“Study abroad matters deeply to me because it provided me with a view of this world that I was hoping to see...I studied history focusing on WWII Europe and the lead up to the dissolution of the USSR. Studying abroad through IES Abroad, both in Vienna and Freiburg, allowed me to live out my studies and my dreams. I experienced firsthand the remnants of WWII and the Russian influence on Central Europe through the people I engaged with and inspiring IES Abroad faculty such as Dr. Andrzej Bryk on loan from Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Study abroad matters deeply to me because it gave me an opportunity to develop a worldview that honors my father and all he stood for in his life.”

Carol Carmody

“My entire career at IES Abroad was focused on growing the number of students going abroad. Growth allowed more students to enjoy the academic and personal benefits of studying with the finest people in the field. Growth offered more opportunities for employees, which over time let IES Abroad develop the most experienced, knowledgeable team in international education. And growth gave IES Abroad the strength to offer the financial support that made it possible for thousands of students with need to realize their dreams of studying abroad.”

Richard (Rich) Bartecki

“During her career Barbara inspired many to think beyond their own little world and look at the possibilities. She was an awesome woman, intelligent, witty and interested in so much that life had to offer.”

Marlene Perrucci

“I keep a personal file of testimonials about international education, written by students, parents, and faculty. Some samplings:
“Thank you for this once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
“I was wary of sending my child so far away, but now I realize it was the best thing I could have done for them.”
“My student came home after a semester in (Paris, Nantes, Madrid, Freiburg, etc.) showing so much improvement in (French, Spanish, German, etc.) I would not have believed it possible.”

Whenever one of these notes arrived in an e-mail or, even better, as a handwritten thank-you, it made my day. The writers only begin to catalogue the many benefits of a term of study abroad that we know as educators: from the student perspective—encounters, mostly positive and sometimes negative, that constitute wonder and discovery, and always a new way of thinking about oneself and the world; from parents’ perspective—the challenges and demands placed on their child by a new environment that can lead to greater confidence, resourcefulness, and sense of identity; from faculty members—the gratification of witnessing how students embrace new learning.

More than speaking to the theory, these writers testify to the strength of the IES community, joined heart, hand, and mind to the mission: preparing students for lives guided by cross-cultural knowledge, engagement, and friendship. This community is large. It starts with the staff members and faculty at the IES Centers, IES Chicago, offices of off-campus studies, and faculty at U.S. colleges and universities. It extends to homestay hosts, language partners, field trip guides, and internship mentors.
Whether they work directly or indirectly with students, all of them bring expertise that is essential to the ambitions and purpose of IES. This 75th anniversary celebration is testimony to the enthusiasm and dedication of so many hundreds of people who gave—and continue to give—their best ideas and unflagging energy to this great project of inspiring students’ curiosity about the world.

When I joined IES, the field was propelled by changing attitudes about international education and expanding well beyond the traditional venue of language departments and their majors. A new generation of students voiced new interests in locations around the globe.

Faculty across disciplines saw the value in their students learning different approaches and perspectives. Home campuses adjusted their policies on credit transfer and funding models. Universities abroad created options for short-term international students. This confluence of initiatives resulted in increasingly greater numbers of students and faculty going abroad.

This continuing growth directed my work toward our shared future in new ways. I mentored newcomers to the field. I also taught graduate-level courses on comparative higher education and international partnerships at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy, and I conducted research and wrote about the student and faculty experience of international education. I know the field is in strong hands and look forward to following the continued progress of IES. As for myself, I continue to travel, to practice what I preach by engaging new people, places, and ideas, and guided, as we want our students to be guided, by cross-cultural knowledge, engagement, and friendship.”

Joan Gillespie

“I have lived long enough to reach the conclusion that I cannot dictate what my legacy will be. Others will determine that. What I am responsible for is doing the best I can with the opportunities I have been given. I am a very blessed individual. I have received more blessings than I ever imagined when I sat on the curb under the street light at the corner of my home in the working-class neighborhood of Atlanta where I lived from age 14 to my graduation from Morehouse and marriage to my wife at age 23. I have too many blessings to recount, but in addition to my parents, brother and my wife and children, two more stand out. Those two are my Morehouse experience and my year at IES Abroad Vienna. Both of them helped shape me for a future I did not know was coming. They helped me grow into a responsible, confident, courageous citizen of the United States and a man of the world.”

Edward L. Wheeler, Ph.D.

“We’ve always needed young people to study abroad so they can grow personally and professionally, and develop into leaders who understand the importance of a global community. We need them more now than ever before and this is why the work done at IES Abroad matters so much. As a current faculty member at the IES Abroad London Center, I see first-hand students not only being educated, but developing into people who care about the world and actually embrace and enjoy differences...It’s not just the mission at IES Abroad that makes me love it so, it’s the people who work there and care so much about our world.”

Keith Dipple, Ph.D.