International Education Week 2020

The Center for Global Business (CGB) celebrated the global mindset, activities, and research at Maryland Smith via a series of virtual activities during International Education Week (IEW) from November 16-20, 2020. Over 500 members of the school community participated in the activities that took place throughout the week. This nationwide event is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education to celebrate international education and exchange.

The signature event of the week, the annual "Distinguished Speakers Series: Global Competencies for the 21^st Century Workplace," featured a panel moderated by Rebecca Bellinger, executive director of the CGB and Smith alumni including Rachel Yamrus '06, vice president of Wholesale Allowance at JP Morgan Chase & Co., Rishi Kadiwar '05 & MBA '10, experience strategy director of McCann Health New York, Ansa Edim, MBA '16, head of corporate communications at Change.org and Scott Samels '92, global delivery lead — sales order to cash at McCormick & Company. Bellinger facilitated a conversation with panelists about how their role and company have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelists talked about the importance of maintaining relationships in the virtual environment, assessing risk as the global economy continues to evolve, strategizing around supply and demand, and how global events have impacted their industries.

Further discussion focused on the initiatives that have been implemented by the panelists’ respective companies to support diversity, equity, and inclusion. Kadiwar stated "there is no finish line" for these efforts and that McCann Health New York is focused on achieving more diversity amongst its leadership. He was supported by Edim who discussed how Change.org reset their entire business and revenue model this summer to ultimately ensure accountability around diversity at the c-suite level. To further support this point, Yamrus explained JP Morgan Chase & Co.’s efforts to create a more inclusive workplace are part of executives’ annual goals. Finally, Samels explained how McCormick & Company is focused on electing more women and minorities into leadership roles. View the recording of the Distinguished Speaker Series.

The MAPIT Alliance presented "Identifying and Mitigating International Risk" during IEW, a webinar moderated by Bellinger, featuring speakers, Sandor Boyson, former chair, IT/data sub-committee, USDOC committee on supply chain competitiveness, and research professor at Maryland Smith, and Phil Grove, MBA '15, chair, MD-DC District Export Council and international sales manager at Ellicott Dredges. Boyson spoke about how to manage risk when planning for potential disruptions in your supply chain and recommended developing a risk management program and deploying an enterprise risk assessment model to better analyze risk. Grove talked in detail about the risks exporters face as it relates to training your personnel, knowing your consumers, understanding international laws, and how you are getting compensated for your goods and services. The MAPIT Alliance is a partnership of Maryland Smith Center for Global Business, Maryland-D.C. District Export Council, the Maryland Department of Commerce, Office of International Investment and Trade, and the U.S. Export Assistance Center (USEAC) in Baltimore. View the MAPIT Alliance webinar.

New this year was CGB’s collaboration with the College of Arts and Humanities on “IB Careers for Non-Business Majors,” an interactive session featuring representatives from the University Career Center and associate director of CGB, Marina Augoustidis, who exposed undergraduate students to careers in international business and what they can do now to pursue these careers. Also introduced by CGB this year was an interactive digital community wall that allowed members of the Smith community to post stories and photos about how they have kept thinking, acting, and learning globally in 2020. Check out the conversation.

Additional events during IEW included the final IB Agility Lab for the fall semester and an opportunity for students to hear from and network with alumni in select industries about their varying career paths on Smith Day.

International Education Week is a joint initiative of the U.S. Departments of Education and State that celebrates the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide. Learn more about the initiative at the official IEW website. International Education Week at the Smith School is sponsored in part by the Centers for International Business Education, a Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

- By Jordan Heitzner, graduate assistant, Center for Global Business