9:00 – 10:00 (Optional Program for Thursday arrivees)
Tour of Engineering Labs and
Projects
Tour of URI’s Language Learning
Resource Center and Screening Room
9:00 - 10:30 Coffee and Danish:
Lobby of Kirk Center for Advanced Technology
10:30 Opening Session
Cherry Auditorium, Kirk Center
Welcome
M. Beverly Swan – Provost and Vice President for Academic
Affairs, University of Rhode
Island
John M. Grandin – Professor of German, IEP Executive
Director, University of Rhode Island
10:45
Panel I
Global Engineering: Real
World Needs. Moderator: Doris Kirchner, Associate Professor
of German, University of Rhode Island
James Orchard – CEO, ZF Group North America,
Florence, Kentucky
Frank McMahon – VP for Engineering, Hilti North America,
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Robert Richer – Director of Human Resources, Brown &
Sharpe Manufacturing Company, North Kingstown, RI
Walter Giraitis – Principle Technical Support Engineer,
Parametric Technology Corporation, Waltham,
Massachusetts
12:00 Luncheon in the Galanti Lounge, URI Library
12:45
Panel II
Student Perspectives: Germany
& France. Moderator: Richard Vandeputte, Assistant Dean, College
of Engineering; Director, International Engineering Program in French, University
of Rhode Island
Michael Schroff
Jennifer Dail
Matthew Zimmerman
1:30
Panel III
International Engineering:
Public Policy Perspectives. Moderator: Maria-Regina
Kecht, Associate Professor of German; Director, Center for the Study of Languages, Rice University
Sandra Newkirk – Director, Fund for the Improvement of
Postsecondary Education, U.S.
Department of Education, Washington, D.C.
Thomas C. Rozzell – National Academy of Engineering,
Washington, D.C.
Manfred Nettekoven – Associate Director, German Academic
Exchange Service, New York, New York
Robert Shoenberg – American Council on Education,
Washington, D.C.
3:00
Break
3:30
Panel IV
International Engineering
Education in Practice: Part I. Moderator: Walter von Reinhart, Assistant Professor of German,
University of Rhode Island
MIT Germany Program
Bernd Widdig – Associate Professor of German Studies,
Director MIT Germany Program
Sigrid Berka – MIT Germany Program Coordinator
The URI/Braunschweig Exchange
Peter Nübold – Director of the Language
Institute, Technische Universität Braunschweig
The Global E3 Project
Lester A. Gerhardt – Professor and Associate Dean of
Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute
Working with Spain and Latin
America
Robert Manteiga – Professor of Spanish & Comparative
Literature; Director, IEP in Spanish,
University of Rhode Island
5:15
Tour of URI's IEP House
Introduction:
Kathleen Maher, Assistant Director
for Outreach & Administration, International Engineering
Program, University of Rhode Island
Tours led by House Residents
6:00
Reception at Home of URI
President Robert L. Carothers
7:00
Dinner at IEP House
8:00
Keynote Address
Introduction: Winifred
E. Brownell, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University
of Rhode Island
“Higher Education’s
Greatest Challenge.”
Sarah T. Dowling
Chairperson, Rhode Island Board
of Governors for Higher Education
