May 29, 2018
For Immediate Release
Santander Bank-Sponsored Grant Competition Funds Wilfrid Laurier University’s Indigenous Mobility and Curriculum across Borders exchange program with U.S. counterparts
The U.S. Department of State, Partners of the Americas, and NAFSA: Association of International Educators announce the latest Innovation Fund grant winning teams sponsored by Santander Bank in this hemispheric-wide education initiative, including Wilfrid Laurier University’s Indigenous Mobility and Curriculum across Borders exchange program with U.S. counterparts.
Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) of Waterloo, Ontario, with Syracuse University (Syracuse), New York, and Cornell University (Cornell), New York, and University at Buffalo-SUNY (Buffalo), New York, are the new Innovation Fund grant winning teams for Canada with an exchange program Indigenous Mobility and Curriculum across Borders. Connected by the strong and meaningful associations with Indigenous people and territory in their respective locations. WLU, with its multiple partners Syracuse, Cornell, and Buffalo, will collaborate on a pilot exchange program to increase the mobility of Indigenous students between Canada and the United States. The exchange experience will be enriched by research opportunities during which students—in consultation with community-based partners and Indigenous scholars at host institutions—will work together to collect and develop an online database of Indigenous curriculum resources. The program will culminate in a symposium hosted by WLU that will highlight the potential for Indigenous exchange and curriculum in both New York and Ontario, and launch the resources online to a wide network of institutions.
The Innovation Fund inspires U.S. universities and colleges to team up with higher education institutions in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada to build institutional partnerships to increase student exchange and training opportunities. The grant-winning teams will provide sustainable study abroad and training opportunities in agriculture, business, Indigenous studies, language, culture, and STEM fields, among others. Innovation Fund awards are $25,000 each, and additional resources committed by teams of higher education institutions, resulting in an average of 1.5 times more to leverage awards to implement sustainable student exchange and training programs between the United States and the rest of the Western Hemisphere.
Established in January 2014, the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund is the dynamic public-private sector collaboration between the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassies, Partners of the Americas, NAFSA: Association of International Educators, corporations, and foundations working together to stimulate connectivity and strengthen regional education cooperation and competitiveness throughout the Americas. The Innovation Fund inspires U.S. universities and colleges to team up with higher education institutions in the rest of the Western Hemisphere to create new institutional partnerships that will increase student exchange and training opportunities. As of May 2018, the Innovation Fund has awarded 157 grants to teams of 302 higher education institutions in 25 countries in the Western Hemisphere region 41 U.S. states. Innovation Fund grant winning teams work together to build institutional capacity, increase student mobility, provide more training programs, and contribute to workforce development in the Americas. Over 1,750 higher education institutions currently form part of the Innovation Network – with 1,000 universities and colleges in the United States. Learn more and join the Innovation Network: www.100kstrongamericas.org
The mission of Partners of the Americas is to connect people and organizations across borders to serve and to change lives through lasting partnerships. These partnerships create opportunity, foster understanding, and solve real-life problems. Inspired by President Kennedy and founded in 1964, under the Alliance for Progress, Partners is a non-profit, non-partisan organization with international offices in Washington, DC. www.partners.net or @partnersamerica.
With 10,000 members worldwide, NAFSA: Association of International Educators is the largest non-profit professional association dedicated to international education programming and policy. www.nafsa.org or @NAFSA and www.connectingourworld.org or @ConnectOurWorld.
Santander Bank, N.A. is one of the country’s largest retail and commercial banks with $74.5 billion in assets. With its corporate offices in Boston, the Bank’s approximately 9,600 employees, over 600 branches, more than 2,000 ATMs and 2.1 million customers are principally located in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. The Bank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Madrid-based Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: SAN) – one of the most respected banking groups in the world with more than 125 million customers in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. It is managed by Santander Holdings USA, Inc., Banco Santander’s intermediate holding company in the U.S. For more information on Santander Bank, please visit www.santanderbank.com.
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Madina Turdieva
Media Specialist
U.S. Consulate General Toronto
TurdievaM@state.gov
