To promote cultural diversity and international business to students on campus, the Dillard College of Business Administration will be hosting Dillard International Week from Feb. 11-13.

 “It’s an opportunity for us to celebrate the culture heritages and the international education that we have here on campus,” Robert Forrester, member of the Dillard International Week Committee and chair of the economics, finance and general business in the Dillard College of Business Administration, said. 

The week’s activities start off on Tuesday, Feb. 11 with International Studies presentations from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Room 189 in Dillard. These presentations will cover the five study abroad opportunities available at the university, namely London, Spain, France, Prague and Grenada. Forrester, who will also be one of the presenters on that day, said this session will allow students to find out more about these programs as well as the financial aid available to them.

“There are many students, who may not have a passport yet, who may not have ever been on an airplane, they may not have ever been outside of Texas,” Forrester said, “Now they have the opportunity, while at college, to study abroad. We want to share that with them so they know what opportunities are available to them.”

On Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. in Room 101, five groups of international students will be presenting on their respective home countries. These countries include St. Kitts and Nevis, Vietnam, India and Grenada. The student groups will elaborate on the cultural and lifestyle differences between living in their countries as opposed to the United States. Forrester said these presentations are meant to expose students, mainly American students, to the various foreign cultures of their international counterparts.

In the evening, from 6:30 to 7:30 in Room 189, there will be the Zavala Hispanic Cultural Initiative. This event will cover the importance of the census to different ethnicities.

“The purpose of it is to explain how the government gets involved with counting for the census and what the importance of everyone being counted is to different cultures,” Forrester said.

Finally, from 11 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. in Room 101, there will be a Streich Lecture on global business and agribusiness trends. Cleophus Franklin Jr., CEO of Franklin Strategic Solutions and a veteran entrepreneur with 30 years of business experience, will be the presenter for this lecture. 

Tony Dunkerley, another committee member and instructor of agribusiness in Dillard, said the topic of the lecture is meant to break the stereotypical views that many students have about agriculture as a career field. He also said Franklin’s lecture will help give students a real-life understanding of the importance of global business.

“The world today is not nearly as big as what people think it is,” Dunkerley said. “The days that you’re going to do everything in one business in one country and be super successful might be getting limited.”

Dillard International Week Schedule:

Tuesday, Feb. 11

• International Student Presentation – Dillard Building Room 121

11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 12

• Student Presentations – Dillard Building Room 101

11:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m. 

• Zavala Hispanic Cultural Initiative – Dillard Building Room 189

6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 13

• Streich Lecture – Dillard Building Room 101

11:00 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.