Liebowitz attends D.C. summit
Bush unveils initiative to boost language studies
Kathryn Flagg
Issue date: 1/12/06 Section: News
Middlebury College President Ronald D. Liebowitz joined over 100 other college presidents last week in Washington, D.C., for the Defense Department's Summit on International Education. During the two-day summit, President George W. Bush unveiled a plan to strengthen the foreign language skills of American students. For Middlebury College and the recently affiliated Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS), this proposal brings to the forefront of national attention a focus on the study of foreign languages already inherent in the College's curriculum.
"We both offer languages at the center of what we do in international education," said Liebowitz in reference to the College and MIIS. "Now this has become a major, central focus of the Bush administration."
Under this new plan, Bush will request $114 million in the 2007 fiscal year to fund the National Security Language Initiative. Approximately three quarters of this initial investment will come from the State and Education Departments. Additionally, the Department of Defense would earmark more than $750 million from 2007 to 2011 to train personnel in "critical languages." Bush did not, at last week's two-day summit in D.C., speak to the gathered college presidents regarding the much larger language initiative that will come through the Defense Department.
The President's request will be made formally in his budget proposal for the 2007 fiscal year. The initiative will also create a new National Language Services Corps of teachers and translators for the armed services and will strive to produce 1,000 new teachers of Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Hindi, Russian and other "critical languages." The budget proposal also includes plans for producing 2,000 advanced speakers of these critical langues by 2009, increasing funding for scholarships and creating new summer immersion programs.
Bush also spoke about the importance of facilitating the study of international students in America, and announced plans to expand the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program to bring additional native speakers of critical languages to the United States. The president vowed to "find that proper balance between security and letting people come to our universities," a promise that garnered the loudest applause from the college presidents according to the Chronicle for Higher Education.
"We both offer languages at the center of what we do in international education," said Liebowitz in reference to the College and MIIS. "Now this has become a major, central focus of the Bush administration."
Under this new plan, Bush will request $114 million in the 2007 fiscal year to fund the National Security Language Initiative. Approximately three quarters of this initial investment will come from the State and Education Departments. Additionally, the Department of Defense would earmark more than $750 million from 2007 to 2011 to train personnel in "critical languages." Bush did not, at last week's two-day summit in D.C., speak to the gathered college presidents regarding the much larger language initiative that will come through the Defense Department.
The President's request will be made formally in his budget proposal for the 2007 fiscal year. The initiative will also create a new National Language Services Corps of teachers and translators for the armed services and will strive to produce 1,000 new teachers of Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Hindi, Russian and other "critical languages." The budget proposal also includes plans for producing 2,000 advanced speakers of these critical langues by 2009, increasing funding for scholarships and creating new summer immersion programs.
Bush also spoke about the importance of facilitating the study of international students in America, and announced plans to expand the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program to bring additional native speakers of critical languages to the United States. The president vowed to "find that proper balance between security and letting people come to our universities," a promise that garnered the loudest applause from the college presidents according to the Chronicle for Higher Education.