The UA Office of International Programs has reorganized in hopes of becoming more efficient in providing students with the means to better explore their international interests.

Executive Director of International Affairs Paul Rosenblatt said the reorganization was necessary because the world is becoming more internationalized.

"I operate on the belief that this university must internationalize itself," Rosenblatt said. "This is one world in many ways."

Rosenblatt, who has been the director of International Affairs for three years, said the reorganization has a three-part change.

The first change was the merging of the Center for International Students and Scholars with the Office of Study Abroad into one office, located at 915 N. Tyndall Ave. The name of the new office is the Center for Global Student Programs.

Rosenblatt said the scholar component of CISS has now become the Office of International Scholars and Visitors. He said this office can affect approximately 550 international scholars, at any one time, who come to the University of Arizona to conduct research or work on their professorship.

The third component of the reorganization was the introduction of an International Studies concentration for students with an Interdisciplinary Studies major.

"One of the dreams I had at the very beginning was a concentration in International Studies for undergraduates," Rosenblatt said. "In other words, an interdisciplinary studies major with a concentration in international studies."

The new concentration consists of a 21-unit requirement with class options in three tracks: culture, development, and science and technology. The International Affairs faculty consists of professors who work in various fields, ranging from political science to agriculture to neurobiology.

The international studies concentration will better equip undergraduates to work in such fields as international affairs and government, and provide another avenue for students desiring to go into graduate work, Rosenblatt said. He said it will bring a bigger and better perspective to the current course offerings.

"We've given, form, shape and meaning to the classes that are already in the catalog," Rosenblatt said.

International Affairs Program Director Molly Childers said the office will save the university money in the long run.

"We have combined the Center for International Students and Scholars with the Office of Study Abroad at no extra cost," Childers said. "This is all being done with the existing staff."

Childers said that unlike Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University, which receive mostly state funding for their international affairs offices, the UA's office is primarily revenue driven. Most of the office's funding comes from the UA's Department of Student Programs and receives little state funding.

The Office of International Affairs has a budget of $2.2 million for 1996-97.

Rosenblatt said one of his future plans is to develop an alumni association for international students and to recruit prospective UA students to go into international studies.

"I would like to form an alumni association, so when students come back from their study abroad, they can meet with students from the country they studied at," Rosenblatt said. "Then perhaps we will send the alumni out to the high schools (to recruit)."

The reorganization will not affect the Center for English as a Second Language or the International Studies Association.

Rosenblatt said approximately 2,300 students will be affected by the reorganization, which took effect July 1.

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