IERCEF: Background

International Education Resource Center (IERC) was founded in 1994 to address the minority under-representation in education abroad programs.

Under the leadership of Dr. Raymond H. Giles, during the first six years, IERC managed programs for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to the Dominican Republic. The IERC also had signed agreements with Dominican associations of international investment corporations which promoted early workforce development initiatives that encouraged colleges to allow undergraduate and graduate students attending HBCUs to experience internships abroad and receive college credit.

To expand its reach and impact, in 2009, IERC Educational Foundation was established as a nonprofit corporate version of IERC. The objective: to develop sustainable international programming that would boost education abroad participation and the employability outcomes of more African and Latino American college graduates. In 2014 IERCEF organized with Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina, the Study Abroad/Global Engagement Partnership to represent a community of 42,000 students; 11 institutions to introduce a unique public health education abroad experience in Jamaica. This required partnering with IES Abroad and advise from Global Health Connections International. Although never launched, the groundwork established framed a model that can be modified for additional communities in addition to Minority Serving Institutions like HBCUs.

In 2017/8, IERCEF is being redeveloped to appeal to a broader audience and serve, more formally, global-oriented commercial and social enterprises.