‘Skills for Success in a Global Environment’

Panel geared toward area high school students

These days, there’s a lot of buzz about high school students needing to prepare for a global environment. An upcoming panel discussion seeks to offer students some concrete guidelines as they make the transition to college.

The Nov. 29 event primarily targets all area high school students, but it also is geared toward parents and teachers. The event is co-sponsored by University College, the evening and continuing education division of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and the Ladue Education Foundation.

“Skills for Success in a Global Environment,” featuring a panel of Washington University faculty, former and current students and an area corporate vice president, is set for 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Ladue Horton Watkins High School, 1201 S. Warson Road in St. Louis.

The discussion will focus on both the specific (strategies, courses, internships, travel and related activities for students who wish to study and work in a global context) and the general (new assumptions and behaviors associated with successful business practice).

A question-and-answer session will follow the discussion.

The panelists are:
• Ignacio M. Sanchez Prado, PhD, assistant professor of Spanish and of international and area studies, both in Arts & Sciences, and director of undergraduate studies in Spanish, Washington University
• Rebecca Copeland, PhD, professor of Japanese language and literature in Arts & Sciences, director of Summer School and associate dean of University College
• Betsy Heller Cohen, vice president of sustainability, Nestle Purina, and a graduate of the Ladue School District
• Dave Spandorfer, a recent graduate in international business and in history from Washington University
• Mike Burnstein, an Arts & Sciences senior at Washington University majoring in urban studies, minoring in entrepreneurship and political science

Steve Ehrlich, associate dean for academics at University College, will moderate.

For more information and to RSVP, go online to https://lefglobalpanel.eventbrite.com/?nomo=1.

Additional information on panelists

Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado is the author of three books. His most recent book, Naciones intelectuales, won the LASA Mexico 2010 Humanities Book Award. In the past, he has worked in cultural initiatives with Mexico’s National Council for Culture and the Arts. Prado teaches the course “Mexico for Culture and Business.”

Rebecca Copeland was born in Japan and spent a year in India as a child. She earned a doctoral degree in Japanese literature from Columbia University in 1986. Copeland’s study of Meiji women writers, Lost Leaves: Women Writers of Meiji Japan was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2001. She has published a number of works on Japanese women writers.

Betsy Heller Cohen, in addition to serving as vice president of sustainability at Nestle Purina, the world’s largest food company, oversees The St. Louis Petlover Coalition (www.stlpetlover.org) Cohen co-founded Nestlé Purina’s Child Development Center and is on its board of directors. She received the St. Louis Business Journal Most Influential Business Women award in 1999. She is an advisory board member to Washington University’s I-CARES: The International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability. She also is active in the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Sustainability Committee, a world-renowned biodiversity center.

Dave Spandorfer graduated from Washington University in spring 2011. As a senior, Spandorfer harnessed his passion for running and co-founded (with fellow panelist Mike Burnstein and two of their teammates) Janji, a running apparel company devoted to raising awareness and funding solutions for the global food and water crisis. The team was awarded the largest grant ever for an undergraduate team at the Youthbridge Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Contest. Janji will release on Feb. 2, 2012, at Big River Running Company and is set for a national release in April 2012.

Mike Burnstein will graduate from Washington University in spring 2012. Burnstein is an ambassador of Washington University’s Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurship. He co-founded the running apparel social enterprise Janji, which strives to combat the global food and water crisis. Burnstein plans to work on the venture full time following graduation.

Steve Ehrlich manages University College’s undergraduate and graduate academic programs, including new programs in International Affairs, Global Leadership and Management, and Sustainability.