Shull to head UCCS Office of International Affairs

Shull

Anthony Shull, director of the Office of Global Programs, College of Education at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, recently was named executive director of the Office of International Affairs, which will coordinate UCCS efforts to make the campus more international in its outlook as well as to recruit more international students and provide study abroad opportunities for students and faculty.

Shull will be charged with coordinating campus internationalization efforts.

“Furthering our global education efforts is a central part of our campus strategic plan for 2012-2020,” said Provost Peg Bacon. “I am very excited about the potential for our new Office of International Affairs under Anthony Shull’s leadership.”

The Office of International Affairs will bring together existing functions such as the Office of Study Abroad and Exchange, Office of International Student and Scholar Services, and the Center for English Language and American Culture Studies, as well as establish new functions such as the Office of Global Studies, Partnerships and Enterprise. By doing so, Shull believes UCCS can improve its recruitment and retention of international students, develop new partnerships and make a multicultural experience possible for UCCS students who find it difficult to leave campus.

Topping the list is helping students and faculty navigate a complex maze of regulations instituted by the United States following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“It can be daunting for an international student to enroll at U.S. universities,” Shull said. “Our goal at UCCS is to make the process efficient and friendly while offering a very high level of service to get them to come here and to keep them here. Upon completion of their experience here, we want them to be able to tell their friends back home what a great experience they had at UCCS and in the greater community.”

UCCS currently has about 110 international students enrolled. A new UCCS strategic plan calls for 750 international students enrolled by 2020. Shull believes that having additional students from India, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Brazil, Nepal and other countries helps diversify the campus and helps move the campus forward in its goal of creating globally competent students and faculty.

Recruiting students to UCCS is an important goal. But Shull is quick to add that creating rigorous study abroad programs for UCCS students, research opportunities for faculty and students, and creating strategic partnerships with other institutions is equally important. This spring, students from a French university studied political science at UCCS and Shull hopes to complete agreements with a South Korean university that allow students to study one year in Korea and another at UCCS. Students from Brazil and Nepal will come to UCCS in the fall 2012 and spring 2013.

Shull came to UCCS in 2009 as the international coordinator for the College of Education. In that role, he worked with the Daegu English Village in Daegu, South Korea, to improve its partnership with UCCS. He built on previous experiences with a Mexican university and a U.S. company doing business in Mexico to create several international partnerships, run language programs and establish offices involving international initiatives.

For more information about the Office of International Affairs, visit http://www.uccs.edu/international/