Former U.S. Senator Paul Simon will keynote a conference on global education at DePaul University at 9:30 a.m. on April 1 at the Egan Urban Center, 243 S. Wabash Ave. The full-day event, which will include roundtable discussions and question and answer sessions, will examine how adult students can broaden their career options in the world market.

Amhad Kamal, the Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., will provide closing remarks. Kamal, who is working with DePaul to provide more international educational opportunities to students, helped develop an international environmental law seminar which featured U.N. ambassadors housed at the United Nations as instructors.

"As our global society becomes more diverse with increasing interest in connecting the world's resources, higher education needs to pay greater attention to multiple cultures, languages, ethics, values, and business practices," said Susanne Dumbleton, dean of the School for New Learning (SNL) which is sponsoring the event. "This conference is designed to not only help students understand what career opportunities exist in the world market, but also to help adult educators understand and adopt a more universal approach to their work."

Critical issues such as how professors can secure funding to conduct international research, how technology can be used to facilitate international education, understanding

international travel, and how international social issues and education interact will be explored.

Members of the DePaul faculty will lead discussions about the need to provide quality international educational options to adults who may already have careers, but who are looking for a change. They will also expose students to opportunities and careers that they may never have considered before. Students will gain a better understanding of what skills they need to make themselves marketable throughout the world, and have the opportunity to discuss specific goals they may have.

The day's dialogue will be used to develop new courses and advance discussions on international education for adults. Following the conference, a summary report will be published.

An accredited college of DePaul University, SNL was established in 1972 to serve the needs of working adults. It is recognized internationally as a pioneer in providing higher education for students 24 and older. To earn degrees, students can take DePaul courses, transfer courses and use life experience to satisfy individualized degree requirements.