[295] MTSU Welcomes New Leader For International Education

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 3, 2011
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

MTSU WELCOMES NEW LEADER FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
Dr. David A. Schmidt to Move Forward on Global Student Recruitment, Study Abroad

(MURFREESBORO) – Dr. David A. Schmidt, former director of the Bechtel International Center and associate professor of Japanese at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Cal., will fill the newly created position of Vice Provost for International Affairs at Middle Tennessee State University effective April 1, 2011.
Schmidt will take over for Dr. John Omachonu, who has presided over international education at MTSU since August 2010 while the institution conducted a search for vice-provost candidates.
“David brings to our institution a wealth of experience and leadership skills,” says Dr. Bradley N. Bartel, University Provost. “He has had great success at institutions building international enrollment and working on such important areas as international partnerships and study-abroad opportunities for students.”
An educator with decades of administrative experience, Schmidt led Pacific’s Bechtel Center for more than six years until October 2010. He also increased international student enrollment at Pacific 104 percent annually over the past four years.
“In the year 2011, if your campus is not global or is not attempting to become global, shame on you,” says Schmidt.
As of fall 2010, 400 international students from more than 60 countries attended MTSU. The new vice provost says MTSU students should have the chance to engage with people from everywhere in the world, both on campus and in study-abroad experiences.
“(Study abroad) really isn’t as expensive as some people might think, for the most part,” asserts Schmidt. “If it’s structured properly, university students can and should be able to go abroad for the same cost of what they’re (spending to attend) MTSU with the exception of air fare and perhaps a slight difference in the cost of living, depending on where they’re going.”
Schmidt’s affection for Southeast Asia stems from being born and reared in Japan. He speaks fluent Japanese and is proficient in Korean. His wife of five months, Yuchun, is from Taiwan. Schmidt says he is very comfortable with the increasing worldwide interest in China, exemplified by the presence on campus of the Confucius Institute.
“I’m a huge advocate of second language learning, whether you’re going to use it in future life or not,” says Schmidt. “I’d like to see enrollments go up in Chinese language learning and particularly opportunities for students to go to China.”

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However, recent events in the Middle East, especially the upheaval in the governments of Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan, pique his interest in possible institutional partnerships in that part of the world.
“If there are any gaps or holes, you should look for areas where it complements the expertise of your faculty and, oftentimes, especially in these times, where people see a gap for experience is in the Middle East,” says Schmidt.
In addition to the University of the Pacific, Schmidt’s experience includes the directorship of the Institute for Global Studies in the University of Wisconsin System from January 2002 to May 2004 and Fellowships Coordinator at the Yale Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University from August 2000 to January 2002.
His education abroad experiences include stints at two institutions with which MTSU has formed partnerships, Yonsei University in South Korea and Kansai Gaidai University in Japan. In addition, he was a visiting faculty member at another of MTSU’s international partners, Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, in 2006.
Schmidt earned his bachelor’s degree in history and political science from the University of Wisconsin, his master’s degree in Japanese from The Ohio State University and his doctorate in higher education administration from St. Louis University.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For a color jpeg portrait of Dr. David A. Schmidt, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Media Relations at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.



Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree—the only one in Tennessee—as a model program. Recently, MTSU unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.