May 14, 2014 Conference – Denver

Narrow Banner

Theme: Resources and Means: How to Make a Difference in Subnational U.S.-China Relations

Who’s Coming: Leaders in local (e.g., state, city, university, and business) level organizations involved in the U.S.-China relationship.

Deliverables: U.S.-China associations, universities, local governments and businesses engaged in cross- sectoral (public, private & social sector) China exchange can build new relationships with domestic and Chinese counterparts. Attendance will strengthen existing China connections for your projects, provide connections and advice for expanding and developing business, and improve knowledge of best practices of educational and business capacity building.

Fee: $150 includes lunch; limited numbers of tickets for students and educators ($20 – $50) are still available, but running out.  Register now!

[news]NEW!  Check out our half-day-option-with-lunch for those who have the interest…just not the time![/news]

[info]Lodging: A special block of rooms has been reserved for your use at the Springhill Suites Marriott.  Just mention you’re coming to the U.S.-China Relations conference![/info]

[alert]Download the Conference Facilities Map[/alert]

 

[button text=”Register now” url=”http://TaiDenver.brownpapertickets.com” /]

Conference Logo

[button text=”Sign up to receive conference updates” url=”http://eepurl.com/jNENf” /]

 

Agenda

8:00                   Registration Opens

8:30 – 8:45        Conference Opening and Welcome

8:45 – 9:00        KeynoteCollage 2

“The National View on the Growing Importance of Local Leadership”

Allen Barber – President, Denver-Hainan Corporation, Co-founder, U.S.-China Cooperative Association of Elected Local Officials

9:00 – 9:15        “Subnational Cooperation & the P.R.C. Consulate in Chicago”
Wang Shuying, Deputy Consul General, Consulate General of the P.R.C. in Chicago

9:15 – 10:00      Panel: “Beyond the MOU: Three Mayors On Making China Relationships Work” 

Moderator: Allen Barber

Paul Natale, Former Mayor of Commerce City, Colorado
Chad Auer, Former Mayor of Firestone, Colorado
Conrad Lee, Former Mayor of Bellevue, Washington

10:00 – 11:30      Workshops

Workshop participants bring together networks, knowledge, leadership skills and share goals to address common problems, formulate solutions and create new opportunities

“K-12 Mandarin Teaching: Visa, Cultural & Public Schools Outreach Issues”Collage 3
Chair – Harry Imbeau, Associate Director, Confucius Institute at Colorado State University

“Leveraging Local Connections & Regional Economic Cooperation for Business”
Chair – Clarence Low, President & Board Chair, Colorado Asian Chamber of Commerce

 “Universities & Environmental Science Exchange: EcoPartnership Networking Model”
Chairs – Dr. Jaron Hansen, Utah-Qinghai EcoPartnership, and Dr. S. T. Hsieh, Tulane University-East China Normal University EcoPartnership

11:15 – 12:45        Movie: The Revolutionary (this portion of the conference is open to the general public)

A documentary interview of Sidney Rittenberg, who arrived in China as a GI Chinese language expert, joined the Chinese Communist Party, and became an intimate of the Party’s leadership, including Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.  In the convulsions of a giant country constantly reinventing itself, he served a total of 16 years in solitary confinement, returning to the United States in 1980.

11:30 – 1:00        Lunch and networking

1:00 – 2:30          Panel:  “Resources and Means in Local U.S.-China Relations: Engaging Governmental,                  Business and Educational Interests”

Moderator: Ann Olsen Schodde, President Emeritus, Center for Citizen Diplomacy &President, AOS International

Swallow Yan, U.S. Education Without Borders & Chinese Association of Iowa
Joe Parilla, Brookings Institution, Global Cities Initiative
Conrad Lee, Former Mayor of Bellevue, Washington State

2:30 – 2:35             Panel Concluding Thoughts with The Honorable Michael B. Hancock, Mayor of Denver – “Denver & Regional China Relations: A Vision for Community Building”

2:35 – 2:45            Break 

2:45 – 3:30           Workshop Breakout Sessions 

“Executive Skill Training & Development: Becoming a Visionary Leader”
Chair – Larry Donnithorne, Col (USA, Ret.) President Emeritus Colorado Christian College

“Opportunities & Practices in Expanding US-China Educational Exchange”
Chairs – Swallow Yan, President, U.S. Education Without Borders & Executive Director, Chinese Association of Iowa and Travis Tanner, Senior Vice President, 100,000 Strong Foundation

“Global Fluency of Cities & The Denver Metro Area”
Chair – Joe Parilla, Brookings Institution, Global Cities Initiative

3:30 – 4:00           Break

4:00 – 4:30           Senior Panel Closing Comments

 

Detailed Workshop & Panel Descriptions 

  • “Beyond the MOU: Three Mayors On Making China Relationships Work” : Former Commerce City Mayor Paul Natale, Former Firestone Mayor Chad Auer and Former Bellevue, Former WA Mayor Conrad Lee (a Chinese-American), will share how they each led their respective cities to achieve tangible outcomes through successful China relations activities, and why there is a compelling economic and societal need to continue to do so. Natale and Auer will discuss their formation of the Colorado- based U.S.-China Cooperative Association of Elected Local Officials and how they are planning a US-China Mayors Conference Series.
  • “K-12 Mandarin Teaching: Visa, Cultural & Public Schools Outreach Issues”: This workshop will involve Confucius Institutes from Colorado and New Mexico, the Colorado Department of Education, and various Colorado K-12 public schools discussing how regional Confucius Institutes can better connect to local public schools for Chinese language and cultural programming, issues such as obtaining visas for Chinese teachers, and varied issues of interest to K-12 classrooms regarding Mandarin teaching and related activities. This will be followed by Dr. Edwin Gragert, Director of Global Campaign for Education-U.S (GCE-US) and Executive Director Emeritus of iEARN-USA providing a demonstration on the use of Abode Connect, Blackboard Collaborate and the iEARN platform to connect classrooms for language and other educational purposes. We encourage all educational organizations and institutions interested in China to attend.
  • “Leveraging Subnational Connections”: This workshop will involve Commercial Counselor Shu and Commercial Consul Dan Yuanpeng of the PRC Consulate in Chicago helping businesses understand how the Consulate can help with China business opportunities; the Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade discussing its China export assistance resources for businesses; Pyxera Global discussing International Corporate Volunteerism operations and opportunities in China;  the Colorado Asian Chamber of Commerce describing its business services and opportunities; and regional business and government and representatives networking and collaborating on achieving business goals toward China. We encourage other local/regional businesses, business nonprofit and government organizations, and university business departments/students to attend.
  • “Universities & Environmental Science Exchange: EcoPartnership Networking Model”: This workshop will facilitate best practices sharing of and networking between university-based US-China focused environmental/sustainability exchange relationships. Specifically, this will involve Dr. Jaron Hansen of the Utah-Qinghai EcoPartnership discussing their successful model of protecting the intellectual property of technology they export to China, and Dr. S. T. Hsieh of the Tulane University-East China Normal University EcoPartnership (and also Founding Director of the US/China Energy and Environmental Technology Center) discussing practices in China exchanges on clean air, water and energy for wetland eco-development. We encourage the Urban Planning and/or Environmental Studies departments of local/regional universities to attend. EcoPartnerships are local-level environmentally focused US-China partnerships of universities, businesses and governments overseen jointly by the U.S. Department of State and the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission.
  •  The panel “Resources and Means in Subnational U.S.-China Relations” will discuss how governments, businesses, nonprofits and universities can obtain and use the resources they need in order to hold US-China and local-level exchange for all manner of community interests. Moderated by seasoned international exchange veteran and expert Ann Schodde (Center for Citizen Diplomacy & AOS International), a distinguished panel of experts on international/China local government, business and educational exchange will weigh in on this issue. Mayor of Denver Michael B. Hancock will close this workshop with his thoughts on the future of and potential for the Denver region’s China engagement.
  •  “Executive Skill Training”: This workshop will involve seasoned leadership expert Larry Donnithorne providing leadership training for business executives. Colorado businesses interested in gaining these skills are expected to attend.
  • “Global Fluency of Cities & The Denver Metro Area”: This will involve Brookings Institution’s Global Cities Initiative’s Joe Parilla, co-author of “The 10 Traits of Globally Fluent Metro Areas,” discussing how Denver can follow the “10 Traits” methodology to become more internationally connected. Local government city planning and economic development departments, University economics/business/international relations departments/students, and business organizations are Consulate offers for subnational exchange promotion and how the Consulate has worked to help U.S. encouraged to attend.
  • “Opportunities & Practices in Expanding US-China Educational Exchange”: This will involve Swallow Yan of US Education Without Borders (and Chinese Association of Iowa) discussing and networking on how to bring more Chinese students to the US for educational purposes, and Travis Tanner of the 100,000 Strong Foundation who will discuss and network on how to create more opportunities for US students to study in China. All educational institutions and organizations interested in engaging in and/or learning about US-China student exchange are encouraged to attend. Dr. Edwin Gragert of GCE-US and iEARN-USA will also share experiences on using online collaborative projects can take place before, during and after physical exchanges to build on face-to- face relationships over time with Chinese educational counterparts.

[button text=”Sign up here to become a member with the Tai Initiative” url=”http://eepurl.com/jNENf” /]

Learn about sponsorship opportunities.

For questions on media and event overall, contact carson@taiinitiative.org

For questions on program content, contact benjamin@taiinitiative.org

For questions on event logistics, contact lida@taiinitiative.org

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *