a room and said he will have a chance to. but there was an appetite for somebody who wasn't just like everybody else. to do the attack ads. it was an epiphany. the general election have been denied double than anybody else. at of six candidates i got 28 percent. and remember my first chief of staff as questions said to we'll pick? i said i don't know what does a chief of staff to? we don't have those in the restaurant business. [laughter]

[inaudible conversations] and today we talk about all the risks that you can during brisk the -- business abroad in very special topic we have several clients who have international relationships overseas that need to make sure they put

the best up for word. this session will be facilitated by dr. gregory and i will take a moment to introduce misfortune the president and ceo of visionary consulting partners. as the founding principle of veteran owned and small disadvantaged businesses right here at the mason enterprise center working with numerous organizations including the american public health association to manage system society where visionaries co-chair of the round table she is a volunteer member that is

underserved education outreach policy before the work groups in society for public health education. besides holding a b.s. from respiratory therapy and also would help promotion management. [applause] >> thanks for taking your precious time to come out that i think is important i hope you walk away today with the information you consider important helpful to you to reduce your risk and liability not just abroad even though that is what we talk about it what could be relevant also to the united states.

but before we get into the presentation i will tell you about visionary consulting partners. we have a very broad domain but we provide a very diverse set of services. pdf so you can see what we do a lot take a lot of time other than we always apply industry best practices as well as using evidence based models from one redo anything with the very strict program management with whatever type of work that we do. as a better indication of the type of work of health

information technology, this just a few of the areas with the federal domain and civilian population. that is in state as well as almost to the exact date when we got the first international contract. this is why i thought this was a good topic berger i wish we knew in september of last year what we know now. and wish we had them as a consultant with us back then. and to help with the international work. the client is usaid we won a contract in we are in

collaboration with the individuals that call the influence. and as we broaden and start the work a number of areas we didn't know what we didn't know to be quite honest. and then to jump with both feet. that is what we did. there was a lot of discovery along the way. so we take this opportunity to share some information with you for those that are doing contract work now are doing international contract work in the future but leading to our speaker and, professor at montgomery college and the coordinator

of international education director for over a decade and a half. he has led students and faculty in communities abroad to africa, asia central america south america and europe with his passion to be a global citizen in africa throughout southeast asia to serve as a study abroad specialist. dedicated to cultivating life for opportunities for all of a bike to take the time one to welcome him to the stage. [applause]

>> think you so much for having me in giving me this opportunity. it is my pleasure in days certainly want to thank you for this opportunity. and c-span is here as well for the wonderful crew to sat up. but in terms of the presentation has igo into the presentation i want to reiterate the terms of mitigating risk to oversee concern and as we take the journey together a definitely want you to consider what questions you

may have. there is certainly a good deal in my book you'll find additional information. i encourage you to consider also engaging in more discussion at the end of the session. so with that presentation, we are looking at a number of different issues that we have here or case studies from recent lawsuits that service from the case studies to manage the risk while examining medical issues to look at the top five best practices as well. so the first case is king

vs. university 2002 and with this particular case the federal district court talked-about faculty members in a hostile and firemen in south africa from eastern michigan univ.. with the violations that occurred a sexual harassment of female students. in this easily could ocher with the business major aura of group that faces legislation of the title seven violations. and we will talk about that as a '04 word but the women that were on this program

and the professors were leading it was dr. klein brothers went with the group in things went awry very first week. one student by the name of macaulay enters without knocking or without invitation while a female student was sleeping and inter room. in addition phone-number of male students they would refer to the female students of gender specific names when they asked to be called by name the males were even more disrespectful. and it were sent.

so the program only deteriorated from there and they did nothing to correct the situation. with the male students in particular were soliciting the women for sex. women students that were offered to south africans. stopping in front of the liquor store for a liquor run. salute it took them to amend the situation from dr. ocofor. so the plaintiff claimed that it affected their ability from the educational program but courts agreed and they felt that the institution should be balanced by extraterritorial

application to support that the program was always under the control of the university in every respect. every moment of inaction to stop the sexual-harassment to be shown negligent by the university. this also could be done hawse style environment of business employees as well and universities oftentimes run themselves as a business so i would ask them to take similar approaches. best practices to minimize such a thing, think about extraterritorial, a title

seven, and the use of your authority and also the eeoc compliance along with best practices of the housing authority. so you want to apply although the lawsuit involves didn't participants it was instructed for business managers and employees who needed overseas adventures are seminars are conferences and activities. over the conduct and regulations that is the extraterritoriality in a nutshell that that is the u.s. regulations of a

federally funded program that must also extend overseas. more and more the courts are firming that must exist and recent cases occurred. st. louis university all the judges expected to send the participants overseas. but in fact, with a bird vs. lewis and clark college the judge maintains its feet at extraterritoriality is not practice in the overseas programs would be the proverbial floating sanctuaries not unlike the vessel on the high sea.

continuing to make sure that the best practice is to remain overseas so title dash what i brought forth however it did go little further more so for the educational programs how we deal with the title vii that is a federal law that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex race caller national origin or religion. but title dash more of an educational that the law prohibits discrimination for this educational programs and activities.

but in any case whenever title seven policies you have in place, that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees to be replicated overseas. another best practice of the = opportunity employment commission eeoc says it is unlawful to harass a person because of their sex. harassment can include sexual or advances favors verbal or physical harassment on the sexual nature. in very important here need

to use it so addition to filing title vii regulations how you use your authority employees first will look at that an i.r.a. with co-workers when the environment is compromise. and second in terms of using your authority with that structure of the work program for out of office other employees become infuriated with the agenda items and demand for full

compensation with personal funds spent to keep things on track this is what business manager should do and then be willing to yield your authority with the meetings or workshops or activities in the unhealthy environment for big yourself up around that authority should spell out what you can do of those expectations . but in my book then to have a program and then students

would attend that. and then to take the same policy overseas. and they paid to go back home on their own dime. so then they signed it. the same goes for the business world blows events should be well managed for anybody who goes overseas. so i will lead to go to another case against duke university. let's consider that hear the events that happened. och with the program and

consequently filed a suit against do. with the celebratory trip on the south-central pacific coast beach was not on the program schedule and not even publicized with no prior notice. they were told it was the safest speech of the waters and if they got caught in the rip current to swim parallel. once he was caught and pulled out over 300 yards away treading water over 30

minutes and then drown. this occurred one day prior to his departure in also notes to major the dangerous rip currents that it is not advisable and there are no lifeguards on the beach. but then when taken to the beach where their son was seen with the up coast guard and red cross search and they agreed to give them supplies of water and flashlights which never arrived. and then they tried to locate him so the next day

the local fishermen found his body. he was transported in the open pickup truck and 90-degree weather over for now half-hour's with no eyesore thames to preserve his body. so clearly some concerns and best practices so best to have the strong partnership they're all necessary so in terms of the partnership

when it comes to higher education of those are neocons and experiences in the business round those that are made known to fill but each student should meet with the counselor periodically least once a month. also in the business from to organize the of planned interactions should have eight working relationship

with your group. but it's in addition to all of fat of the four institutes and facilities and accommodations other best practice is knowing the of awareness and then to reduce the risk and liability to remain aware with the alerts and warnings you must know that for the region's perhaps the beach was not even a lawful place to swim. standards of accessible conduct which u.s. practices overseas. for example, in my book and

in this case those going overseas with the short term to make program and was encouraged to be with the natives as much as possible. and to seem innocent enough. but then was raped while in the apartment. and one team to discover that excepting in invitation 40 is basically giving consent in that culture.

she did not know that. so while in the hospital in paris program leaders informed them never to except the invitation to london apartment for t -- to drink tea. but with religion and government was part of that culture. remember with this particular practice to accomplish this best practice before you go to that location you need to have risk assessment as part

of the emergency response plan they need to have the emergency evacuation measure or medevac for any serious issues that arise or national disaster of an epidemic worse serious injury and then to obtain insurance briefly from the university of florida. in that kerosene lamp exploded there is no medevac emplace either for the student but thankfully the

university of florida took upon themselves to medevac for treatment been just for the students take the was no cost for that. >> and in addition of risk assessment and emergency that is evident to a committee committee members need to be on the ready with letting those moments where communication is lost but the essential background information must be

collected and the excessive oil to those at home and abroad. . .

said so you can quickly act if the emergency arises. i will give you another example, with my own study abroad program i had a student who went to new zealand and about five years ago was a horrible earthquake in new zealand and my student was there. his campus was destroyed, fortunately he was not hurt but his campus was ruined and rubble. what was great was the partnering agencies who i worked with immediately had a backup plan. they said if student is willing we can send them to another college if they are ready to do it. so i was in america, he was overseas and he was ready to do it. he was a excited and not too shaken from his experience.

in fact when he came back home from a semester in new zealand he liked to break about the fact that not just one, but two overseas educational programs was able to conquer and fulfill his destiny. so you need that in place to have a backup plan because disasters can occur. and that is a couple of quick points in terms of this, is is that be aware of overseas u.s. military bases and work through the department of defense and the state department, provide emergency evacuations or there are images evacuations that they will provide through state departments, nowhere law-enforcement is located as well, law-enforcement can often assist so wherever you are nowhere law-enforcement is located. also, you need to enroll in step. let me tell you about that. step is the smart traveler enrollment program provided by the u.s. state department. this is one of the best protected measures that you can

take. and if it's in terms of enrolling in step are such, you will get, prior to departure important information from the embassy about safety conditions at your destination, helping you make informed decision about travel plans, in addition while you are overseas the program helps the u.s. embassy to contact you in case of an emergency. whether it is national disaster, civil unrest or family emergency you need to know about. also step will assist family members and friends to get in touch with you with an emergency. so overseas they have notifications through step because it allows you to upload your smart for and give use notifications the smart phone

also through social media. they have it set up through facebook and twitter. i provide for you the link here for step for your convenience as well. but very important, i would like to transition to another area of the presentation and look at medical issues that we want to consider in mitigating such risks. so a little food for thought in terms of medical issues, you should feel far more threatened by a mosquito then he should of a terrorist. billions of people die every day from mosquito borne illnesses as noted by the world health organization. yet, in in comparison the national consortium of study on terrorism through 2001 and 2014 discovered a mere 105 terrorism occurred from a tax overseas.

not to minimize the risk of terrorism, but there is a major difference in terms of lives lost. the massive risk that comes of diseases is very preventable. added risk certainly come with more exotic regions of the world , with regard of greater risk that comes with more exotic region, here here are some facts and statistics of from my book, "look before before leaping" which comes up before the institute of education. the same is holding true for business groups designed to expand their market go overseas as well for example therefore%

pure students that studied abroad in europe. it used to be the place that was typical for study abroad. through 2008 until 2009, while the thousand nine, while the number of students to asia increased 2%, those who desire to study abroad in south america increased 13 percent. those those who went to africa to study abroad went and increased 16%. note that these are dominant visionary consultant partners and regions of exploration as shown on their map of affluence. business managers and employers do need to be aware of native risks and take distinct caution with oversee ventures in these region. naturally obtaining proper immunization should be emphasized with any overseas adventure. but with martin warm, rural climates, rule climates, additional emphasis really

should be stressed. so the thread to comes from old and new. just because we have a certain disease that has been around for a long time does not mean it is gone. even if we think it has been eradicated, it, it comes back. it shows its ugly head and some other fashion. so starting from the old, malaria is estimated that in the u.s. in, it was eliminated, i'm sorry in the u.s. in 1961. malaria was eliminated. however, 1500 - 2000 americans in america have come forth with malaria. so these are usually people who have traveled in return. but we have nearly 2000 cases per year with them malaria and

america. malaria infections are characterized by fever, headache, muscle ache, chills, fatigue, vomiting and can be even more severe such as seizures, respiratory failure, kidney failure, coma, and coma, and shock. clearly it can lead to death if not treated. malaria in areas such as africa, south america and asia are high risk. although partial immunity is developed during years of exposure to the parasite, nobody becomes fully mutable area. again considering the old and the new, let's go to the new. the zika virus. the. the zika virus does threaten now all the weight from argentina up until the southern states of america. now scores of zika cases have cropped up in florida and professionals are trying to figure out, are these people contracting zika in florida now? not just overseas. hundreds of thousands of people

will be affected by this threats. in fact, by by the time it's over they expect millions. no vaccine exists to prevent zika in and the complications with its spread. however, in this area, this is an area where the visionary consulting partners is interested in pursuing upon further investigation. how zika at this time is preventable is to avoid mosquito bites, also just give you some background, a male with zika, or the zika virus can pass it onto a sexual partner. pregnant women can pass it on to the fetus during pregnancy. it causes severe fetal brain defects. in addition, an interesting fact

is that to date, there is no report of an infant getting zika virus through breast-feeding. because of the benefits of breast-feeding, mothers are encouraged to breast-feed even in areas where zika is found. >> so continuing on here a best practice is to follow the lead of the centers for disease control. and prevention. so, it is a good idea to couple with this to consult your doctor, your physician, 4 - 6 weeks in advance of going overseas to know what sort of vaccines and medications you would need. the cdc is a great resource to consult as well. in fact, the fact, the next slide i will provide gives a sample cdc posting of vaccinations and medications that one should acquire before going to ethiopia. i chose that country in part because this is again, an example that shows the

location and it's hard to attempt to shut ups shop. here is your example of cdc in their guidelines. have something that is provided by all travelers and surly with ethiopia they give a number of vaccines and they named a different diseases that one can contract. they also go from the side all travelers what most travelers should receive include something like hepatitis a. also, be on the cdc the passport health group is a great resource. passport health, if a participant is unable to obtain the necessary inoculations through a personal physician, the company passport helps

provide reliable healthcare services including immunizations. this company is located and has 230 clinics are up the us. there is a there's a good chance you'll find a clinic close to where you live. keep in mind, it individual reactions vary. you really want to get those immunizations in the system prior to departure. i give a link to passport health as well now let's keep proper perspective, we don't don't want to go too far with this. not every region of a country has the same disease threat and we certainly cannot discount an entire country or continent that is unsafe to travel due to an

issue in a separate region. i'll give you an example. through my own work experience that with the outbreak of the evil of virus, many college and university officials deemed africa unsuitable for travel because evil up was on one part of the continents. the whole continents they felt was an issue and this was an alarmist sort of attitude. proper research was not done. if we consider it from a different angle, with the outbreak of the zika virus in the southern states of america, should african nations deemed the continent of north america unsuitable for travel? similarly, business business managers need to do the necessary research to know what areas to avoid due to risk. yet, still keep that proper perspective and research. a best practice in terms of again, medical.

you want to specify your disease threat in your risk of documents and forms and be very upfront with it. documents and examples are in the book, look before leaping here as well. but certainly you want to name it straight out, disease risk and named the sort of diseases as well. that might mean you have a second or third waiver, not just your basic general one, but just your basic general one, but one specific to that region of the world. let me close with what i think are some final top five best practices that we really want to delve into and consider. number one, no 911 in that country. know their version of 911 or the emergency number to dial in that country that you visit. the u.s. state department has put out a pdf of 911 pdf for

your perusal. in fact i think the web link is provided for you that you make a copy of that you bring that with you. so here's is an example of the a listings in terms of their emergency numbers. clearly, american samoa has 911. but others have different numbers. on another best practice to consider or to actually implement, not just consider our noncombatant evacuation operations. be aware of these locations and how to receive notification if an emergency evacuation is made available to you as an american citizen by our u.s. department of defense. if you need a quick exit, u.s.

military will vacuuming americans for free and this is particularly helpful when that country's airport is shut down. nowhere they are. the joint chiefs where they are. the joint chiefs of staff in november 2015 put out a report on niels and their functions. again, the the link is provided for you here too. best practice, third one. social media is our friend. we feel bombarded with social media that may come from family, friends and acquaintances. this is a true asset when you are overseas. twitter, facebook, snapchat, whatever. you want to be able to have that communication with those back home. you should have a risk assessment team in place in an emergency response plan at home so that you have people who are willing to remain connected to you and knowing about your day today activities and occurrences. again, social media will help with this. plus even. plus even back home we may get news that they don't get every day. i know you plan to go on this region in two days but this is not where you want to go this is where getting reports of

america. sometimes it can be different parts of the world and not as transparent. u.s. state department agrees with this approach of using social media. remember step uses that strategy was facebook and twitter and gives you information is needed. best practice as well, triple up, don't just double up. triple up. triple up and this applies for males as well, especially when you are going out to explore in the evening or to a local social scene. we think about the university of wisconsin student both solomon who lost his life and he was in italy, he had separated from his roommate and he had died that evening and did not make the orientation session the next day do not leave your partners to depart with local citizens no matter how kind they may seem we think about natalie holloway. she went to aruba, she was with

girlfriends or friends at a nightclub and lasts she was seen leaving with three men in the vehicle, three locals. she did not make a play in the next day and she has not been seen since. so always so always triple up. stay together. and then, step, i have to put that back in there. i will not go not going to step again because we have discussed it but i want to reiterate that step is very important for best practice and you really should register. in summary know your best practices. we need to have the sort of reliable delivery and selection of partners as you do this. i've given you five best practices here. there is another 23 and look before leaping as well. if well. if you get the opportunity to look at that. >> so potential agencies and partners to consider, we talked

about that a good deal as well, i would like to at least discuss at the bottom of the slide that these are potential partners or groups of that experts, including those with look before leaping have put forth, groups such as the merkin institute of foreign studies, cultural's experience abroad, the council on international education exchange, and international studies abroad are just a few of the groups. more groups are listed again and look before leaping. as you do this, you want to think about choosing a strong team. we know the best practices but we need to have a good team in place that is willing to follow those practices. so those who tend to adjust more so overseas are open-minded to cultural and so forth. we call it cultural confidence.

you want people if you can't who have cultural competence. this is an ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures. it comprises of four components, awareness of one's own cultural world view, second, and attitude toward cultural differences, third knowledge of different cultural practices and worldviews, forth, to understand cross cultural skills. so, in my field of study abroad, the best travelers to be honest our students, not my colleagues, my colleagues often times are not as open of trying new food and experiences and will complain about conditions expecting a four-star hotel, or better. and i have to explain that four-star is not quite four-star

in new york city and such. so, you want, at orientation right your vetting process to make sure that people are fully aware of the accommodations and what to expect and be open to that. so, thank you for this time and opportunity to speak with you and i want to thank ellie for having me. i appreciate that. her husband michael as well who is also with the business and very supportive with this visionary consulting partners. those from c-span as well, thank you for being here and joining us and all of you here of course for your time and lending me your year. if you again desire more details

and understanding mitigating overseas risks, i encourage you to get a copy of look before leaping. i will have copies, i have learned from the best. i will have copies at the end of the program, signed copies for you if you desire to have a copy as well as you can find me online at my website which is, www.study abroad pr oh.com. again, thank you for having me. >> we will take questions, is there any questions please the time test questions is now. >> i did have a question, no, so you brought up the cases, what were the actual fines levied or

that what happened to the university that were found negligent and have they sense rectified the problem? >> you know, the courts are complicated. so sometimes you so sometimes you do not even know who is the winner. in the end a lot of lawsuits and with things been settled out of court's for an amount that is not disclosed. >> i'm sorry was not talking about someone with monetary recognizance. did they make a program change, didn't make it safer for students? did they plug those gaps that you've mentioned? >> typically they do. they learn from the mistakes because it's publicized. the last thing they want is for that to be publicized. for that to be publicized. for that to be publicized they want to make changes.

so with duke university, they altered their risk assessment documents online and made different changes and so forth. we hope their emergency response will be a better one in the future. but unless it becomes public they will make changes and from what i understand duke has a dress that another's as well. we talked about king and eastern university that also was addressed. they certainly do not have just one faculty leader for a program anymore. they certainly bet those leaders more from what i understand. absolutely. >> one thing that i see missing and it comes up as best practices when companies are not engaging the diaspora. so american companies especially have their all-purpose culture, their own way of thinking which

doesn't necessarily work. so is that practice now getting attention and can you talk about that? >> i think so and i will use that as an example. i think we have to look at this particular scenario. the dais form and what they do, it is absolutely essential that you understand them being approved or reasonable recognizance. on their website they did a program managers, i would say they will test you on it but certainly they're asking things to assess their awareness, we we have had a discussion about this and used a term that i have not heard in a number of years. someone said well that's a big 50-cent word. but it does occur.

so we see the recognition. >> for others, not sure. >> is part of the definition of culture confidence is also going into a region of the world knowing that you bring in your own preconceived ideas, notions and cultural beliefs and being able to step back away from that if you can. >> if i may, the other thing where doing with usaid, they're having their first acquisition conference in africa in november. the first time they have ever gotten all of the mission directors from -- in one place to explain how business is done so it is limited to only u.s. small businesses but that

is the focus and typically it is because americans don't necessarily know how to deal with a created different, different agency and they're just as bright and they're setting as we are in ours. >> to go to south africa and to three of our employees will be traveling to south africa. i've never been in south africa with some of this information. they have provided us for south africa. what they're also going to do is again, based on the information that i have received we are tearing that contract apart. we're really going to start up and plug any holes that we have

to make sure -- [inaudible] >> sometimes it only takes one mistake. so we started off on september of last year. we did know a lot of these things at all. it only took me one glance at his book and i was leading to it. it was actually a little frightening for me to say, okay we are really fortunate thus far. now let's take some of these practices and implement them. that is what were doing now and that is why we must bring the people here and didn't even stop to think what you want to do? you have award in a contract

that you have to execute and sometimes you have to take a step and look at those risks from liability. so i hope that helps even if you haven't stepped out there but if you're considering stepping up there, this is what we want to bring to. thank you [applause]. >> any other questions? >> you indicated that you had some additional best practices in your book, do you advocate drafting and then executing and then updating as you go along risk management plan? >> you have to. i have a close, tightknit relationship with legal counsel in my college. so we go back to that form all of the time because the risks are constantly changing and altering.

you never know when something will increase. we've had a difficult summer with terrorism. so certain regions where i may have sent students prior, i can't. or i might approach it in a different manner. in a different manner. i'm constantly seen legal counsel and consulting them. we do have a push, pull relationship because i want to have as much opportunity presented to students in as much of the world open to them but legal counsel can say no, we have to have these legalities covered as well and this is the language we have to use. so i use my language, they use their. we usually find a great marriage in terms of the sort of document in the end. you have to visit it. also different groups, groups, it's not just necessarily your international study abroad campus group. it applies to businesses. any committee or any group that has knowledge of risks oversees or ideas of what they want for their future can provide input with those documents.