Authorized under Title VI, part b of the Higher Education Act

1. The Kelley International Trade (KIT) Connector. The IU CIBER proposes to develop a structured, online service for companies consisting of four sections: tutorials, market research, reference materials, and networking opportunities. The KIT Connector will be provided on a subscription basis and will be publicized through the Indiana Department of Commerce. The market research section will feature the Global Connector, a specialized IB web search engine developed by the Kelley School’s Global Business Information Network with support from CIBER. The networking section will provide an online discussion forum for subscribers, service providers of various kinds, and a Mentor Corps. The tutorials will make use of the Kelley School’s experience with an Online MBA.

3. Conferences. In collaboration with IU’s area studies and international programs as well as such organizations as the Kelley School’s Global Business Information Network, the IU CIBER will cosponsor major regional semi-annual IB conferences.

As a leading Land Grant University, Michigan State University now has well over a century of international education and research experience, extensive work abroad on every continent, and more than 25,000 international alumni. Some 3,500 international students and scholars make MSU their home annually, and more than 2,000 MSU students study abroad each year. MSU’s twenty-five internationally focused area studies centers, thematic institutes, and offices housed throughout the campus, many within colleges, lead and support MSU’s international activity. Many hundreds of faculty work individually and collectively to define and implement international efforts.

The Eli Broad College of Business and Graduate School of Management is a world-class business school. The full-time MBA program has just been ranked 12^th overall in the nation by the Wall Street Journal (2001), and 4^th best among public institutions. Its undergraduate programs have been ranked 16^th in the nation by U.S. News and World Report (2001). Broad School graduates have been praised for “teamwork skills…ability to drive results… leadership potential…and quality of graduates” (WSJ, 30 April 2001). Broad School just launched new degree programs in Global Logistics and Global Manufacturing Management. Recently inaugurated The James B. Henry Center for Executive Development will house the Weekend MBA program, and feature latest educational tools and business technologies for multi-disciplinary, advanced education programs.

An integral component of Broad School’s and MSU’s international thrust, the MSU-CIBER has established itself as a national leader in all of the program areas mandated by the authorizing legislation. For over a decade, it has been singled out as the leading national resource center in international business education by independent evaluators. Its activities are designed to benefit the business and educational community and the public sector --both regionally and nationally. The principal thrust of these programs is to enhance the international and foreign language dimensions of business and professional education, and to promote interdisciplinary perspectives in learning. While the immediate objective of the MSU-CIBER activities is to provide instruction and training to students, faculty, staff, and the business community, its long-term mission is to contribute to the preparation of well-informed business leaders and a globally competitive U.S. economy.

For 2002-2006, Michigan State University CIBER has formulated an ambitious work agenda that reflects the new vision it has adopted: Excellence in International Business Education: Total Global Culture, Best Practice, and National Impact. Specifically, it proposes to implement some 52 new or continued projects across ten programmatic thrusts. These projects blend the vast resources of The Broad Business College and the larger university with distinctive competences of the Center. They are highly visible, high-impact activities that meet and exceed the requirements of the authorizing legislation.

The proposed projects include innovative initiatives such as the Global Management Certificate Program; unique offerings in business languages (e.g., Community Connections Project for Business Languages; the Web Template for Foreign Business Attraction); strong emphasis on faculty development (e.g., the Historically Black Colleges and Universities project; International Business Institute for Community College Faculty); and Internet-mediated learning programs in both academic and business outreach. These projects represent not only new and innovative initiatives but provide a good balance between those activities that cater to the needs of MSU constituents and those that benefit audiences beyond the campus. An enviable track record and a talented staff, coupled with close guidance by its Advisory Council, constitute an excellent foundation for MSU-CIBER to sustain its leadership among national resource centers in international business.

In developing the proposed projects, the Center staff and the advisory council considered the Center’s experience over the past twelve years, as well as the needs, regionally and nationally, of its constituents. Given the impact MSU has made nationally in the areas of business outreach, faculty development, global competitiveness research, and teaching of foreign languages for business, these activities will be continued. Over the next four years, MSU-CIBER will place special emphasis on the following initiatives. First, the Center will integrate web-based learning technologies into many of its activities. Examples are the launching of the Global Management Certificate Program, expansion of its leading knowledge web portal for international business (www.globaledge.msu.edu), and offering of new diagnostic tools for executives on its widely acclaimed website.

A second thrust will be a series of innovative projects in the instruction of business languages. MSU has been a national resource for faculty teaching Business German. It also features extensive offerings in such areas as Business Russian and Business Mandarin. Working closely with MSU’s national resource center for foreign languages, CLEAR (Center for Language Education and Research), MSU-CIBER will implement ambitious projects in the development of pedagogical materials for business languages and development of language instructors.

Third, MSU-CIBER will foster its campus linkages to develop new interdisciplinary programs. These include collaboration with MSU’s six other Title VI national resource centers, including CLEAR, as well as numerous academic units. Examples of collaboration include the CIBER-NRC Consortium for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Fourth, MSU-CIBER will expand its extensive portfolio of faculty development programs to cater to a larger number of business and language faculty nationally. New specific workshops and institutes are planned, including two new Roundtables in its national invitational conference series. The third in the series, the Roundtable Study Abroad Programs in Business Schools, was just held September 2001 in East Lansing, Michigan, and resulted in two resource books that are being disseminated among faculty and administrators nationwide. A special topic which was discussed with a select group of experts was risk and security issues in study abroad programs in the wake of global terrorism. MSU is a national leader in study abroad programs and has accumulated much experience in implementing study abroad and internship programs, especially in non-traditional destinations such as Latin America and East Asia.

Fifth, the Center, in collaboration with a team of faculty and cooperating companies, will initiate new research projects on the global competitiveness of U.S. industries. These research projects will investigate such issues as global supply chain management, best practice in global logistics, international entrepreneurship, and knowledge management in multinational companies. Sixth, MSU-CIBER will implement a proactive resource dissemination program to share its extensive instructional materials, resource books, best-practice research findings, and practical diagnostic tools, with a nationwide group of users. Dissemination will employ both conventional as well as technology-mediated channels.

Having distinguished itself as a leading national resource center for more than a decade, the Center is ready to embark upon an even more ambitious agenda for the new funding cycle. With considerable past success and national impact, MSU-CIBER intends to reach greater heights in internationalization projects. While many of its successful programs will be continued during the new grant period, the Center will initiate activities that target new constituents, address existing audiences with fresh approaches, and create new models that can be adopted by other institutions nationwide.

The new vision is expressed as a set of guiding principles, and reprinted here as an attachment to the Abstract. These principles reflect a philosophy in which a total global culture permeates all aspects of MSU-CIBER’s work agenda —curriculum enrichment, faculty development, business outreach and training, research on global competitiveness, and resource sharing.

The senior leadership of MSU, including President M. Peter McPherson and Provost Lou Anna K. Simon, has enthusiastically endorsed the vision and the work agenda. The University has also renewed its generous financial and operational commitment to the Center for the next funding cycle. To secure the continuation of the federal support for MSU-CIBER, Michigan State University will commit a total of over $4.8 million to Center-related activities over the next four-years, of which $1.6 million is a cash match ($400,000 per year). This amount includes contributions from the Broad College Dean, the Provost, Vice President for Research, and Vice Provost for Libraries, Computing, and Technology. The substantial matching fund contribution by MSU effectively reduces the federal funding request to less than 30 percent of the total Center budget. With this level of institutional support, MSU-CIBER is well poised to embark upon the next phase of national distinction in international business education and research.