Creating International Connections

In August 2022, President Gloria J. Gibson and Senior Executive Director of Government Relations Suleyma Perez traveled to Medellín, Colombia, with Instructor of Computer Science and Director of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) Pathways Aaron Cortes, a few Northeastern staff members and eight high school students.

Cortes has ongoing collaborations with Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana and Universidad Salazar y Herrera. He has also built a relationship with the Secretary of Education in Medellín and ties to Chicago’s Colombian community. Through his work in STEAM education, the trip allowed Northeastern to establish three new memoranda of understanding (MOU) with the aforementioned schools.

Perez's doctoral training in international psychology organizations and systems as well as her knowledge of government operations contributed to the success of these collaborations. She carefully planned meetings and stayed in contact with university leadership and the Office of the Secretary of Education in Medellín to secure these partnerships.

“Colombia has a goal of becoming a bilingual country,” Perez said. “One of the MOUs is to help the universities in Medellín strengthen their faculty in English proficiency. The objective is to develop communications skills so students can read, understand and write in English.”

Perez noted that Northeastern’s Daniel L. Goodwin College of Education and College of Business and Technology would be involved in other collaborations.

“Colombia has a very strong STEAM component for middle school and high school students,” Perez said. “Aaron’s work in Chicago with his students was very appealing to them because it fits into their STEM focus. The Secretary of Education in Medellín was very interested in a formal collaboration.”

The hope is that Colombian students who receive education and STEAM training through these MOUs will be able to enroll at Northeastern for undergraduate study in computer science. The City of Medellín will help to finance students’ education and housing at Northeastern. Watch highlight video here: https://rebrand.ly/MedellinSummer2022.