A core commitment of IFSA-Butler since its inception has been to provide programs of a high academic caliber, supported by outstanding student services. We continuously seek to support our colleagues and the students we all serve together, in ways consistent with our heritage as an academically oriented provider.

As more faculty, department chairs and academic deans develop an interest in study abroad, we sense a need for more in-depth academic support to ensure quality control and curriculum integration for study abroad programs. Accordingly, we have created an Academic Outreach Team to assist our partner institutions in working with faculty and other colleagues in academic affairs. Because of the strong academic orientation of our staff and the organization as a whole, IFSA-Butler has long provided academic support to faculty in certain institutions, as well as on an ad hoc basis. The Academic Outreach Team will do so in a more focused way (e.g., matching specific IFSA-Butler staff as key consultants to respond to the needs and interests of specific academic departments).

The Academic Outreach Team provides the following services, as well as other special services on request:

• general information about universities and university systems abroad;
• facilitate dialogue between faculty and study abroad offices;
• research and develop tailored curriculum recommendations for study abroad, offering examples of successful curriculum integration;
• troubleshoot specific academic questions or concerns related to university programs abroad;
• attempt to meet other academic needs as requested related to education abroad.

The Academic Outreach Team will work in tandem with study abroad directors at partner institutions, as well as with IFSA-Butler field directors, to ensure seamless communication between study abroad offices and academic affairs. Our central goal is to support and complement the efforts of our study abroad colleagues in developing initiatives that meet the needs and concerns of academic departments.

Study abroad advisors who would like more information or who would like to arrange a consultation may contact their IFSA-Butler field director or IFSA-Butler Executive Vice President Joanna Holvey Bowles. Members of the Academic Outreach Team include:

Joanna Holvey Bowles, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Opal Leeman Bartzis, Field Director

Steve Seaworth, Vice President for University Relations

Andrew Williams, Senior Resident Director