At the time of transfer, Deborah Hutton, ISIS project coordinator from 1998-2006, provided this description of the ISIS project:

What is ISIS:

The project ISIS was started in about 1995 by then Dean of International Programs (OIP) Patrick O'Meara and then Dean of the School of Education (SOE) Howard Mehlinger, and is ongoing today. Originally ISIS stood for "International Studies for Indiana Schools," when Indiana schools were all that it served, but some years later was changed to "International Studies In Schools", since it now serves schools (and a few other audiences) right across the country.

What does ISIS do:

International Studies In Schools (ISIS) is an innovative and award-winning distance learning program which uses interactive video technology (IAV) to connect K-12 schools and community groups across the U.S. with Indiana University international students, scholars, and specialists. With no expensive travel abroad needed, the world is brought right into the classroom.

Brief history to date:

In the mid-1990s, there was a confluence of events to make this project possible:

a) Howard Mehlinger was completing the construction of the new SOE, with integrated technologies, including videoconferencing capabilities, and partner AT&T;

b) Patrick O'Meara, formerly director of the Title VI funded African Studies Program, was taking over as Dean, OIP, where he oversaw 4,000+ international students;

c) Title VI funding grants were now requiring outreach to K-12 audiences;

d) IUB was steadily adding to its number of Title VI area studies centers which had to do that outreach and which were looking for economies of scale to help all of them deliver outreach;

e) AT&T in Indiana lost a court case and owed every Indiana taxpayer a very small amount of money ($30,000 in total). Instead, AT&T proposed that they start a non-profit organization with that money, then called Vision Athena, to facilitate getting high fiber cable to and IAV equipment into public schools and organize distance learning programming for the schools via IAV.

With grants, among others, from Vision Athena and the Indiana Humanities Council, ISIS became a "Content Provider" of any international topic requested by a K-12 teacher for her/his class, all for free. Vision Athena morphed a few times and is now called CILC or Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration. CILC is still located in Indianapolis and continues to connect content providers with audiences, mostly schools, around the world.

Websites:

ISIS: http://www.indiana.edu/~isis/

CILC: http://www.cilc.org/

Awards:

2001 DIAL Consortium's International Distance Learning Programming Award

Recipient: International Studies for Indiana Schools [interactive video] Project, for two original series

2002 American Council on Education's Promising Practices: Spotlighting Excellence in Comprehensive Internationalization Highlighted multiple IUB outreach projects, including ISIS

2005 Goldman Sachs Foundation & Asia Society's Excellence in International Education Prize for Higher Education Highlighted three IUB centers, which collaborated on multiple outreach projects, including ISIS

2009-2010 Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration's Pinnacle Award, Honorable Mention

In recognition of outstanding videoconferencing programs

Partners (over time):

• IU Office of International Programs (OIP), now Office of the Vice President of International Affairs (OVPIA)

• IU School of Education, Center for Research on Learning and Technology (CRLT) (ended)

• IU Title VI & other international centers:

> African Studies Program

> Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies

> Center for the Study of Global Change

> Center for the Study of the Middle East

> East Asian Studies Center

> European Union Center

> Germanic Studies

> India Studies Program

> Inner Asian & Uralic National Resource Center

> Islamic Studies Program

> Mathers Museum of World Cultures

> Russian & East European Institute

> West European Studies Center

• Vision Athena, now Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration's (CILC)

If you have questions, please contact: Deb Hutton, Assistant Director (former ISIS Program Coordinator, 1998-2006, approx..) Center for the Study of Global Change, IUB, 856-4827, huttond@iu.edu