WASHINGTON, March 9, 2010 – NAFSA: Association of International Educators today announced the winners of the 2010 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization. Five institutions are being recognized with this award for their overall excellence in campus internationalization: Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, Hobart & William Smith Colleges in New York, Loyola University Maryland, Northeastern University in Massachusetts, and the University of San Francisco in California. Three additional schools are being recognized with the 2010 Senator Paul Simon Spotlight Award for a specific international program or initiative on campus. They are the Borough of Manhattan Community College in New York, La Roche College in Pennsylvania, and the College of the Atlantic in Maine.

Named for the late Senator Paul Simon, (D–Ill.), these awards recognize outstanding and innovative efforts in campus internationalization. Sen. Simon was well known as a strong supporter of international education and foreign language learning. His leadership in these areas was especially evident in his robust support for the creation of the National Security Education Program, which addresses critical national security deficiencies in language and cultural expertise, and in his vision of a national program to greatly expand U.S. citizens' knowledge of the world, which was the inspiration behind the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act.

The Simon Act, which has already been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, is currently awaiting action in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The bill has strong bipartisan support in Congress, and carries the endorsement of nearly fifty higher education and international education organizations.

Each of the institutions selected for internationalization awards this year will be featured in NAFSA's report Internationalizing the Campus: Profiles of Success at Colleges and Universities, to be published this fall. This annual report recognizes institutions that are leaders in the growing effort across higher education to better prepare students for a global economy and an interconnected world. The awardees will also be recognized on June 4, 2010 at the International Plenary and Luncheon during NAFSA's 2010 Annual Conference & Expo in Kansas City, MO.

The NAFSA selection jury included Ron Roberson (jury chair; Howard Community College), Mary Devins (Connecticut College), Jeff Riedinger (Michigan State University), Neal Sobania (Pacific Lutheran University), and Priscilla Stone (Washington University in St. Louis).

For more information, visit www.nafsa.org/SimonAward.