IES Abroad Attends Amazon Web Services re:Invent Conference

On this Giving Tuesday, IES Abroad is excited to participate in the Impact Lounge at Amazon Web Services’ re:Invent Conference, where more than 60,000 tech industry attendees gather in Las Vegas to learn the latest in cloud computing. You might be wondering, what does this conference have to do with study abroad? 

IES Abroad is one of three nonprofits invited by AWS Nonprofits to participate in the AWS Impact Lounge. We’re honored to be in the company of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), and the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)/Be the Match. 

Attendees can drop by our booth to learn more about our mission, ways to support us, and volunteer opportunities. We’ll be celebrating our World of Difference vision, sharing stories from abroad, and discussing how we can provide more opportunities for underrepresented students to study abroad.  

"We are honored to be selected as a not-for-profit partner to participate at this year’s re:Invent hosted by Amazon Web Services. We’re looking forward to attending and for the opportunity to celebrate study abroad and its ability to educate the future global workforce, provide new perspectives, and create a more socially just and equitable world. Study abroad changes lives and changed lives change the world, and our work with AWS will allow us to further our mission to foster an inclusive and accessible environment at IES Abroad and to educate students to become effective global leaders. When we provide inclusive global experiences, we all win.” – Gregory D. Hess, Ph.D., President & CEO, IES Abroad   

Dr. Brittani Smit, Associate Vice President of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Antiracism will also present a 15-minute Lightning Session about our mission, how we’re making study abroad more inclusive, and how we’re educating the next generation of global leaders.  

Cultivating and celebrating diversity has been a core value since IES Abroad’s founding in 1950. From being one of the first not-for-profit college study abroad providers to partner with HBCUs in the 1960s to launching our Initiative to Diversify Education Abroad (IDEA) in 2008, we are dedicated to broadening student access and cultivating a diverse workforce with a global perspective. To IES Abroad, diversifying study abroad means taking action to help create a world where difference is celebrated, and where our students graduate with the knowledge that our differences are what unite us. This is our form of social justice. Study abroad is our platform for change.