University Of Cincinnati Appoints First Vice Provost For International Affairs

“UC needs to be perceived as a major international destination university with world class international activities and opportunities for American and international students.” – Mitch Leventhal, UC Vice Provost for International Affairs

Mitch Leventhal, who just started his new position Sept. 1, is at work on an action plan to elevate the worldwide presence of the University of Cincinnati. As the first vice provost for international affairs, Leventhal will not only oversee UC’s Institute for Global Studies and Affairs and the Office of International Student Services, but he will also work with departments and academic units across the university to create and launch a university-wide plan that will make UC a leader in international education – from expanding research and teaching to developing new international licensing opportunities for emerging technology, increasing distance learning and study abroad programs, building and diversifying UC’s population of international students, and implementing best practices in the areas of education abroad and international student services.

Leventhal is the former president and director of the U.S. subsidiary of IDP Education Australia Limited, a non-profit organization owned by the Australian universities, which he says has been instrumental in rapidly expanding their international activities and relationships. Australia is considered a world leader in the export of higher education. He was also previously recruited by Yale University to engineer the spin-off of a business-to-business marketplace concept called TechEx, which is now the leading Internet-based exchange for buying and selling emerging biomedical, pharmaceutical and bio-technologies.

Leventhal’s PhD is from the University of Chicago, where he focused on international education and entrepreneurship. He also has a master’s degree in comparative and developmental politics from the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science.

“UC has all of the ingredients to become a leader in international education – world-class departments, a tremendous research capacity, and a strategic plan that engages the entire community in building the future direction of the university,” Leventhal says. “As part of the UC|21 strategic plan to define the new urban university, we need to develop a national reputation as a study abroad provider. We need to internationalize our curriculum and we need to develop an overseas alumni network to recruit future students. We need to strengthen international relationships across a range of activities to raise the international profile of the university.”

Leventhal is exploring how to expand UC’s study abroad programs, which are primarily concentrated in Italy, Germany, Mexico, France and the United Kingdom. Presently, 82 percent of UC’s 2,157 international students are graduate students, with the majority of them coming from China, India and Korea. Leventhal is looking into building UC’s population of international undergrads as well as developing partnerships to recruit a more diverse international student body.

“UC is currently involved in an international benchmarking study for international student services that will help us improve our services and see how we rate against other leading institutions. I believe we’re the first U.S. institution to be involved in this benchmarking study,” he says.

“We want to position UC at the front of change, and this ties in directly to UC|21 and into elevating us internationally as part of UC|21’s core objective.”