GeerStreet LLC (http://geerstreet.com) successfully hosted a live webinar on Tuesday, May 1 entitled: “America’s HBCUs and International Education: Opportunities in the Middle East.” Attendees included representatives from several prominent Historically Black Colleges and Universities as well as academics from Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
“This is a wonderful achievement for us,” said Donald Baker, GeerStreet CEO. “This event is the culmination of about three years of discussions, brainstorming, planning and re-planning to identify an approach to engage HBCUs to begin the dialog.” Mr. Baker hosted the program along with Ibrahim Siddiq, GeerStreet Managing Partner for International Education Services. Both Mr. Baker and Mr. Siddiq are HBCU alumni (North Carolina Central University) Dr. Hakim Rashid, a professor of Education at Howard University served as program moderator.
The event, conducted live across three countries: the United States, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, was attended by about one dozen representatives from various HBCUs, including an professor from a Saudi university. According to Mr. Siddiq, invitations were extended to a number of Saudi academics and professionals – both men and women – to participate in this event. “We received responses from all invitees, and expect to continue correspondence and participation for future events such as this,” he said.
The dialog was bolstered as well by contribution by Meldon Hollis, Associate Director of the White House Initiative for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Mr Hollis summarized a recent agreement reached between the United States and Brazil to promote and expand academic exchange opportunities between U.S. Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Brazilian universities. He provided significant insight to the support possible from the Obama administration to improve the participation of African American students and professionals in the global arena.
With this first live webinar, GeerStreet LLC has established a momentum for future dialog with HBCUs. Dr. Hakim expressed his appreciation to the attendants and their participation, as well as the promise of “continued dialog to explore international opportunities for HBCUs.” GeerStreet expects to schedule future live webinar events in the coming months
Posted By: Ibrahim Siddiq
Thursday, May 3rd 2012 at 2:44PM
