Baruch College, recently selected by the Institute of International Education to participate in a partnership program with Brazil.

Dean Jeffrey Peck of the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences was named as the Vice Provost for Global Strategies in order to head this project, which focuses the US-Brazil partnership.

"My job is to try and create opportunities for faculty and students globally," said Peck.

Peck also stated that their efforts were not only limited to Brazil, but five other countries as well.

These include China, Turkey, Vietnam, India and Indonesia.

However, for the time being, the main focus is on Brazil.

A press release from the Institute for International Education details what steps will be taken to ensure a successful partnership with Brazil.

"Each institution has made a commitment to form a campus-wide task force to work on prospective partnerships, conduct an institution-wide inventory of activities pertaining to Brazil and develop a strategic plan focused on partnership with Brazil. Each school will also work with a mentor from the IAPP Brazil Advisory Board members who can offer high-level input on its partnership strategy," stated the press release.

"It was a great opportunity for us to become part of a group of universities and colleges within the United States to be accepted in this project," he stated.

Baruch was chosen along with eighteen other universities throughout the United States to be included in this partnership with Brazil.

"At a time when Brazil's economy is expanding rapidly, and Brazil and the United States are forging unprecedented ties in trade, energy and scientific development, we look to higher education as another area where our two countries should seek much stronger cooperation," said Institute of International Education's President and CEO Allan E. Goodman in a press release from their website.

Brazil was chosen as one of the countries in this partnership, because it has been a rapidly growing country and the need for higher education has risen in the past years.

Peck also echoed the need to bring more international students to Baruch in order to increase the "rich diverse student population."

The next step in this process is for Dean Peck, administrators and a group from the Institute of International Education to travel to Brazil in April of this year.

The main purpose of this trip will be to meet with administrators of other universities in Brazil.

Peck also stated that Baruch is focused on creating more opportunities for students.

He stated that they will be doing more international recruiting of Brazilian students and get Baruch students to become more interested in Brazil, and possibly even visit there.

"In the fall when we have out International week we plan to focus it on Brazil and try to create a number of activities over the course of this year and next year to focus on Brazil and Latin America," said Peck.