Quotes and information on national leaders from Project for Learning Abroad, Training and Outreach (PLATO) is an integrated study abroad training, certification, and diversity outreach program

• US Leaders who have studied abroad (pdf)

• 10 Reasons for African-American Students to Study Abroad

• 10 Reasons for Asian Pacific Islander American Students to Study Abroad

• 10 Reasons for Hispanic-American Students to Study Abroad

• 10 Reasons for Native-American Students to Study Abroad

Governor Bob Riley, Alabama Chairman, Global Strategies Council
"As Southern businesses face worldwide competition, we have a choice of learning to work smarter or being willing to work cheaper. Since the second option is unacceptable, we must make sure that our workforce is always globally competitive." 

Michael Eskew, Chief Executive Officer for UPS, has named six traits he is looking for in future employees: trade literate, sensitive to foreign cultures, conversant in different languages, technology savvy, capable of managing complexity, and ethical. Georgia Institute of Technology's 2006 CIBER Conference on Language and International Business, Matters of Perspective: Culture, Communication, and Commerce. http://www.modlangs.gatech.edu/ciber/

Lucas endorsed US students studying abroad to help imbue them with more global perspectives. "Study abroad is extremely important; just for kids to get outside this country and experience the fact there is a big world out there," Lucas said.

“I'm a first generation college student, the first in my family to have the good fortune and opportunity to attend university. That opportunity kindled in me a lifelong passion for learning about other cultures. For almost three decades of my career at The Coca-Cola Company, I lived and worked in Asia. From Singapore to Tokyo to Beijing, I learned about different local cultures by living and working in those cultures. It gave me a profound respect for how people are different, and also for how we are the same.”

Those experiences shaped my career in a powerful way - by shaping an appreciation for the cultural and intellectual diversity in our world. I'm fortunate today to have the opportunity to lead a company that is one of the most internationally diverse organizations on earth. We operate in nearly 200 countries, do business in some 125 languages, and employ people from over 215 different nationalities. Respecting and understanding the fundamental value of diversity is vital to who we are and the way we do business. Understanding and valuing different cultures has shaped my ability to lead our business, and it's an absolute imperative for anyone who works at The Coca-Cola Company.”
 

Andrew Young, Chairman, GoodWorks International, an Atlanta-based consulting firm that advises corporations and governments about international commerce, former US Ambassador to the United Nations, former 2 time Mayor of the City of Atlanta, Georgia.

"We are interdependent and dependent on one another. We have got to find a way to make this whole planet work."  But Young also said we live in a wonderful world. "It is a wonderful world. We have the resources to solve almost any problem. In America, if we can conceive it and believe it, we can achieve it.  "Yet, we are never totally self-sufficient. This world was not our creation. We are just a part of it. We have to approach things humbly, and we have to always be open for new things. "My grandmother used to say all the time, ‘The world will make a way out of no way.’"  (as quoted by William White of the Opelika Auburn News, January 27, 2006, andrew_young.pdf copy)
 

Stanley Roth, Vice President for Asia, Boeing Company
If you are going to be a global company, international education and experience has to be high on the list*the Boeing Company recognizes that it needs international education to be able to operate. And the ability to communicate easily in the language of the country, to go to the media, to conduct your meetings with senior corporate colleagues or government officials, is invaluable.

Fareed Zakaria, Editor, Newsweek
The most important thing that schools can do is to make people aware that understanding the world is very much part of the requirement of being an educated person. There should be some shame attached to not being more aware of the world, not having some mastery of foreign language.

GASTON CAPERTON President, College Board
Americans have been the worlds most successful students and entrepreneurs for the past century. We have to envision a new set of global skills that include understanding world languages and cultures to retain our edge in an increasingly interconnected economy.

John Engler, President of National Association of Manufacturers and Former Governor of Michigan
In order to promote strategic and economic opportunities that will make our nation safer and more prosperous, every student will need a solid grounding of knowledge about the history of the U.S. and our vital democratic institutions. But we must also integrate knowledge of world history, geography, science and technology, world languages, literature and international affairs into the school day.

Senator Jon Corzine, Governor-elect of New Jersey Just as the race to the moon galvanized an earlier generation the education race must mobilize us to meet the demands of the 21st century. In a global economy, our students need to be prepared with world languages and culture.  We need to do better at teaching the high demand languages that are increasingly important in the new world like Chinese and Arabic.