Welcome. I am honored to have you in Boulder, and on campus here at the Wolf Law Building. We are pleased for the opportunity to show you our campus' expanding international connections.

Please allow me to give you a brief overview of the University of Colorado Boulder as the state's flagship university.

  • We are a comprehensive national and international research university of nearly 30,000 students, including more than 5,100 graduate students.
  • Twelve students were offered Fulbright Grants this spring to pursue teaching, research and graduate studies abroad.
  • CU-Boulder offers 3,600 courses in 150 fields of study.
  • We are expecting in the neighborhood of 5,500 new freshmen this fall.
    • 1,000 with 4.0 high school grade-point averages.
    • 25 percent with GPAs of 3.8 or better.
  • We confer more than 7,000 degrees a year and produce one-third of the state's Ph.D. graduates.
  • Our federally sponsored research funding was more than $381 million last year.
  • CU-Boulder is home to five Nobel laureates.

CU's internationalization initiatives
Our strategic plan, Flagship 2030, sets the groundwork for establishing CU-Boulder as a global campus and now those plans are fully in motion. Our goal is to “Bring CU to the world, and the world to CU.”  It's notable that Colorado's international students contribute $253 million annually to the state economy, of which $49 million comes from CU-Boulder students.

A campus internationalization task force has recruited students worldwide and developed cultural and academic support services for them. Those efforts are paying dividends: CU's international student population has grown by 30 percent the last five years, and we plan to grow by another 50 percent in the next five years.

One focus of our internationalization initiative is to formally reach out to prospective international students and their parents. In July I will be joined by a small CU-Boulder contingent on a seven-day outreach in China, meeting with newly enrolled and prospective students, their parents and alumni in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, where we also have alumni chapters. Typically China is the top foreign country represented in our freshman class.

CU-Boulder a global crossroads
Today we have 1,643 international students from 80 countries. We project to nearly double that to 3,000 by 2015, which will represent 10 percent of the student body.  An outstanding body of international scholars who come from the world over to teach and to conduct research on our campus join our international students. CU-Boulder has more than 854 international visiting scholars.

All of our international programs and dimensions are growing.  More students are studying abroad—1,200—up 23 percent from five years ago. We have more cooperative faculty research, more faculty and student exchanges, and increased international content in our classes.

Leeds School of Business Global Initiatives
One example of increased international curriculum is the Leeds School of Business Global Initiatives, which prepares students to perform at a high level within global businesses and diverse cultures.

One of the most exciting classes we started last year for freshmen is the First-Year Global Experience. It's a two-credit course culminating in a 10-day international studies trip.

The course includes topics on international business, cultural competency, leadership, and teamwork, and also includes an in-depth perspective about the region visited. During the trip, students meet government officials and business leaders ranging from executives to local entrepreneurs. It was so successful in its debut this year that next spring we are planning nine sections of the course with destinations to Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Germany, Italy, Panama, Spain and UK/Ireland.

The goals are to enhance student knowledge and understanding of international business, develop an appreciation of cultural differences and expose the student to foreign business practices.

Internationally diverse campus offers global perspective to all students
This diversity of international students, faculty, curriculum and experiences on campus lends a global richness to higher education—in and out of the classroom, gives all students broader cultural understanding and perspective, and offers students a more complete view of the world. A global education prepares our graduates and Colorado citizens to be competitive in the world marketplace.

International research
As you know, part of our state constitutional mission is that of a comprehensive research university. Our extensive global research connections help Colorado industries maintain a competitive advantage. Vice Chancellor for Research Stein Sture will speak more about that in a moment.

I'm pleased with our progress in globalization efforts, but our work is only beginning. We are excited to share our efforts with you because we think this work is very important. Thank you for joining us. Please enjoy today's program.