Article Tag Archives: Institute for Academic Outreach

Institute Partners with Chinese Education Provider for U.S.-Based Programs

Truman’s Institute for Academic Outreach (IAO) has established a partnership that will bring Chinese students to America for summer programming and also creates branches of existing University programs overseas.

Representatives from the University traveled to Beijing, China, in November 2013 to finalize an agreement with the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP). The partnership with FLTRP, which comes after more than a year of formal discussion and planning, will open the door to new opportunities for international recruitment, intercultural understanding and enhanced revenue.

Beginning in 2014, the IAO will manage two programs in partnership with FLTRP. The first will be a study tour for Chinese middle school students involving a bi-coastal tour of the United States and a five-day intensive session on Truman’s campus. The second program will be a language academy operating jointly with the University’s Joseph Baldwin Academy. The program will offer a course in Chinese language and culture to American middle school students and a parallel course in English to visiting Chinese students, both housed on Truman’s campus.

The agreement also envisions the establishment of a small-scale satellite operation of Truman’s Joseph Baldwin Academy at the FLTRP’s International Convention Centre in Beijing as early as 2016-2017. It would serve both visiting American students as well as Chinese students from outside Beijing.

For more information on IAO summer programs for youth, visit tiacademies.truman.edu.

Office Renamed Institute for Academic Outreach

Effective Jan. 1, 2014, the office formerly known as the Truman Institute became the Institute for Academic Outreach (IAO). At the same time, Kevin Minch, director of the Truman Institute and professor of communication, assumed the title of associate vice president for academic affairs.

These changes were implemented to clarify the responsibilities of the office for external as well as internal audiences, and to better reflect the current scope of its portfolio.

The Truman Institute name was fitting, and sufficiently broad when the office was created in 2009. However, the name resulted in confusion when talking to potential partners off campus. The new label is more in keeping with language used to describe offices across the country that manage continuing education, extension efforts and lifelong learning programs.

“The new name better reflects our range of projects,” Minch said. “We are now managing multiple summer programs—both international and domestic—summer and interim sessions, conferences and events, professional development programming, online instruction, early enrollment programs and some limited aspects of graduate education.”

In a day where search engines play such an important role in marketing and recruitment, “Truman Institute,” Minch said, has not provided sufficient specificity to point users to the right resources on campus.

The Institute will retain the moniker “Truman Institute Summer Academies” as the umbrella title for its growing portfolio of summer programs for youth to maintain continuity with existing marketing.
The Institute will also maintain its existing web domain at institute.truman.edu.