The 2016 IIE Victor J. Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East was presented at a ceremony on June 2nd in Jerusalem by Victor J. Goldberg, a retired IBM executive who is a longtime Trustee of the New York-based Institute of International Education. The award, which includes a $10,000 prize, was awarded to Sarah Perle Benazera and Ohood Murqaten, Co-Chairs of the YaLa Young Leaders Core Leadership Group. An online movement led by young adults, for young adults, YaLa focuses on dialogue and engagement as a means to securing a safe, productive, and peaceful region, capitalizing on the catalyzing power of social networks, media and technology to lead their generation to a better future. Sarah and Ohood are part of a team that has made YaLa Young Leaders the broadest and fastest-growing Middle East peace movement today, with nearly 1 million members from all across the MENA region. During times of high tension in the region, the YaLa page provides a safe environment for young people on both sides to search for a different point of view on the situation, and to find partners for dialogue.

IIE received the GoAbroad Foundation's Innovation in Philanthropy award for the IIE Emergency Student Fund and Scholar Rescue Fund during the NAFSA Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado. Each year, GoAbroad hosts the prestigious Innovation Awards during the annual NAFSA Conference to recognize innovative organizations, individuals, and projects in the field of international education. In 2015, the Innovation in Philanthropy category was added, sponsored by the GoAbroad Foundation, in order to highlight many of the great philanthropic efforts in international education.

Since its inception in 2002, the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund has assisted 643 scholars from 55 countries, placing them at over 350 host partner institutions in 41 countries around the world. The IIE Syria Consortium for Higher Education in Crisis is a network of colleges and universities providing scholarships for Syrian students who have had their education disrupted by the conflict. This network has provided support to more than 300 Syrian students. To date IIE has awarded more than 140 emergency grants to Syrian students through the Emergency Student Fund, and the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund has awarded 130 fellowships to Syrian professors and researchers, placing them at nearly 70 safe-haven universities and research centers in 12 countries.

Now is the time to renew your IIENetwork membership, which will allow you to continue to take full advantage of the many resources IIE offers. IIE membership renewal forms for the 2016/2017 academic year have been sent by email to the membership contact at each member institution. If you have not yet renewed your IIE membership, please take a moment to complete your renewal by June 30. IIENetwork is IIE's membership program, with over 1,300 member institutions around the world. Each membership designee is an important link in a network of over 7,000 individuals with a commitment to the internationalization of their institutions. As an IIENetwork member, you benefit from international education publications, resources, discounts, and sharing best practices. IIE's offices around the world work closely with members to assist you in accessing IIE's expertise and information on the many programs for which your students and faculty may be eligible.

As an IIENetwork member, your campus will receive complimentary copies of our valuable print resources, including the Open Doors report, the IIENetwork Handbook for International Educators, the IIENetworker magazine, and more. You will also be able to access members-only data on www.iie.org, receive member discounts for IIE's International Academic Partnership Program, and your IIENetwork membership ensures that you are eligible to nominate the innovative programs at your campus for the 2017 IIE Andrew Heiskell Awards. You can renew your membership, update your designees, and pay the membership dues for your institution online. For more information on how to renew online, visit www.abdi-ecommerce10.com/iiemembership.

The 2016 Open Doors International Scholars Survey is now open and available at www.iie.org/surveyforms. The survey collects data on international scholars engaged in academic activities for part or all of the period beginning July 1, 2015 and ending on June 30, 2016. 

The compilation of data published in Open Doors is only possible with the assistance of international education and other higher education professionals at institutions throughout the United States who voluntarily provide their data for aggregate reporting in Open Doors. If your institution does not currently participate in the International Scholars Survey or needs to update contact information, please contact us at iieresearch@iie.org or fill out our Update Contact Form and we will gladly add your institution to IIE’s Open Doors database.