GSHE Distinguished Speaker Series Presents Patti McGill Peterson

Patti McGill Peterson, a senior associate at the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) will be giving a free public talk titled “Liberal Education in Global Perspective” on Monday, April 11, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. at 336 Ingraham Hall.

Peterson will visit UW-Madison under the auspices of the Global Studies in Higher Education (GSHE) initiative.

About Patti McGill Peterson

Patti McGill Peterson
Patti McGill Peterson is currently a senior associate at the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Prior to joining IHEP, she served as executive director of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) and vice president of the Institute of International Education (IIE) from 1997 to 2007. CIES, a division of IIE, coordinates international educational exchange with 150 nations and assists the U.S. government with the administration of the Fulbright Scholar Program.

Previously, Peterson was senior fellow at Cornell University’s Institute for Public Affairs where her work focused on the nonprofit sector and its role in shaping public policy in the United States and abroad. Peterson holds the title of president emerita at Wells College and St. Lawrence University, two liberal arts institutions, where she held presidencies from 1980 to 1996. She has served as chair of the U.S.-Canada Commission for Educational Exchange, National Women’s College Coalition, Salzburg Seminar on International Academic Mobility, American Council on Education’s Commission on Governmental Affairs and Public Leadership Education Network, and she is a past president of the Association of Colleges and Universities of the State of New York.

Peterson has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pennsylvania State University and Master of Arts and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She did post-graduate study at Harvard University. Her board memberships include the University of Wisconsin’s LaFollette School of Public Affairs, Council of International Education Exchange, and Ford Foundation’s International Fellowship Program. She speaks and publishes on the subjects of the United States and international higher education and public policy as it relates to higher education and third-sector organizations.

An expert on various higher education issues, Peterson is well versed in trends in international higher education, internationalization of U.S. higher education, college and university administration, governance, and academic program development.

About Global Studies in Higher Education at UW-Madison

Global Studies in Higher Education is a collaborative venture of Global Studies, the Department of Educational Policy Studies, and the Division of International Studies. Established to examine the evolving role of a public research university, GSHE operates as an interdisciplinary hub of university administrators, scholars, researchers, and students, and of partners and leaders outside the university. It contributes to UW–Madison’s strengths by considering global change and local impacts in comparative perspective and by creating a forum where participants meet, cross-fertilize, discuss solutions, and generate new intellectual resources and wealth. The project is led by Amy Stambach, assistant dean of the Division of International Studies and professor of Educational Policy Studies, and Gilles Bousquet, vice provost for globalization and dean of the Division of International Studies.

Besides the Distinguished Speaker Series, GSHE also offers opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to engage in discussion of global higher education through a reading group and the International and Comparative Education Research Group (ICERG), which both meet monthly. For more information about the spring speakers, activities, and courses related to GSHE, please visit the project website http://gshe.global.wisc.edu/