The Pursuit Of… International Affairs Forum
Jim Bensley, the director of International Service and Service Learning, as well as the emcee and director of Traverse City International Affairs Forum, describes his various roles when asked about his work. He highlights his work with the Service Learning Program, where he integrates global competencies into the curriculum, creates study abroad programs, and teaches in the humanities department. Bensley also directs the International Affairs Forum, which brings crucial global issues to the community and features insights from former diplomats, journalists, and military personnel. He observes a shift in the tone of discussions about world affairs over the past ten years, with events like the war in Ukraine and the US’s relationship with China causing concern.
Hey Ryan.
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It’s doing.
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Mark
Great.
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Ryan
It’s the first time that the sun isn’t out in the first, you know?
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Mark
Yeah, yeah, I know that. You got a nice suit on today.
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Ryan
No. Do I? Thank you very much. That’s enough of that chatter. Chatter. More importantly, our guest today is Jim Bensley, director, international Service and service Learning and emcee and director, Traverse City International Affairs Forum. How are.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
You? I’m doing great. Glad to be.
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Ryan
Here. Thank you for saying so. We always hope that that’s the case. Nobody here under duress. That would be bad. And as I mentioned before we started, I really, really excited to be talking to you. And thank you for taking the time to do this because, well, I think what you do has relevancy all the time. But I started asking a question recently that I like to ask, and it’s kind of going well.
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Ryan
So I don’t know, maybe this is a trend, but let’s say you’re at a party and somebody says, What do you do? What do you say?
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Well, I how long do I have? So 30 seconds.
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Ryan
Is that typically the start of it?
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. Yeah.
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Ryan
Like if somebody is like, hey, what do you do?
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Because I’m involved in a lot of things at the college, not only the director of the International Services and Service Learning Program, which in that area we, we work with faculty to integrate the curriculum with global competencies and global thought goes global ideas. We also develop the study abroad programs that we have at NMC and we put those together.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So we send 50 to 60 students each year to about four different countries on faculty led study abroad programs. We do that. I also teach in the humanities department, run the Service learning program over there, which also integrates service learning into academic coursework and other student organizations. And then I am directing the International Affairs Forum as well, and I think that’s why we’re here today.
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Ryan
But wow. Okay, so you have a semicircle of people around you. What kind of questions you tend to get, and are they typically good ones?
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, when I’m at, let’s say, at a party, right. And they say, what do you do? And and I, I talk about my passions first. And the passions, as I say, are integrating students with the world. And because of that, I’m able to tell some stories and really show them how. In a community college in northern Michigan, we connect with the world just as well as a student downstate.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Can. And that’s a point of pride for us now. That’s for students. And students are also involved in the international affairs for them because they attend some of our programing and we do things like the academic world quest with them. But our main gist of the International Affairs Forum is really to bring the critical issues happening in the world to our community and to bring in former diplomats and journalists.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And people may have served in the military and really give them the insight from a one on one perspective.
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Ryan
And you have quite a historic knowledge of who is here. Like, if I had to ask you who came to speak August 3rd of 1994. I’m just kidding. You know what? Nobody would have to have to know all of that. But when you think about what you’ve been doing and the impact that you’ve made, how have you seen the tone of our discussions, General, regarding world affairs?
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Ryan
World events change in the last ten years in our community? Have you seen the tone change at all in the last decade?
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
I think obviously there’s been a number of things that have caused that. The war in Ukraine right is one of them. Our relationship with China at this point, as things are heating up in the South China Sea, you know, the concern that is in the forefront now, there’s there’s always been concerns in the world, obviously, but these are something that could dramatically affect the U.S., you know, within the next few years.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So that sort of urgency, I want to say, is there.
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Ryan
You’re seeing that as a change. You’re seeing more urgency. Yeah. Is that because there is more access to information just even in the last ten years, or is it something else?
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, the 24 hour news cycle is certainly something that has an effect on people.
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Ryan
Is is a knowledge of current events becoming sexy among young people? I’m hearing that that it’s it’s maybe not as cool to be John Bender as much anymore and it is seen as because I have a teenager so not saying they’re either one or the other, but is that the case? Are you seeing that more as well? Yeah, change in discussion.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Well, we are. In case in point, we we run the academic world. QUEST Academic World Quest is sponsored by the World Affairs Council of the United States, which we are a part, and we’ve been doing that for ten years, is our 10th year. And this year we had 16 teams participate. So the amount of teams has grown over the last ten years.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Great. I think the first year there were seven or so.
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Ryan
Yeah. So look on your face and that this is delightful to you.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. So this was a really good competition that we recently ran in and had a very interesting ending. There’s 100 questions. It’s like a quiz ball format and the student study and you know, access resources for a number of months before the actual competition. And these are high school students and then they have these 100 questions and they all have to answer the questions.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And then you can watch on the leaderboard who’s rising to the top and who’s kind of falling. Yeah. So we had two teams and it wasn’t until the 99th question that the winner actually was, you know, made apparent because it was so close, really. And so, yeah.
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Ryan
So that’s the equivalent of a really tight finish.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. Yeah. Very right.
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Ryan
Now did it help that, you know, even in pop culture like, you know, Peter Parker is a competitive learner, you know, is that something that in the zeitgeisty affects and helps your mission.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. Yeah, of course it does.
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Ryan
Oh, so you’re saying anything can help, though?
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
It is interesting. And kind of going back to your original question about media and things. Yes. I mean, students did they do see it more, whether they try not to see it, it’s there. You know, it’s ubiquitous. Yeah. In our times now. And so hopefully in their high schools or their college courses, these things are being touched on and addressed too, because, you know, they have questions.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So they come into the classroom. Oftentimes, I see that I teach a class on world cultures in fact, we were looking at Israel, Palestine and what’s happening over there just today. Yeah. And students came in with some information that they had heard and they shared that with the rest of the class. Now, of course, I have to make sure that their sourcing is as credible.
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Ryan
Interesting. But other challenge. Yeah, because previously it was just them depending on you.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah.
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Ryan
For them now are they were it’s more of a conversation and that’s what is generating awareness. Yes. Because the International Affairs Forum started in 1994, 1994. Tough year. You know, Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed at the start of it. Yes. Nicole Brown Simpson, Ronald Goldman in the middle of it. We lost Tupac at the end, tumultuous the year 1994.
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Ryan
But what do you think sparked it then? And do you do you find it relevant to look at where you came from as it relates to moving forward?
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, well, this was it actually goes back even further than the 30 years and that back in, I believe, 1952 out at the Leelanau schools, they decided they wanted to have a week long symposium where they brought in journalists and they brought in diplomats and government officials and things like that to have workshops and seminars. And so they did it out there and people participated in that.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And that went almost, I think, 50 years. This is small. It was for one week kind of thing. And then one of the founders of that, one of the people involved, Phil Cochran in 1994, said, you know what, we need to expand this. We need to bring it into Traverse City and perhaps we can connect with the college made sense.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
We’re an educational institution. These were topics and things that were being talked about and dealt with and both in class and in the community. And so they started the International Affairs Forum. And funny story I was back in early nineties, I was actually working in PR at the college and so yeah, oh my gosh, I was doing advertising and things like that.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And, and I remember doing posters for the first international affairs Forum. I mean that was, that was what I was charged with, you know, in putting together the, the yearly schedule and things like that. So yeah, I remember that well and thinking this is, I remember even at that young age thinking, yeah, this is kind of cool that we’re doing this here at a community college.
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Ryan
Well, I mean that doesn’t, that, that defines serendipity, does it not? I think if we if we think of it artistically, but looking backwards a little further, you received your B.S. from Western Michigan University and Education and in your master’s in interdisciplinary technology, which, you know, I think a unique type of field, if you have had to be asked about that at a party and eastern Michigan is where you got your master’s in interdisciplinary technology, right?
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Ryan
So you started on the West, you went to the east. Yeah. Which, you know, I mean, that’s okay. Was there something that you just wanted to taste the flavor of each side?
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Another interesting story there, too. So not only can.
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Ryan
You go back to one of them, I mean, you can, right?
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
You can go back to. Okay, let me go back to my undergrad. Right. And this was at Western Michigan. So I was a dual major history major and then a arts education major. And so I graduated that with that degree and not knowing what I want to do, I like to do graphic design, I like to do advertising.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So henceforth, that’s how I got my first job at the college in that field. But I always loved history and I had when I was growing up, I was lucky enough to live in the UK when I was in sixth grade and I went to school over there. It’s not like my parents just shoved me off and said, okay, go to school.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Paddington situation. Okay. And so.
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Ryan
How long were.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
You there? Almost a year. You’re there. Wow.
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Ryan
Yeah, I can’t tell. The accent’s gone.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. Yeah. It wasn’t for my sister, though. She actually was younger. She came back and they put her in a speech therapy class. Because. Outside of a British accent. Yeah, she was in kindergarten. And so she had this sort of British accent that, you know.
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Mark
Just something to know. Like, I know people that have been here for 40 years and the accent never went away. And then I have another friend who was like raised in Australia and said as soon as he moved here, he couldn’t get rid of it quick enough. He was like, you know, he didn’t like the attention any of just.
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Ryan
Oh, well, I get.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
That then it no good.
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Ryan
In a time where being seen is good but not being seen, you know, and you know, the attention.
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Mark
American accent as soon as possible.
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Ryan
Holy cow.
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Mark
Michigan.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So that was you know, I did that. Unbelievable. When I was in high school, my dad got a job ta to teach over at American Air Force Base in Germany and then on the island of Greece. The whole family went over and my three siblings, my mom and my dad and we spent four months in Germany and then four months living on the island of Crete in Iraq-Iran.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So this international connection felt very comfortable for me.
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Ryan
Right. But you you’ve been here a long time. I would think that you have built in wanderlust.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yes, I have. I have.
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Ryan
I mean, I’m already salivating at the places that you’re talking about. And you’ve you’ve been here and you’ve been with this a long time.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Why? So I’ve been with the international component that actually began in the 2000 when I was director of admissions at the college, and we didn’t have a separate person to handle the international students. So I took that on and really enjoyed that really working from students. Because again, you go into they think, how many why would people come to traverse City to go to school instead of Michigan State or going to University, Boston or some of these other places.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And obviously they still do. We go to those places, but it was very interesting because people in this area were so proud of where they lived. And so if they had friends overseas and those friends had children, they’d say, why don’t you send your your child over here? You can go to this great college and then you can transfer.
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Ryan
It’s just.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Two years. Yeah. And so so we had you know, it wasn’t a huge amount, but we had about for a number of years, about 35 students from different parts of the world. And so it was my job to be the designated school official and, and do all the paperwork for them, but also run the international club and get to know them.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And so what we would do is obviously integrate U.S. students in that club, too. So everybody sort of benefited. And that was such a joy for me. And then after I left the directorship of the admissions office, we had a vice president at the time that was a real forward looking person. And she said, I think we need to do more international.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Do we need to make more international connections for our students? And it was supported by our former president, Tim Nelson, and his wife Nancy set up a nice scholarship for embassy students to study abroad. Yeah. And so I was they actually started in an office that they called Outreach Services, which included not only international services and service learning, but also early college.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Wow. Our commitment scholarship program, our military and veterans office and and it was it was great. I had a great staff. We were really tight and worked together really well. But the one goal, one of the goals we had at that time was we need to build the ability for our students to travel, okay, to get over there in an academic sense, not just going over and, you know, jumping on the bus and going to the Eiffel Tower and then going.
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Ryan
So did you have to like to deal with dispelling the myth around the class trip? Yeah.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
We did. And so we set it up. So they were faculty led and they integrated with the curriculum that the faculty were teaching. So in each different discipline, it was fantastic because we could send our biology students to South Africa or our freshwater studies students to Costa Rica, or we sent engineering students to Russia back when it was safe to go to Russia.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah.
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Ryan
And it’s not your fault these places all happened to be great. Like if there is a lousy air or cheaper place to go, do it. You’d find a way because it’s academia and that’s how you grind. That’s right. So not. Not your fault.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Not my fault, but it was. Yeah. So we’ve been in since 2003 teen, 2013 14. We’ve sent over 500 students to over 22 different countries. Wow. So we’re really proud of that. And so having that type of base for our students and having the international affairs form as a component of further learning for students about the world. Yeah, made a lot of sense.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And it still does.
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Ryan
Yeah.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
In that.
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Ryan
Right. Well, I’m going to pull you back because I’m always fascinated by this element. We talked about passion and I see it, I feel it, and it’s not just because and we’re going to get to some of the details of what you have to do because, you know, it probably sounds all well and good doing all this stuff, but the logistics and all the things that are involved.
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Ryan
But was there any one watershed moment or person movie song that made you want to do this, that made you want to stick with this and maybe forsake going back to Crete because you had a taste for that? Was there any one thing that you can pinpoint or do you even localize it that way? Or because you talked about a lot of different things?
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Ryan
Sure, that really inspired you, but was there anything really important?
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, I think well, can I go back to third grade on this, please? Okay, all the better. Yes. So I remember this distinctly. Our teacher is we had a reading assignment and she called it the Passport assignment. This is third graders, right? And if you read a book from a country, then you could. She had these little stamps and you could change the letters on the stamps and things like that, too.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
The name of the country. Yeah. And so if you read a book and then you wrote a little paper on it, you know, a little report what happened in the story and thing, then you get a stamp in this passport. And I remember I read a story about Bora-Bora, you know, okay, I didn’t I had no idea where Bora Bora was.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Obviously in the Pacific. And so I was really intrigued not only to read the story, but to find out where this place was on the globe. And I found it. And I just thought, That’s so cool. There’s a huge ocean between Michigan and Bora Bora.
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Ryan
There was a moment of a little bit of realization.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
For, Yeah, if I take it back there, then it kind of sparked an interest. And I’ve always been sort of interested in different countries. Yeah. And then obviously living in the UK and traveling through Europe, we did that. There were six of us in the size of a Camry car. Right That time we hear.
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Ryan
You can’t be.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Here on the top and.
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Ryan
My parents need to tell the story.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, So, so we live kind of rough. We sort of backpacked around Europe in that fashion when we were over in the UK. So all of those instances where I was able to experience different cultures and languages and food and all of that was just really invigorating, right? So working internationally, whether it be just in a cultural fashion or in a geopolitical diplomatic kind of trying to gain understanding in that area was a huge interest, right?
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Ryan
Yeah. Back to third grade. Yeah. Did you say the name of that teacher? Did you watch.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Mrs. Whitaker.
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Ryan
And Mrs. Whitaker?
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah.
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Ryan
Thank you, Mrs. Whitaker.
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Mark
Yeah.
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Ryan
Wherever you may be. Yes. I think that’s great. I mean, you know, we talk about, you know, we have academics on. We are married to a teacher and it’s, you know, the shout outs because the millions aren’t there for them either. Yeah. When you think about your role as director of admissions in general, do you think that was a pretty important time in coloring how you saw kind of the student and particularly the international student experience, and did that help you right today?
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Oh, yeah. I think culturally, absolutely. And then we would have political discussions, too. I remember one time we had two Kenyan students and and they were in one of our international club meetings and they started I can’t remember what was going on in Kenya, some probably a presidential election or something like that. And one of them was just real supportive of this president because he was from his tribe, his, you know, kin group.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, right. And the other couldn’t stand him. And it was not because of any policy they had, but just because of the tribal associations that they had. And Wow. And I thought that was just so interesting for my students, other students, too, who.
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Ryan
Would think that that was something that you would have to consider as a professional.
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Mark
Yeah, but that’s I mean, what we have here today and from what I can tell, almost always have been, I mean, the arguments are rarely rooted in real policy and that often say, you know, how many times have we said this was their policy, but now that the other side of the aisle is trying to implement it, they’re adamantly against it.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, Yeah.
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Mark
And some people are raised to just like Ohio State and others are raised to like U of M, and it’s just never.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Going to, you.
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Ryan
Know, I guess where I was going with that is, is it must have given you a particular advantage to be effective because as director of admissions you see so much you see something that maybe other fellow leaders don’t see. Right.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Well, it’s especially especially working with international students and also families, you know, families that would come in.
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Ryan
And I mean, there are stories. Yeah, they have a lot of stories that probably I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but drive you in a certain way. Yeah. Because, you know, there’s emotion sometimes in moments where.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Well, you know, let me just share another story with you here, too. This was we had a guy from I want to say he’s from Malawi or something like that. I can’t remember that country, but some country in Africa. And he applied to come to Tennessee and he was going to start in January. Right. So he’s from a country that’s relatively warm all the time.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Right. So so he gets here and it’s January and we pick him up at the airport. And it’s one of those days where it’s ten degrees below zero and it’s just blowing the snow. Yeah. And he’s got a little windbreaker on because that’s the coat he had, right? It didn’t need anything more than that. And so he gets here and he’s just shivering.
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Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So we went to Goodwill. We got him a nice jacket to wear, came into my office the next day, and I said, I think his name is John. I said, John, why? You know, what was the interest in coming to this cold place?
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Ryan
Right.
00;21;50;13 – 00;22;09;29
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Because he was going to he’s studying automotive technology. That’s what he want to do. He said, Well, I’m from the coast, you know, that’s where I live. That’s where my home is. So I’m very used to water. I know who Henry Ford is. I know he was from Michigan, so I looked for a school that was on the water and was in Michigan.
00;22;10;01 – 00;22;14;09
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So it had an automotive tech program. So yeah. So that’s how he found his way.
00;22;14;09 – 00;22;15;14
Ryan
And it wasn’t in Detroit, right?
00;22;15;17 – 00;22;16;02
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah.
00;22;16;05 – 00;22;16;21
Mark
I guess.
00;22;16;27 – 00;22;23;26
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
No. So Henry Ford got him here to Traverse City? Yeah, it took him a while to adapt, I guess, to the climate, but he eventually did.
00;22;23;26 – 00;22;28;26
Mark
And are we one of the few community colleges with dorms?
00;22;28;28 – 00;22;34;13
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yes, we are. We are. There are more and more now than there were ten years ago. But yeah, so.
00;22;34;14 – 00;22;35;29
Mark
Sometimes that’s a consider.
00;22;36;01 – 00;22;43;05
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
That we had housing so that that helps a lot. You know it’s more difficult for those schools that have to find housing or apartment rentals for students.
00;22;43;05 – 00;23;02;01
Ryan
Well you talks about the the places you’ve been India, Morocco, Brazil. What is your approach to finding the right partners for this? There’s has to be so much that goes into it and it can’t just be, let’s go there. So what do you what’s your approach which is you want to a very good question.
00;23;02;03 – 00;23;09;29
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
How do we partner? And you know, there’s there’s a lot of providers out there that help colleges and universities set up programs in different countries, and they do a.
00;23;09;29 – 00;23;12;15
Ryan
Really good job and people may not know that. Can you elaborate just a tad?
00;23;12;15 – 00;23;38;08
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. Yeah. So if you’re son or daughter or you wanted to go somewhere, you saw an advertisement at your college for a semester or two weeks in Ireland or something, most likely it’s going to be something that is associated with a company or an organization or a government sponsored agency that helps bring students in to Ireland to experience the culture.
00;23;38;10 – 00;24;02;10
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So and there’s a number of them, and it’s is a very good ones. I mean, there’s CIS and there’s EIF and there’s CIA, EE, and there’s, you know, these international kind of companies. So they can put together a nice package. It’s usually a little bit more expensive sometimes. And so when you’re at a community college, you have to think, okay, what can my students afford, you know, and how best can we do this?
00;24;02;12 – 00;24;30;20
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So what I’ve done is I’ve gone to a couple more than a couple lot of conferences and conventions, and I kind of seek out the small guy, you know, that is trying to get a good start. Maybe he’s done some great things, has really good programs, but isn’t in the same conversation as some of those larger entities. And so we develop a relationship with them and, you know, we vet them and everything and we send a group down there.
00;24;30;23 – 00;24;43;08
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And what I found is they’re just so much more on task, I guess. Are they they really they care so much about doing right because their whole business depends on it, right? If you’ve got a large business and a trip goes, Yeah.
00;24;43;11 – 00;24;44;20
Mark
To give you little complacent.
00;24;44;20 – 00;24;47;15
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kind of thing. And again, I don’t mean.
00;24;47;15 – 00;24;51;02
Ryan
It’s such a corporate thing that, you know, it’s just like it transfers all over.
00;24;51;05 – 00;25;15;01
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So we’ve been really lucky to develop a couple of good relationships in India, Morocco, Brazil, Costa Rica. We also associate with institutions too, because they’re doing the same things we are. They’re teaching students right now and preparing them for the world of work. So we’ve got partnerships in China, we’ve got partnerships in Costa Rica and Colombia, you know, with the with institutions.
00;25;15;04 – 00;25;28;19
Ryan
And what are one of the biggest challenges, one of the headaches when you’re looking at a new place, a new destination, is it currency? Is it safety? What are the hottest buttons, the things that you hate to deal with?
00;25;28;21 – 00;25;29;03
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
The things I.
00;25;29;03 – 00;25;30;16
Ryan
Hate in general.
00;25;30;19 – 00;25;32;05
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
All the paperwork. Yeah. Okay.
00;25;32;07 – 00;25;32;13
Ryan
There you.
00;25;32;13 – 00;25;51;17
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Go. Well, because we want to mitigate any risk we can, right? We should be doing that. Any institution, organizations should be doing that. So we do have students sign a lot of forms and we make sure that we do our due diligence, as I say, and vetting the organizations, letting our legal team read through contracts kind of stuff.
00;25;51;17 – 00;26;04;22
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And but it basically what we do is when we decide on a place to go, we investigate that place and we investigate how to build a full and complete program. If you’re going there for ten days or two weeks.
00;26;04;23 – 00;26;17;07
Mark
Right. So for a contingency plan, what is the process and how often does a student lose their passport?
00;26;17;10 – 00;26;29;21
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Hmm. Well, see, I mean, talk about contingency plans or mitigating risk. So what we do is when that student comes to us with their passport, we make three copies. Right? Okay.
00;26;29;22 – 00;26;30;05
Ryan
Okay.
00;26;30;05 – 00;26;49;10
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So one copy goes back to the student. Student already has their original passport. One copy goes to the faculty lead and then one copy stays in my office. So if they ever lose it, they have a card, there is a copy someplace. And, you know, we make an electronic copy of it, too. Yeah. So but we did before before we were doing much of that.
00;26;49;10 – 00;27;12;09
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
I remember in Russia we had a student who he was on the subway. Right. And he lost his passport on the subway in Moscow. I got back to the hotel or the hostel where they were staying. It’s like, Oh my gosh, man. Oh, I don’t know where he got that. Oh, my gosh, that’s a massive city, right? So we had one of our faculty members spoke really good Russian.
00;27;12;09 – 00;27;31;13
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
She taught a Russian language class at an embassy and so she called somebody at the metro station or the metro office. And and they were really good about that. I mean, they really helped search for that student’s passport. They found it. It had just now it slipped behind the seat and it was still there. Yeah. No one had taken your shot.
00;27;31;15 – 00;27;34;05
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. So as I. Well, yeah.
00;27;34;08 – 00;27;48;20
Mark
The so anybody I’ve known that’s done a travel abroad for a class in the past, that’s what they’ve said is like as soon as we got there somebody you know, whoever was in charge said listen every time somebody loses it, don’t be that.
00;27;48;23 – 00;27;49;01
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Guy.
00;27;49;05 – 00;27;51;13
Ryan
That’s think of is the machine coming out.
00;27;51;19 – 00;27;52;17
Mark
Of the machine.
00;27;52;20 – 00;27;58;28
Ryan
So I don’t know if you’re familiar with it. This may be a damper on the international student travel.
00;27;58;28 – 00;28;00;27
Mark
Situation here this June.
00;28;00;29 – 00;28;01;10
Ryan
That is.
00;28;01;10 – 00;28;02;17
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
True.
00;28;02;19 – 00;28;27;18
Ryan
Unbelievable. And so you don’t always have to do international travel for what you know, what you do. You do work locally. Right? So in April of 2022, you held an event with the national writer series I have an opera house, for example, to address the Russia Ukraine conflict. And you are so eloquent. I mean, the way you talk to there’s a nine and ten news piece on it and you said these people are our neighbors.
00;28;27;21 – 00;28;42;21
Ryan
You know, there’s no control over what’s being done over there. So when you put events on like this, when you’re rallying everybody, do you do you set out a goal with your team? How do you how do you give a goal and how do you calculate success for an event like that if that’s something that resonates.
00;28;42;28 – 00;29;01;10
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So yeah, let me address that in two ways. So with the International Affairs Forum, that was a special program that we did with National Writers Series, We partnered on that. We do partner with national writers and you can of TSI, you know, and that’s a great thing when we can get local partners and we do things together. And so that worked out really well.
00;29;01;10 – 00;29;31;01
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And people came out and they donated. It was a fantastic idea and we had set goals and how much we wanted to make from that and hope that we could raise. And all the money went back to four different organizations that were supporting. And so it didn’t come back to us. And so it was a fantastic way to bring the community out and rally them under a cause that was certainly justified, especially because we have a Ukrainian community here in Traverse City.
00;29;31;01 – 00;29;58;22
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, right. And in and they are our neighbors. I mean, that was very important. Just like we have an Afghan a small Afghan community here in the U.S. So doing things and we’re hosting well, we’re not hosting, but college is hosting a program for the Afghan New Year program this coming weekend. And we’ve been we’ve had members of the college that are involved with that, and we have Ukrainian students and Afghan students at the college.
00;29;58;22 – 00;30;18;21
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So so all that’s good. But that’s so those special projects are really coordinated, you know, with the team, with our partners. And, you know, we’re both going full speed ahead and trying to do the best we can with it. Yeah. You know, for our normal international affairs form, we have a great board, which Mark is one of the members.
00;30;18;28 – 00;30;43;06
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So thank you for the new member. And they, they’re an engaged board. And you can say, and I’ve been on boards before where everybody kind of shows up at the meeting, reads to the minutes and, you know, votes and approves everything and and, and then they go home and wait for the next quarterly or something like that. But this is it’s an engaged board of people that are well known in their own sort of career communities.
00;30;43;06 – 00;30;43;17
Ryan
Yeah.
00;30;43;17 – 00;31;08;13
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So they have these passions, too, and bringing the world to our community. So anyway, they, you know, we get together and we talk about programs we’re going to have we sort of dissect how best to not only have the initial presentation, but also get that presenter to either high schools or in college classes or to meet our leadership circle of donors and interact with them.
00;31;08;14 – 00;31;22;14
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. So to sort of build it out because if it’s just, you know, you fly in, do your show and then you’re gone, yeah, it might be a great show, but what’s that? You know what, what do you get more for that? So we try and build, as I say, we try to build it.
00;31;22;14 – 00;31;36;22
Ryan
Out a little bit right in. You’re a member of the World Affairs Council and it’s a nonpartisan entity. And what’s really fascinating about you is that and the organization, you have an opinion. Is it okay to have an opinion nowadays?
00;31;36;25 – 00;31;37;06
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Oh, yeah.
00;31;37;07 – 00;31;53;15
Ryan
And not to ask a loaded question, but you could be seen as sharing information. You’re journalists, let’s say. But some of it’s very clear that you’re supporting people. Is that the message? And it’s still an opinion, but you’re supporting the person.
00;31;53;17 – 00;32;16;27
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. And what we do and we are a nonpartisan organization, you know, now do more people on the left or the right come to the events? Probably more people on the left, you know, And it’s and we don’t we don’t specifically design our programs like that. We want to present both sides. And we’re actually looking at a couple of speakers for the future that, you know, have served in Republican administrations.
00;32;16;27 – 00;32;24;12
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And they are, you know, they’ll be a good elicit good conversation and things. So yeah, we really.
00;32;24;15 – 00;32;42;07
Mark
Yeah, that’s good. I was going to include that like serving on this board. So far, I wouldn’t be able to tell you how everybody on the board votes, you know, but we also with the membership, like you don’t want everybody in a silo. Yeah. You know, we want.
00;32;42;09 – 00;32;42;28
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah.
00;32;43;00 – 00;33;06;05
Ryan
Well, you’re touching hot topics and they’re hot topics that, you know, they’re vying for attention. Right. And you had a forum in October of 2022 on immigration, for example. Yeah. And an unbelievable story about a student that you dealt with who was born in Mexico and raised in Traverse City, who was handcuffed and taken away. Her fiancee, yeah.
00;33;06;05 – 00;33;25;27
Ryan
Was here trying to help her get back. And this is an age where all music is almost kind of free. And so how do you use stories like that to your advantage and not make it seem like you’re shamelessly using them? Because I read it and I was very taken by that in the right way. It seems like, Oh, that’s a natural.
00;33;25;27 – 00;33;34;09
Ryan
All you got to do is just put that up on social media and people just give you money or we’ll give you all the support. So how do you use those kind of things in a meaningful way?
00;33;34;09 – 00;33;58;10
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, no, it’s a it’s a good question. And we don’t search out those stories, obviously, just to do that. Right. We use them as support for the program that’s been sort of laid bare, essentially. Right. And if you have a local connection, which this woman was to the general topic like that, all the better to give it that local sort of introspection.
00;33;58;11 – 00;33;58;19
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Right?
00;33;58;19 – 00;34;07;19
Ryan
So but it was a really, you know, wonderful story to hear. In a way. It was resolved positively. Yeah. But it did evoke an emotion.
00;34;07;21 – 00;34;28;00
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Oh, yeah. I mean, I remember when she was in my office and just in tears and it’s like I couldn’t solve the problem right? And as we all know, we like to be able to help people solve problems. And I couldn’t. And I just saw those tears roll down her face. And, you know, luckily her fiance was a real advocate.
00;34;28;00 – 00;34;30;01
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And other people here.
00;34;30;03 – 00;34;31;02
Ryan
You know, it’s so.
00;34;31;04 – 00;34;31;25
Mark
Yeah.
00;34;31;27 – 00;34;33;21
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, right.
00;34;33;24 – 00;34;59;11
Ryan
You know, so the fiancee brought it to saying, you know, I would hope that there would be some adequate support there When when you look at it, you know, I mentioned the you’re trying to attract attention because there’s a lot to go on. How do you get a community to care about world affairs when you know, maybe a large amount of them care about what tourists are doing on our beaches or or our gas prices?
00;34;59;11 – 00;35;06;06
Ryan
And again, you’re doing things like this, but it’s bigger. So how do you get a community to care about the world?
00;35;06;08 – 00;35;08;23
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, that’s that’s the $64,000.
00;35;08;23 – 00;35;10;28
Ryan
Question, is it? You know, I thought it was a little expansive.
00;35;10;28 – 00;35;11;09
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah.
00;35;11;10 – 00;35;14;15
Ryan
And given what we’ve talked about this far, I would think that your.
00;35;14;15 – 00;35;14;24
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Well.
00;35;15;01 – 00;35;15;25
Ryan
Approach would be interested.
00;35;15;25 – 00;35;40;17
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Here’s what happens with our International Affairs forum. The primary audiences 65 and above, just like it is for national writers and TSO and, you know, a number of other organizations in town. As you know, we have retirees up here and we want to be able to connect with them, especially as a college, you know, in different ways. And we have a great extended ed services program with lots of classes.
00;35;40;20 – 00;36;02;10
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
But yeah, we’re working hard with our own students and high school students to get them engaged. As I say, the academic world. QUEST We have some great partner teachers in Traverse City, Central and West, that, you know, offer extra credit for their students to come over, right? It’s usually not a lot of extra credit points, but it’s enough to get them there and get them engaged in some conversation.
00;36;02;10 – 00;36;14;04
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Talking about these topics and these subjects where we fall short, as other organizations do, is the young professional, you know, really that 25 to 35 year old.
00;36;14;06 – 00;36;22;29
Mark
You know, if you get little kids at home, she’s got it, just got elementary after school things or whatever it is. So just.
00;36;22;29 – 00;36;24;15
Ryan
Kind of move on and okay.
00;36;24;18 – 00;36;52;24
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
You know, are still okay. What can we in fact, last summer we had Josh Rogan and he’s a writer for their WIP, the White Papers, The Washington Post and his wife Ali Rogan, who is a producer, PBS. Wow. And they came up and they’re in their thirties and she was pregnant with their first child. And so we set up a program where we went and we hung out with young professionals at one of their events.
00;36;52;27 – 00;37;11;08
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. Left with Charlie’s. Oh, nice. Yeah. And so, you know, before that you had Nick Beatles stint as a guest here and Brittany Vanderbeek. We got together with them. We said, Could you be sort of the liaison between the Wipers and Josh and Allie? And they did a great job. And so there is some good conversation going.
00;37;11;15 – 00;37;11;23
Ryan
On.
00;37;11;23 – 00;37;13;00
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Too. Yeah, try to.
00;37;13;06 – 00;37;14;07
Ryan
SciFri podcast.
00;37;14;07 – 00;37;15;20
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
That yeah.
00;37;15;22 – 00;37;38;28
Ryan
Free podcast if you listen everybody that is great advice and on that note and you pitched this perfectly, what does it take? Because I’m seeing you take this active role. What does it take for you to network and interact and interact with the kind of speakers and delegates and individuals that you are dealing with? What are you how are you doing this?
00;37;38;28 – 00;37;40;28
Ryan
What what can you share about that?
00;37;40;28 – 00;37;51;06
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, I mean, it would be nice if I was like the son of a vice president, the United States, Right? Then I’d have all kinds of connections. Yeah, just but go through and call them up and they jump on the the plane and get.
00;37;51;08 – 00;37;54;19
Ryan
So you’re saying it’s not easy. It is what you’re saying firstly.
00;37;54;19 – 00;38;04;12
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Well, here’s the thing. What’s what’s changed since COVID right, is now we have Zoom and so speakers have realized, boy, it’s a lot easier for me to.
00;38;04;13 – 00;38;05;18
Ryan
Have just a COVID crutch.
00;38;05;18 – 00;38;12;05
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
It says we can we can hook up with Zoom and speak to your audience from 600 miles away.
00;38;12;05 – 00;38;14;10
Ryan
I’m guessing you’re saying that’s not the impact.
00;38;14;10 – 00;38;18;26
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So that’s not that’s not what our audience wants. They want as many in-person events.
00;38;18;26 – 00;38;35;08
Mark
Yeah, because I mean, you know, I have no problem getting online and watching something when I can’t make it in person. But to go sit and watch, interact with a screen is kind of But that’s something to say.
00;38;35;08 – 00;38;50;09
Ryan
That you’ve generated, that you’ve generated this kind of demand that people want in-person. Most people’s favorite thing to do is cancel plans, you know what I mean? So to want to go to something is something to say. So just a shameless, you know, prompt to you.
00;38;50;09 – 00;39;01;17
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Well, well, thanks. And I think you know what Marks is a good example of that. In February, we had Brahma Cellini, who is based in New Delhi right. So we couldn’t afford to fly.
00;39;01;17 – 00;39;01;27
Mark
Yeah, you got.
00;39;01;27 – 00;39;09;27
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
To Delhi and back. Right. And so what could we do rather than just have him, you know, people at home just kind of tuning in.
00;39;10;03 – 00;39;13;23
Ryan
Do you mind if I stop you for a second? So you had the opportunity. The time?
00;39;14;00 – 00;39;14;12
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yes.
00;39;14;12 – 00;39;15;02
Ryan
For this person?
00;39;15;09 – 00;39;16;09
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yes. And that the.
00;39;16;09 – 00;39;20;17
Ryan
Time. But something held you back. So from having this person physically here.
00;39;20;20 – 00;39;23;06
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Well, that was cost me, of course. I mean.
00;39;23;08 – 00;39;34;27
Ryan
So if you had more to work with, more travel, more something, if people were aware, you could have had that you could have you did what you did, we could have saved. I don’t want to gloss over the fact.
00;39;35;02 – 00;39;43;00
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
In fact, I had even emailed him and I said, Brahma, you know, do you have any other meetings that you have to take care of in the U.S. thinking that.
00;39;43;00 – 00;39;45;01
Mark
Yeah, I’ll try to try to catch him while you’re on your.
00;39;45;02 – 00;39;46;21
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Back. Yeah, yeah. Pick your bad piggyback.
00;39;46;21 – 00;39;52;09
Ryan
So you did everything you could, but if you had the cushion and just if anybody wants to care to hear that.
00;39;52;09 – 00;40;12;02
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So anyway he tuned. Yeah. And we had it at the Millikin Auditorium and we brought in a moderator that was actually physically here. So audio Lilienfeld, who had done a lot of work with India himself, so he talked to Brahma on the screen. Wow. And then he stuck around for the reception dinner afterwards.
00;40;12;02 – 00;40;12;19
Ryan
Well done.
00;40;12;25 – 00;40;14;03
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So, yeah, you have to kind of.
00;40;14;10 – 00;40;30;21
Mark
Well, so like with things I notice with some depending on who the presenter is, it brings out some people that are in our community that I actually wouldn’t know are here and they stand up and ask Great questions. Yeah. You know, and it’s like.
00;40;30;24 – 00;40;51;12
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Sure, yeah, that’s an excellent point. And that’s what we love. Yeah. You know, they really articulate questions that are ask at this. I mean, we have an educated audience, you know, we really do. And yeah, it’s fun to have them interact because again, they have perhaps even a background in that area of the world or they’ve read up on it.
00;40;51;12 – 00;40;58;18
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
You know, they’ve done their research, so to speak, and they come in and there’s good conversations that happened with the presenters and the moderators because of that.
00;40;58;20 – 00;41;20;15
Ryan
Looking back, because, you know, whether or not you maybe consider yourself a leader, you are definitely a leader. You lead in so much and you’ve you’ve led so many initiatives. And if you even look into what you have done, it’s incredibly impressive. But, you know, thinking about that spark, thinking about that one thing. Was there ever any advice that you got along the way when you were young, maybe third grade?
00;41;20;17 – 00;41;30;10
Ryan
That just seemed insane at the time, but has come true or benefited you in some way later as people were teaching you?
00;41;30;10 – 00;41;34;06
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, I’ve got to get a lot of advice.
00;41;34;08 – 00;41;37;25
Mark
At the front of you. Realize expect it to.
00;41;37;27 – 00;41;50;12
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
You know I think were just who said this quote that says something like treat people as if they were who they ought to be and you help them to become who they can be. Something like that. Paraphrase that.
00;41;50;12 – 00;41;52;11
Mark
It’s kind of like dressing for the job that you want.
00;41;52;11 – 00;41;57;16
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, if you treat people like they’re people, right, they.
00;41;57;19 – 00;41;58;21
Mark
They’re like, not.
00;41;58;23 – 00;42;16;22
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Like we’re sitting here today, right? You’re not better than them, you know, You’re not less of them. You’re part of common, you know, aspect of humanity that we live in, in this world. And I think that’s been very beneficial. Yeah. Yeah. Because we all have our own biases, even though we may not like to admit them from time to time.
00;42;16;22 – 00;42;36;27
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, you know what? If I ask you to, you know, what countries would be the top of your list to go to and what would be the bottom of your list to go to? Probably Sudan wouldn’t be at the top, Right? You know, but, you know, I’ve met some incredible Sudanese people. Right. Right. And they don’t they aren’t the mark for their their government and the way things are done over there, you know.
00;42;36;29 – 00;42;40;23
Ryan
They as you said, you know, our neighbors here are not responsible for what’s happened.
00;42;40;23 – 00;42;42;04
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Exactly. Mm hmm.
00;42;42;07 – 00;43;03;21
Ryan
Which is fascinating to me. And I think about your logistical skills because you travel all these places and you are responsible for so much of these students being, you know, making sure they’re getting something out of it. But has these experience color the way you travel alone or with your family?
00;43;03;23 – 00;43;11;24
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, that’s a great question, too. We were just in Italy with my family last September, and that was no students, just family.
00;43;11;26 – 00;43;15;20
Ryan
Were you super uptight the whole time? Were you freaking out.
00;43;15;20 – 00;43;17;08
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Around four, you know, ten other people to.
00;43;17;08 – 00;43;21;15
Ryan
Be? That’s kind of where I’m going. And not in a corny way, but yeah.
00;43;21;18 – 00;43;23;13
Mark
Yeah. Did anybody lose their passport?
00;43;23;15 – 00;43;39;09
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, right. Nobody wants your passport was good. But the one thing too is if you travel, you try and do things that are sort of off the beaten path and I try and do that with my students and I try and get my fellow faculty members to do that, go to a place that isn’t the most popular tourist site.
00;43;39;09 – 00;43;59;27
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
You know, work with our providers, our partners over there and say, okay, how can we maybe hike up the side of a volcano in Sicily? Right? Or how can we do like when I tell you this is a one of my favorite stories, I took my students to Greece, and so we learned about Greek history and the Greek government.
00;43;59;27 – 00;44;11;24
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
We went to the parliament and, you know, and that was a lot of fun to kind of see how that’s run. But I wanted my students to do some service work over there, too, because that was a time in 2016 when a lot of the refugees were coming in.
00;44;11;25 – 00;44;15;22
Ryan
And that should be noted that these are these are that’s an important factor, these trips.
00;44;15;22 – 00;44;17;24
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Right. We do service on most almost.
00;44;18;00 – 00;44;18;22
Ryan
Day.
00;44;18;24 – 00;44;36;06
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And and not to be the white savior kind of thing. That’s not right at all. But you integrate with the community to learn what makes them laugh and makes them cry and things like that. So. So anyway, we were there and we worked all day at a place where we sorted clothes that people had donated for the Syrian refugees and it was like a soup kitchen.
00;44;36;06 – 00;44;54;18
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
People came in and I remember we were the director of the program, got us all in this conference room because we wanted to listen to some of the stories of the people, you know, what was the impetus to get you here? And obviously there’s a war going on in Syria. So that was a big thing. Yeah, but we had a young mother and her daughter were in there.
00;44;54;18 – 00;45;11;14
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And so the mother said, Well, my daughter and her best friend were walking home from school one day and this is how it is a Damascus or some other place. And and all of a sudden my daughter saw me. So she started running to me to give me a hug. And her friend was just kind of lagging behind.
00;45;11;17 – 00;45;34;22
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
All of a sudden, a shell came out of the air, blew the other kid to Tibbets, and right in front of her best friend and the woman told her husband, We can’t stay. We’re getting out of here. And so they took whatever they had and they crossed the Mediterranean to Turkey, got to Athens. And, you know, we’re trying to make their way to Germany.
00;45;34;24 – 00;45;45;19
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
And they had a cousin who lived in Germany. So they were trying to get there. But, you know, they really had nothing. And they were a middle class family. Here was this is this is too old and 16.
00;45;45;22 – 00;45;47;23
Ryan
Can we just say that once again, 2000.
00;45;47;23 – 00;45;48;05
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
This was in.
00;45;48;05 – 00;45;49;08
Ryan
2016.
00;45;49;12 – 00;46;14;15
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yes. So, you know, so my students are and this was really cool. The little girl was there and a couple of my students had bought these bracelets, you know, And so they were kind of play. And then the girl was looking at them. And one of my students took off her bracelet for that and just gave it to the girl, you know, And it’s just like, wow, You know, you talk about tug at the heartstrings.
00;46;14;18 – 00;46;16;00
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
That’s the kind they’re toxic.
00;46;16;02 – 00;46;43;15
Ryan
Thank you. Well, you have a program in front of you. You prepared. So did I. And I will tell you, in 2002, you had Jay Taylor from Harvard University here, and he was speaking. The name of the title of his speech was How the World Should Deal with China. In 2011, you had Bill Taylor, U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine here, incidentally, talking about peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
00;46;43;17 – 00;46;55;05
Ryan
So is it kind of hard to not look back through that and be like, look, we were right. We’ve been doing this. We’ve been ahead of this curve all along. Give everything to us.
00;46;55;08 – 00;47;19;27
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. Yeah. That’s I mean, really, I kind of go back to our board, you know, when we look at programing, who do we want and how do we sort of foresee the immediate future. Right. And and it’s very interesting. We now we have a program that’s coming up in September, and I can’t release the name yet. It’s a big name, but it has to do with Russia.
00;47;20;01 – 00;47;39;02
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So, you know, that that probably that war is probably not going to end. And especially after what happened this week with the drone recently, that kind of thing. It could be very interesting to see where we are with Russia and we’re going to have somebody on point as we open our program and in September with that.
00;47;39;04 – 00;47;45;02
Mark
As of the week of this recording, hopefully the week this is released, there is no drone strikes.
00;47;45;02 – 00;47;47;27
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
But yes, we may well.
00;47;48;00 – 00;47;54;22
Ryan
That’s why I guess it couldn’t be a better way to illustrate why what you’re doing is so important.
00;47;54;25 – 00;48;02;10
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah, And I think, you know, when you look at the again, as you thumb through this program. Right. Seems to be China is always on there everything.
00;48;02;10 – 00;48;08;08
Ryan
And that’s available on the website and I and the website if you can remind everybody.
00;48;08;09 – 00;48;10;12
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah it’s tse ISAF.
00;48;10;12 – 00;48;39;26
Ryan
Skycom good because I found a lot of great information in there and again these speakers and I didn’t want to I wanted to illustrate the fact that you are dealing with and bringing in unbelievable individuals who are so impactful and to see a photo of a young person with somebody who is changing the world, you see the look on their faces like you’ve done a good job, because I think those students understand the weight of what’s happening for them, which is really cool.
00;48;39;26 – 00;49;02;14
Ryan
And if you don’t mind, So I want to end us on a question that should hopefully, hopefully be easy for you, but it may be a little bit of a challenge and it’s a little bit of a two parter. So who is the best rock band of all time? And I know Rock will always beat out rap, but if you had to hang out with any hip hop rapper, who would it be?
00;49;02;16 – 00;49;05;23
Ryan
So the best rock band of all time.
00;49;05;25 – 00;49;08;08
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Okay. Because. Because I’m a little older than you guys.
00;49;08;10 – 00;49;14;04
Ryan
Okay, I know. So. But. But you’re a musician, are you? Not like I’m you even. Do you not even teach with music?
00;49;14;09 – 00;49;15;28
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
I teach about music. Yeah.
00;49;15;28 – 00;49;25;08
Ryan
Okay. So best rock band of all time and again. Rap always loses to rock. But if you had to hang out with a rapper, who would it be?
00;49;25;10 – 00;49;39;20
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Gosh, it’s hard to pick one, you know? I mean, Beatles, of course, you know, are are the best. Yeah, that’s cool. That’s right. That’s good. But I would say, you know, if I were to put me on an island, I only have three albums, Right?
00;49;39;21 – 00;49;40;03
Ryan
Okay.
00;49;40;06 – 00;49;48;10
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. Love that kind of thing. Yeah. You know, I would have a Springsteen album, probably Born to Run or Dance at the Edge of Town or the River.
00;49;48;17 – 00;49;49;01
Ryan
Okay.
00;49;49;02 – 00;50;02;11
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Those would be, you know, in my catalog. Right? So I would I would have those I’d have led that for, you know, probably that one more. So. Okay, Yeah. So I guess that kind of gives you all right. Yeah.
00;50;02;15 – 00;50;04;12
Mark
Yeah. I have family that would concur.
00;50;04;15 – 00;50;07;09
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. Thanks. And oh, gosh, rap.
00;50;07;09 – 00;50;10;22
Ryan
Or any rapper I know if if you had to.
00;50;10;24 – 00;50;20;15
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Okay I’m just going to mention the album from gosh was probably the early 2000 was Do and that was Santana’s album where he had Mary J.
00;50;20;15 – 00;50;21;02
Ryan
Blige.
00;50;21;07 – 00;50;28;14
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. His collapse. Yeah, yeah. That was one great album. Yeah. You know, And that had some some hip hop. Okay.
00;50;28;16 – 00;50;31;08
Ryan
So you would hang out with that general vibe of that album?
00;50;31;09 – 00;50;32;18
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yeah. Yes. Yes.
00;50;32;21 – 00;50;33;20
Ryan
That’s fantastic.
00;50;33;22 – 00;50;36;05
Mark
Anybody who collab with Santana.
00;50;36;08 – 00;50;48;23
Ryan
Yeah, because they must be a good person. Well, again, how in any way, how can individuals connect with you if you’re open to that support, donate, even if that’s appropriate for me to ask.
00;50;48;23 – 00;51;15;27
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So thanks. We everyone to become a member of the International Affairs Forum for a single membership. It’s $100. Gets you the whole year. 160 get you a family membership. So you get as many family members watch as you want. If you want to step that up a little bit, 500 gets you an envoy Membership. Part of our leadership circle or I’m sorry, diplomat and then envoy after that at a thousand and then ambassador 2500.
00;51;16;04 – 00;51;33;26
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So that kind of support really helps us. I mean, that helps us bring in the people that we have during the year and it helps us expand and do more for the community. Yeah, and we have some great things on the horizon. We’re going to be doing so much more with water and climate in the future is very exciting.
00;51;33;26 – 00;51;39;22
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
We have a new strategic plan. We’re moving in that direction. We’re going to be doing some podcasts actually that.
00;51;39;26 – 00;51;40;23
Ryan
Tremendous.
00;51;40;25 – 00;51;44;15
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Be producing and Bach will probably tap your experience for that.
00;51;44;19 – 00;51;48;09
Ryan
And how are people following you most? Is it social? Is it the website?
00;51;48;13 – 00;51;52;08
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
It’s the website. Is it mostly. Yeah, but we’re on Facebook and yeah.
00;51;52;11 – 00;52;04;19
Ryan
Are you looking for to shift to that? I’m not trying to say that everybody’s looking for that huge social bump, but oh yeah, you’re not opposed to it. And so do you have Facebook and Instagram, just Facebook that that folks can go to see as well?
00;52;04;20 – 00;52;07;10
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Yes, Facebook, we have my tube channel and.
00;52;07;12 – 00;52;10;10
Mark
Some reels to kind of just reel them in.
00;52;10;13 – 00;52;16;20
Ryan
Yes. Yeah. I can attest all the information on memberships is on the website and they’re really, really cool benefits.
00;52;16;23 – 00;52;24;25
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
So absolutely. And just if you’ve ever been to one come on out it’s $15 for a show. If you just come out one time, you know, pay your $15, see if you like it or not.
00;52;24;27 – 00;52;27;20
Mark
Right. Get the next one with me.
00;52;27;23 – 00;52;42;15
Ryan
100%. Well, thank you. I can’t thank you enough for your time and really just appreciate you being here. Jim, thank you so much for your pursuits. Thank you to all those who pursue along with you, ensuring we’re more aware of the world and what we can do to make it better.
00;52;42;18 – 00;52;50;10
Jim Bensley – International Affairs Forum NMC
Thank you very much. Glad to be here, guys. Really enjoyable. And yeah, look forward to seeing you and your friends next so much.
00;52;50;10 – 00;52;59;04
Ryan
And to our listeners, thank you all for listening and thank you for pursuing the positive.
00;52;59;07 – 00;53;22;02
Mark
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us one more time on the Pursuit podcast, The Pursuit of the International Affairs Forum. I want to thank Jim Bensley for joining us and for more information and to get involved, become a member sponsor iRF or donate, check out T.C. I Afcat. Virtual memberships are also available for those outside of the northern Michigan area.
00;53;22;05 – 00;53;42;18
Mark
And as always, for all things audio, video podcast related. Check us out at new Leonard dot com.