FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007
Contact: Dave Wellman, Director of Communications, (304) 696-7153
 

Marshall president to give keynote address
at statewide conference on international studies

Marshall University President Stephen J. Kopp will be the opening keynote speaker for the annual conference of the West Virginia Consortium for Faculty and Course Development in International Studies (FACDIS), at 11:45 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, at the Lakeview Resort & Conference Center, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Approximately 130 professors representing all of the West Virginia institutions of higher education and from more than fifteen different disciplines are expected to attend the two-day conference.

Kopp’s speech, entitled "Preparing a West Virginia Citizenry for the Global Economy," is expected to cover current issues and concerns that face West Virginia higher education institutions in the 21st century as they educate their students to live and work in the global environment.

This is the first time a Marshall University president has served as the keynote speaker at a FACDIS conference.

"Since Marshall is one of the founding member institutions of FACDIS," said Dr. David Mills, Assistant Professor of History and Marshall's faculty representative for FACDIS, "I'm pleased that President Kopp supports our faculty's interests in developing the international dimensions of their courses."

FACDIS was founded in 1980 as the result of initiatives by faculty at a number of West Virginia institutions of higher education and a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.  FACDIS is comprised of nearly 400 faculty members and represents all colleges and universities in the state, both public and private.

For more information about FACDIS and the conference schedule, visit http://www.wvu.edu/~facdis/.

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