give to cie

The college years offer significant opportunities for growth and development among students, facilitating the formation of new and lifelong relationships with peers and faculty, refining their sense of identity and helping them to begin making life commitments.  The Center for International Education often plays a pivotal role in this process, supporting international students as they navigate a new culture and educational system, supporting students embarking on new education abroad experiences and supporting faculty in internationalizing the curriculum.  After returning from a study abroad experience, Louis tells us that “studying abroad was probably the single best thing I did at NAU.  It introduced me to so many new things and it helped me learn more about myself and what I'd like to do with my life.”  Louis was one of the lucky few who took advantage of study abroad opportunities.  We want to be able to support many more students in participating in study, research, internship or service learning abroad experiences.

Almost thirty years after graduating from NAU, Samia Ashraf, in gratitude for the transformative role that NAU played in her life, has been sponsoring the Fatima Scholarship that supports female international students from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh for the past five years.  She says that “I had a terrific international student experience (at NAU).”  Dr. Prabhu Mohapatra, also a graduate of NAU with an MSc in Chemistry and now a successful entrepreneur based in Phoenix, attributes who he is today to his experience at NAU.  He says that NAU gave him valuable skills in cultural competency.  These are lives that were directly touched by the Center for International Education and it is crucial that we continue to engage with and support students like Dr. Mohapatra and Ms. Ashraf.
 
The Center for International Education has recently completed a strategic planning effort around global education that has produced a number of recommendations that will transform NAU into a global campus and that will help prepare students to be globally competent.  One of the more consequential recommendations emerging from this process is that global learning should become central to the academic experience of all undergraduates.  These recommendations address what is at the very core of the mission of the Center for International education and represents a historic moment for NAU.

We believe that whether you were an international student at NAU or an American student who had a study abroad experience, that your life was transformed by these international learning experiences.  We encourage you to join the Center for International Education in ensuring that current and future students can have as transformative an experience at NAU as you did when you were here.  The information on the page titled “Giving Priorities” will offer more insight into how you can make a difference in the life of an NAU student and help to advance this important work at NAU.