U.S. Embassy Awards $300,000 Grant to UC to Build on Partnerships in Iraq

The University of Cincinnati was awarded a $300,000 grant through the Public Diplomacy Grants Program to build an alumni university program with Iraq, as the U.S. continues efforts to rebuild Iraq’s educational system and economy.  The program is administered through the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

The alumni university program will benefit educators in Iraq who have previously participated in nation-building programs sponsored by the U.S. Embassy. In 2010, UC was among a handful of the nation’s universities that were selected to participate in a

three-year University Linkages Program (ULP) with Salahaddin University-Hawler

– a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. The new grant will expand on that partnership and develop course materials and workshops to support professionals in higher education as well as community leaders in Iraq. As those professionals gain experience through the program, they will become trainers for other Iraqi participants.

“The Alumni University program will feature professional development workshops for leaders in higher education and the community – workshops that emphasize civic and cultural leadership,” says Holly Johnson, associate dean for innovation and opportunity in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH). “We want to prepare participants for leadership roles on the local, regional and national level – preparing a select group of alumni from the former linkages programs to lead workshops in exchange programs and overseas studies, leadership development, public speaking and grant writing,” Johnson says.

UC’s colleges represented in the former linkages program with Iraq, CECH and the Carl H. Lindner College of Business, will continue to be participants in the alumni university program and will expand UC’s institutional partnerships beyond Salahaddin University-Hawler in Iraq with Iraqi nationals from across a number of universities, including Basrah University and the University of Baghdad.

UC will begin hosting “train-the-trainer” sessions with Iraqi educators toward the end of March in Cincinnati, with plans for future workshops to be conducted later in the spring.

UC’s Academic Master Plan emphasizes global engagement

and the expansion of international partnerships and faculty engagement.