-person internships in Aix, Barcelona, and Morocco. This obviously started ten years ago when I arrived and introduced the French Honors program in Aix (since we closed the Avignon Center, this was the solution that I proposed to keep our students in high level French in Aix) and also built the Business program that would then become the School of Business in 2015. Both of these programs participated in the first internships at IAU. In the Summers of 2020 and 2021 when in-person programs had been canceled we launched the virtual internship programs with a great measure of success with Princeton, Fairfield, CU Boulder, Nebraska, Rutgers, and the University of Arizona as the top sending institutions. These innovative programs will continue next year as alternatives to students who are seeking a virtual experience and are unable to travel abroad. As a complement to our existing in-person programs, these virtual experiences will offer additional revenue sources in the future.

In the fall of 2020, we were approved by the American and European branches of ETS (Educational Testing Service) as an official TOEFL Testing Center in France. Our Aix campus is the only TOEFL-approved testing center in the region and even with the pandemic, we have conducted regular monthly testing with small groups of French and European students. The Mairie and the Aixois community have expressed their gratitude since now the local students will not have to travel up to Lyon or Paris to take these tests. We will also be launching English Language classes in the future to complement the testing center for locals interested in taking our courses in English.

The Madrid program was put on pause in 2020 due to the pandemic but the staff worked closely with partner schools this last year to create a pilot program for this Fall 2021. We were successful in working with Southern Methodist University, Gonzaga, and the University of South Carolina to work with us for our inaugural Madrid semester program with a small cohort of 12 students this fall. In Spring 2022 the numbers will be closer to 30 students and the program will grow consistently as we develop new partnerships. Unlike Barcelona, this program focuses more on Spanish Language and Culture with a high-level Spanish requirement and a Spanish Honors program. We are also looking into STEM courses in Madrid since this is also the specialty of our current academic partners.

I am grateful for the continued support we receive from our alumni and constituents each year. 2020 and 2021 have been exceptional years for donor relations and our staff continues to work tirelessly to expand our relations with alumni all across the globe. This has involved countless phone calls, Zoom calls, follow-ups, and correspondences in the last eighteen months in order to create a buzz around our alumni and donor relations with enthusiastic campaigns and calls to action. As such, the number of individual donors has increased by 28% over the last year. These measurable indicators hold us in good stead for the future and I will continue to work with the staff this next fiscal year with new campaigns, receptions, auctions, and giving opportunities to increase our visibility and our endowment.

Although our methods may have changed over the last eighteen months, our mission remains the same and we continue to be as dedicated to IAU and ACM as ever. We remain cognizant of the fact that IAU and ACM will only exist if there are students. We are all here for the same reasons and we will do everything we can to bring our students back and continue this great and noble tradition we call international education and change to world one student at a time.

The following goals and objectives represent a roadmap for the coming year. They are ambitious and realistic at the same time and will help us rebuild our institution for the coming years.

Goals and Objectives for 2022

1. Rebuild our faculty with strategic hires in the arts, business, the humanities, and the hard sciences.
2. Rebuild our staff in France, Spain, Morocco, and the US office with strategic hires to rebuild our institution.
3. Increase IAU and ACM enrollments by 30% for the 2022-2023 Academic year.
4. Sign an additional 20 new partnerships with semester, summer, and faculty-led programs in all locations.
5. Bring the Aix campus back on track to a regular number of semester enrollments in Spring of 2022.
6. Develop our Hospitality Management program through wine and culinary studies in Aix and Barcelona.
7. Increase the size of the Barcelona and Madrid programs by 50%.
8. Launch our summer Morocco program in Tangier with a minimum of 50 students.
9. By the end of summer 2022 when the fiscal year ends, we will show a total student enrollment population of over 1,400 students in all programs in all locations.
10. Increase alumni giving through foundation relations and by increasing the number of individual donors by 25% for 2022.

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 SAVE THE DATE: 2022 Alumni Receptions in Washington D.C and Chicago

Mark your calendars! IAU-ACM will be hosting two alumni events this winter and we hope to see you there. The first reunion will be a regional reception tentatively scheduled for late February in Washington D.C. Details on the date, time and location will be announced shortly.

Later this spring, IAU will host an alumni/university partner reception in Chicago, Illinois. The reception will take place during the week of the annual Forum on Education Abroad conference which runs March 21-25, 2022. Official details regarding the reception date and location are forthcoming but it is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, March 23rd. We hope that our alumni in the Chicagoland area can attend and reconnect with former classmates while meeting representatives of some of IAU's longstanding and newer sending institutions. More details will be sent soon.

If anyone is interested in underwriting either of these events, please contact Rebecca Coyle, Associate Director of Admissions and Alumni Affairs. 

IAU Alumni Reception, NYC 2013

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Vineyard Planted at the School of Art Atelier Property

In April of 2021, IAU planted close to three hundred grapevines on the School of Art atelier grounds. Although there are 250 different varieties of grapes in France officially recognized by the government, IAU chose to plant a combination of Syrah, Grenache, and Cinsault Noir. These are the grapes that are most common in Provence and will produce a fine rosé when they are ready to harvest in about three years. The vineyard project will bring curiosity, enthusiasm, and notoriety from our partner universities interested in wine studies as part of our business program. Wine Studies will continue to grow and become part of our hospitality management program along with culinary and food security and sustainability.

 
IAU's newly planted vineyard on the School of Art atelier grounds

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IAU-ACM hosted its College Advisory Board (CAB) meeting this past October on both the Aix-en-Provence and Barcelona campuses. IAU-ACM's CAB is the newer version of the longstanding (and now former) Council of Academic Advisors, a body created to ensure that the Institute’s academic directors and professors are kept updated on international education trends. Furthermore, the advisory council has provided feedback on and acted as a sounding board for ideas for curricular and pedagogical innovations. The newly formed CAB membership is drawn from national leaders in international education, a variety of campuses that send students abroad, and individuals in professorial and administrative ranks at universities across the US. Further, the CAB will be more involved with reviewing and providing feedback on ACM's degree programs. The creation of an official third-party advisory and review board for IAU-ACM's structure and curriculum will be essential as the institution undergoes the rigors of US accreditation.

During the meeting, the CAB focused on the state of affairs at IAU-ACM, the expansion of program options, crisis management across borders, and custom programming. The meeting included professor panels, presentations from the U.S. Consul General, and student panels. The week culminated with a special media event ceremony honoring Journalist Josep Abril and Sports Agent Josep Maria Minguella with honorary ACM degrees.

College Advisory Board members with President Carl Jubran
at the IAU-ACM's Barcelona Campus


Honorary degree presentation to Journalist Josep Abril and
Sports Agent Josep Maria Minguella 

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This Fall 2021 semester, IAU-ACM welcomed Alexa Scheer to Aix, the inaugural recipient of the Allison Benson Memorial Scholarship. Allison Benson, a Kansas State University student who was enrolled in IAU Aix for the spring 2020 semester, tragically lost her life while on the program due to a pre-existing medical condition. The days, weeks, and months that followed were heart-wrenching for her family as well as the entire IAU-ACM community.

Not long after her passing, IAU created a memorial scholarship in Allison’s name to benefit future K-State students of French interested in pursuing that same dream Allison had of studying in France. Allison’s parents and sisters have been nothing short of gracious, strong, and appreciative of IAU's intention of keeping Allison’s memory alive. 

To date, the memorial scholarship has raised over $25,000. In late October, IAU's Vice President of U.S. Operations, Mr. Kurt Schick attended an in-person ceremony on Kansas State’s campus put together to honor the Bensons and the 2^nd recipient of the scholarship, Kaia Hayes, who will be studying at IAU in the Spring 2022 semester. Those attending included former French professors of Allison, her sorority sisters and friends, and Kansas State international education leadership and staff. It was an emotional yet fulfilling day, especially to see the smiles on the Benson family's faces as they met both Alexa (via Zoom) and Kaia (in person). 

IAU extends its gratitude to its staff and the board for their support in creating this scholarship, the meaning and impact of which goes far beyond the monies raised. 

If you would like to make a donation to the scholarship in Allison's name, please feel free to do so on IAU's Donation Page. Donations to this fund go to the Allison Benson Memorial Scholarship for future Kansas State University students studying abroad with IAU. This scholarship in Allison's name will go to deserving students who carry on the legacy of Allison's bright spirit and luminosity. For more information about the Allison Benson Memorial Scholarship, please contact Kurt Schick, Vice President of U.S. Operations.

                                 Presentation of scholarship to Kaia Hayes                 Benson Family in front of memorial swing at                                                                                                                             Allison's sorority house

The Leo Marchutz Catalogue Raisonné Project is gathering information about all known works by the artist in public and private collections around the world. Owners of lithographs, drawings, or paintings of Leo Marchutz are kindly asked to contact Denise Lemoine at contact@leomarchutz.org.

More information on the catalogue raisonné project can be found at www.leomarchutz.org. 
Please note that any ownership information will be kept in strict confidence.

Denise Lemoine Chef de Projet
Catalogue Raisonné de Léo Marchutz T
él: 06 03 45 81 92 www.leomarchutz.org

Leo Marchutz

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Mark Your Calendars! This November 30th, support IAU-ACM by participating in #GivingTuesday.

What is Giving Tuesday? Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and after the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving. Since its inaugural year in 2012, #GivingTuesday has become a movement that celebrates and supports giving and philanthropy. 

This year, consider making a gift to your international alma mater, IAU-ACM. You can donate to student scholarships, the legacy or building fund, through Amazon Smile, and more.  Join us in supporting current and future IAU-ACM students in having a life-changing experience abroad. Give back to IAU-ACM today!

Did you donate to IAU-ACM? We'd love to see your post on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with IAU-ACM tagged, and make sure to hashtag #GivingTuesday #theiau!

IAU's Diversity Scholarship Matching Campaign

IAU-ACM has launched a matching gift campaign whereby every dollar that is donated to their diversity scholarships will be matched by the Board of Trustees, up to $50,000. The monies raised will enable us to increase scholarship funds, further underscoring the commitment to increase the representation of diverse students abroad. Please visit our website to read testimonials by IAU and ACM alumni on how that funding assisted them in their efforts to study or earn their degrees abroad. 

Since its launch in July 2021, the Diversity Scholarship Matching Campaign has raised over $14,000. Thus far over 20 unique donors, of which 17 were IAU alumni, have contributed to the fund. Of those donations, $5,775 qualified for 2:1 match by IAU-ACM's Board of Trustees. The matching campaign will continue on a 1:1 scale through the end of 2021. For details, visit the Donation Page. 

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IAU Mourns Passing of Board Member Stephen K. Mittelstet

IAU-ACM mourns the passing of Dr. Stephen K. Mittelstet, a longstanding member of its Board of Trustees. Dr. Mittelstet, who was also an IAU-ACM alumnus (1987), served on the board since 2010. He was President Emeritus of Richland College of the Dallas County Community College District, served on the Humanities faculty since the college opened in 1972, and served as its president from 1979-2010. Under Dr. Mittelstet’s leadership, Richland was the first community college to be recognized by the White House and the U.S. Department of Commerce to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (2005). 

Having attended Frank Phillips (Community) College in Borger, Texas, Mittelstet earned his B.A. degree summa cum laude in English, French, and History/Religion from McMurry College in 1967 and earned his Ph.D. in 1972 in Higher Education Administration/English at The University of Texas at Austin. He completed post-doctoral work domestically and internationally.

An active supporter of integrated learning and intercultural communications, Dr. Mittelstet fostered the establishment of Richland’s Multicultural Center, World Languages, Cultures, and Communications Division, Global Studies and Studies Abroad. He was also instrumental in establishing collaborative agreements resulting in curriculum development of joint courses, student exchanges, faculty training, and distance learning course delivery between Richland College and educational institutions in Australia, New Zealand, Kuwait, Mexico, Brazil, Mozambique, Russia, and Vietnam. 

In addition, as a staunch proponent of internationalizing community college campuses, Dr. Mittelstet organized a group of administrators from the Dallas County Community College system to visit IAU-ACM’s campus in Aix-en-Provence, France in late May 2017. The goal of the visit was to demonstrate how community college students and faculty can take advantage of international education opportunities.

Given Dr. Mittelstet's commitment to community college education, IAU-ACM has worked closely with his daughters, Amy and Amanda, to create a memorial scholarship in his name, one that will benefit community college students who wish to enroll in IAU's study abroad programs or who desire to transfer to the BA program at ACM in order to complete their degree abroad. To donate to the scholarship, please visit our donation page and select "The Stephen K. Mittelstet Memorial Scholarship' as the desired fund. 

 IAU-ACM sends its deepest sympathies to Dr. Mittelstet’s family and close friends. He will be greatly missed.

                                                                 
                                                                     Stephen Keith Mittelstet
                                                                    09/18/1943 – 10/06/2021

Donate Now

Where Do Donations Go?

Depending on which fund you donate to, donations go to a range of different places -- all of which support ACM/IAU's mission to provide excellence in international education, inspire intercultural awareness, and prepare students for success in a global community. We have a number of different scholarship funds available to donate to, including The Herbert Maza Full Year Scholarship, The Amos Booth French Honors Program Scholarship, the John Rewald Art & Art History Scholarship, and more. Donations made to scholarship funds go directly to student scholarships that IAU awards every term to deserving study abroad students.

Donors may also elect to donate to ACM/IAU's Endowment Fund. The Endowment is fundamental to the Institute's ability to plan for the long-term and to manage during turbulent economic and diplomatic times. The fund provides for a permanent source of income to support the Institute's academic programs and provides for future growth while fulfilling IAU’s need for a predictable income stream.

Some donors simply donate to "Unrestricted Gifts." This choice supports IAU's operating budget and assists with funding financial priorities, including innovative programming, the hiring of faculty and staff, expanding operations to new cities or new buildings, scholarships and grants for diverse students, and more. 

We invite you to explore IAU's various donation funds by visiting www.iau.edu/donate. 

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Support IAU on Amazon Smile

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Write a Review of Your Experience with ACM & IAU

Did you know that many students find IAU-ACM through Google, Facebook, and study abroad review sites? Because of this, positive reviews from our dedicated alumni help us market to prospective students. We encourage you to take a few minutes to write a thoughtful review of your time at IAU! 

• Google - follow the link and click "Write A Review" to begin your Google review. Please note that though this shows IAU in Aix-en-Provence, reviews from all programs and locations are welcomed on this page.

• Facebook - did you know you can review us on Facebook? Many alumni have already shared their wonderful experiences on Facebook, and we'd appreciate you adding your voice!

• GoOverseas - many students go searching for study abroad programs using sites like GoOverseas.com, which compiles reviews from alumni to help prospective students find the best programs for them! Click on this link to go to IAU's page and click "Leave a Review." Pick the program that most closely aligns with the program you participated in at IAU. We appreciate it!

• GoAbroad.com - like GoOverseas.com, GoAbroad.com similarly helps students find an abroad program that will fit their needs. Follow this link, find the program listing that most closely fits your experience, and leave a review.

We appreciate the time and effort it takes to write these reviews. If we have not listed a site above that you have used to review IAU or ACM in the past, please let us know! Thank you in advance!

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ACM Strategic Plan - We Want to Hear from Alumni! 

As the overarching institution, ACM is developing a strategic plan for the coming years and we need your help.  We are asking that ACM's pioneer alumni send us feedback on ACM's programming, direction, and challenges.  Your input into ACM’s vision of the future will be an invaluable part of our strategic planning process.  Please send your responses via email to Vice President Breeden at philip.breeden@iau.edu or via this anonymous form by December 15, 2021. 

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We are extremely grateful to our alumni and other supporters who have remembered IAU-ACM in their estate planning. The Mont Saint-Victoire Legacy Society is an association for donors who have remembered us in their estate plans through a planned gift or other charitable donation.

If you have already included IAU-ACM in your estate plans, please let us know so we can honor and thank you and include you as a member of our Mont Sainte-Victoire Society.

For more information, please contact Kurt Schick, Vice President of U.S. Operations.

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Tell a Friend About IAU or ACM

Do you have children, nieces, nephews, friends, grandchildren, or acquaintances that are in high school or college? One of the best ways to support IAU-ACM is by spreading the word to those in your community. Tell the story of your own personal experience and encourage students to learn more about study abroad programs in France, Spain, and Morocco with IAU or about degree-granting undergraduate and graduate programs in Aix-en-Provence with ACM. More information about our complete suite of programs can be found at: www.iau.edu and www.acmfrance.org. Pass it on! 

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Follow IAU-ACM on Social Media 

IAU and ACM both have social media accounts on all the major platforms. We post updates from campus, opportunities for alumni, nostalgic photos of Barcelona, Aix-en-Provence, and other locations in Europe and North Africa, and more! We invite you to follow along!

IAU: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn
ACM: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn

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Become an IAU Study Abroad Alumni Ambassador

Have you heard about IAU's Study Abroad Alumni Ambassador Program? If you are interested in staying connected to your time abroad with IAU, spreading the word about studying abroad, and sharing your love for international travel with others, then the Alumni Ambassador Program might be for you! The IAU Ambassador Program was established in 2010 as a way to organize the more than 20,000 alumni who have completed their summer, semester, J-Term, or academic year at IAU. The goal of the program is to build a volunteer corps that can best represent IAU and to develop a robust and active network of IAU students, past, present, and future. Alumni of IAU have gone on to become diplomats, businessmen and women, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and leaders in their respective fields. Many have also continued with post-graduate studies at ACM! The IAU Ambassadors form a prestigious group designed for interested IAU alumni to share their study abroad experience with prospective students, faculty, and the study abroad office on their home campus as well as organize with other alumni to keep the IAU network strong. Over the years, the program has evolved, and now in addition to fulfilling the program's original goals, IAU Ambassadors assist with visits to other university campuses, represent IAU at Study Abroad Fairs across the United States, and organize alumni events across the nation. IAU Ambassadors are drawn from all IAU programs, academic disciplines, and class years. IAU has over 40 ambassadors representing it at over 30 universities.

Applicants must be:

• Former IAU student from any IAU program and location
• Able to commit about 10 hours of time per semester
• Excited to talk about studying abroad with prospective students!

If you're interested in becoming an IAU study abroad alumni ambassador at your current university or at your alma mater, please click the button below or email alumni@iau.edu. 

Apply to Become an Alumni Ambassador

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Do you have any updates or information you would like to share in the next alumni newsletter? Contact alumni@iau.edu to share your story. We'd love to hear from you!