2026 AIEA Annual Conference

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Pre-Conference Workshops

AIEA pre-conference workshops offer deep-dives into issues related to leading comprehensive internationalization, often in partnership with sister associations. From “Developing an International Partnership Strategy” to “Strategic Budgeting”, workshops provide in-depth training and cohort-based reflection on critical, timely topics. Adding workshops to your conference registration – or signing up for them individually – is easy with our registration form.

From Purpose to Practice: Exploring Consulting Pathways in International Education

January 22  
1:00 – 3:30 pm ET
Chair: Rajika Bhandari

As the international education landscape evolves, many professionals are reimagining their careers and seeking new ways to apply their expertise. This interactive workshop offers a guided exploration of consulting as a meaningful next step—whether full-time or alongside other pursuits. Participants will learn how to develop the needed mindset and identify their transferable skills; explore potential consulting scenarios; and gain practical strategies for designing flexible, purpose-driven career pathways within and beyond higher education.

Participants will:

• Reflect on their own professional expertise and identify transferable skills that lend themselves to consulting work;
• Understand different models of consulting within international education and the broader nonprofit/education sectors;
• ​Assess whether consulting aligns with their professional and personal goals at this stage of their career;
• Learn key steps to get started—such as defining a consulting focus, identifying potential clients, and communicating their value;
• Gain practical strategies for exploring consulting as a flexible, purpose-driven pathway during times of transition or career growth.
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Developing Proficiencies in the Domains of Professional Practice for Aspiring Senior International Leaders

February 3  
1:00 – 3:30 pm ET
Chair: Todd Lee Goen, ​Presenters: Leslie Bozeman, Chrishon Blackwell, Chrissie Faupel, Elizabeth Langridge-Noti
Special Price – $25 for all participants

Professional development is essential for acquiring the skills and proficiencies necessary to serve in a senior international leadership role. This workshop guides aspiring senior international leaders in using the four broad domains of AIEA’s Standards of Professional Practice to acquire the skills and abilities necessary for such roles. Using their own experiences and professional growth, presenters will share their paths to developing the proficiencies with each domain. They will also guide participants in the development of a personalized plan for advancing their professional development with these standards.

Participants will:

• Identify and describe the four domains of AIEA’s Standards of Professional Practice and their relevance to senior international leadership;
• ​Assess their current professional strengths and areas for growth within each domain;
• Analyze examples from experienced leaders to understand how specific proficiencies can be developed through intentional professional practice;
• ​Apply the Standards framework to articulate a clear, personalized plan for advancing their professional development;
• Set measurable goals for cultivating the competencies, mindsets, and leadership behaviors associated with effective senior international officers.

Strategic Budgeting and Resource Management for International Education Leaders

February 10  
2:00 pm- 4:30 pm
Presenters: Jill Blondin, Paulo Zagalo-Melo

Strategic budgeting is essential for attaining an institution’s internationalization goals. This interactive workshop focuses on budgeting strategies and resource management, and provides participants from all areas of international education with the knowledge and tools to build a budgeting system for the international office. The workshop will also help participants to align the goals for internationalization initiatives with the institution’s vision, mission, and priorities.

Participants will:

• Understand strategic budgeting, financial sustainability, and the key factors leading implementation of budget models for internationalization structures and processes;
• Learn how to implement a budgeting system adequate to your international office and/or the typical internationalization units;
• Gain an understanding in how to align budgeting with the strategic priorities of the institution;
• Identify revenue-generating initiatives aligned with the goals and budget models of international offices and/or their typical units.

AIEA/IIE Workshop:
Developing an International Partnership Strategy

February 16  
8:00 am – 12:00 pm ET
Chair: Sylvia Jons, Presenters:Tim Barnes, Cori Crisfield, Susan Buck Sutton, Stacy Burger

This workshop explores how your institution can develop a purposeful international partnership strategy that results in an effective portfolio of linkages that advance the institution, engage a wide range of faculty, staff, and students, and can be sustained over time. Experienced practitioners provide research findings, practical knowledge, and models for establishing the goals, criteria, policies, supports, and processes that foster partnership success and bring clarity and intentionality to partnership decision-making. Geared towards international education professionals with several years of experience, especially those who are responsible for partnership building at their institutions, the workshop equips participants with the basics of how to plan, organize, initiate, sustain, and evaluate partnerships between their home institutions and those in other countries.

Participants will:

• Understand the current academic partnership landscape and current ways of defining international academic partnerships.
• Learn methods for preparing your campus for partnerships and setting a partnership strategy.
• ​Learn about ways to initiate, expand, sustain, and evaluate partnerships.​

What is this Moment Calling Us to Do? A Socratic Inquiry into Internationalization Drift​

February 16  
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm ET
Presenters: Melanie Agnew, Moreen Travis Carvan

This interactive workshop employs the Socratic method to examine fundamental assumptions underlying internationalization. Participants will engage in systematic questioning to identify internationalization drift—the deviation from educational missions toward market-driven goals. Through guided inquiry examining institutional culture and leadership capacity, attendees will explore tensions and paradoxes, engaging in the frame-breaking dialogue necessary to challenge existing paradigms. The session emphasizes transformative dialogue and institutional analysis rather than passive knowledge transfer, positioning internationalization as higher education’s emerging fourth macro mission.

Learning Outcomes: Participants will be able to:

• Engage collectively in guided questioning to examine assumptions about internationalization that often go unquestioned, recognizing each participant as someone who can create change within their institution.
• Identify gaps between what institutions say about internationalization and what they actually do to explore how market pressures influence these decisions.
• Use a practical assessment framework to analyze how institutional culture, governance structures, and academic disciplines shape internationalization efforts.
• Build understanding together through active discussion rather than passive listening, challenging conventional thinking about internationalization’s purpose.
•  Develop actionable responses to the question “What is this moment calling us to do?” based on shared analysis of where internationalization is heading.

Maximizing the Role of SIO: A Leadership Development Workshop

February 16  
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm ET
Presenters: Hilary Kahn, Vesna Dimitrieska

To be effective change agents, SIOs must navigate divergent contexts, rationales, and politics at institutions and beyond. This leadership development workshop will help SIOs build consensus and advance internationalization, by working more effectively across communication styles, roles, and priorities. Utilizing various role playing and scenario settings, where participants explore the complexity of stakeholder voices, motivations, and practices, SIOs will better understand the landscapes in which they work and advance international engagement.

Participants will:

• Develop a deeper understanding of institutional complexities to be more effective leaders and change agents; 
• Become equipped with ways to anticipate obstacles, address resistance, and initiate change; 
• Understand how to engage stakeholders more meaningfully to advance internationalization; 
• ​Create an action roadmap for stakeholder engagement and consensus building

The Path Forward: Preparing for Your Next Leadership Role

February 16
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm ET
Presenter: Carolyn Stefanco

This workshop will both encourage participants to dream big about their careers, and engage them in a step-by-step process to chart their path to success. In short presentations, group work, and individual exercises, we will identify the education, experience, skills, and qualities they have now and may need to attain to move into their desired roles at institutions of higher education and with other employers. Participants will also learn tips to improve how they present their professional accomplishments.

Participants will:

• Reflect on their motivation for seeking a new role, create aspirational short-and long-term career goals, and consider limiting factors in their future job search
• ​Learn how to analyze position descriptions and “map” them to their current curriculum vitae/resumé
• Draft an individual professional development plan to guide their efforts in preparing for their next role