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September 24, 2008

Calhoun to Host Ukrainian Contingent on Thursday 

The Decatur campus of Calhoun Community College is among the stops to be made this week by a group of Ukrainian education professionals who have travelled to the area as part of the International Visitor Leadership Program, funded and administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Cultural Affairs.

The four-person group is set to visit Calhoun Thursday morning, September 25.  Their meeting with Calhoun representatives will begin at 9:00 am in the conference room of the Aerospace Training Center (see attached agenda).  According to the group’s itinerary, they are visiting Calhoun to examine vocational and continuing education programs and their role in the U.S. educational system and national economy.  Specifically, they will receive information on Calhoun’s vision for technology education and training and how the college delivers programs that are flexible, current and tailored to meet the needs of today’s workforce.  The group will also learn how Calhoun markets its technical and continuing ed programs and will receive an overview on the area’s WIRED (Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development) program.

Members of the Ukrainian group are Mr. Ivan Babyn, head, Postgraduate Sector, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine; Mr. Viktor Bilokin, director, Yalta Higher Professional School of Construction and Food Technologies, Crimean Republic; Mrs. Inna Bondini, head, Department of Vocational Orientation, Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of Ukraine; and Mrs. Iryna Kutuzova, director, Kerch Professional Lyceum.  None of the group has any previous U.S. travel; they will be accompanied by two interpreters.

The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) is one of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ premier professional exchange programs. The IVLP is designed to build mutual understanding between the U.S. and other countries through carefully designed visits that reflect the participants’ professional interests and support U.S. foreign policy goals. Participants are established or potential foreign opinion makers in government, public policy, media, education, labor, the arts, and other key fields. Selected by American embassies abroad, International Visitors come to the United States to meet and confer with their professional counterparts and to gain an appreciation of the ethnic, cultural, political, and socio-economic diversity of the U.S.  In fiscal year 2005, over 4,000 International Visitors participated in the program; 798 of those came at their own or their government’s expense. 

Janet Kincherlow-Martin
Director of Public Relations
(256) 306-2561

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