DURHAM, N.H. - The University of New Hampshire's Center for International Education will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its international affairs dual major Oct. 8, 2010 with the return of two alumni who will discuss how the program influenced their career paths.

Daniel Hilliard ('88) and Robert Leavitt ('88) will meet with students Friday from10 to 11:30 a.m.in the MUB Entertainment Center. Hilliard, an international studies and political science major, is executive director of the Zoo Conservation Outreach Group, an organization affiliated with the Audubon Zoo and concerned with the preservation of species in Latin America. He is an adjunct assistant professor at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute. Leavitt, who paired his international affairs major with English, works in the White House where he is a National Security Council director for Africa.

"The ultimate professional successes of our IA alumni speak for themselves. Their career opportunities run the whole spectrum from international trade to government positions, from NGO's to nonprofit organizations," says Claire Malarte-Feldman, professor and director for the Center for International Education. "Our alumni are now all over the globe carrying with them the vision that Professor Frank McCann and the other "founding fathers" had of the IA program back then in 1985."

The international affairs dual major combines with any other UNH major, and requires advanced-level competency in a foreign language and completion of a foreign experience of at least eight weeks. The program has grown from four graduates in 1985 to 50 in 2010.

"UNH international affairs was a real landmark program back in the mid-80s; we knew of no other programs that were dual majors, crossed college lines, required foreign language to the advanced level, and required a foreign experience," says Sheila McCurdy, assistant director for the Center for International Education. "Most IA programs reside in a political science department within a college of liberal arts. I don't know that there are still any others today that cross college lines."

UNH students have combined IA with, among other majors, environmental conservation, nursing, mechanical engineering, hotel administration, political science, foreign language, and business/economics.

"The IA dual major is one of our flagship programs that attract a surprising number of students specifically to UNH. I have frequent visits from prospective students who want to learn more about the IA dual major and who are truly excited by it," says Malarte-Feldman. "We pride ourselves in educating some of the brightest students we encounter at UNH."

For more information, visit http://www.unh.edu/cie/iadm/index.html.
The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling more than 12,200 undergraduate and 2,200 graduate students.

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