For years, Dylnn Armstrong-Williams has helped expose young people to diverse cultures and languages.

And in January, Armstrong-Williams, who directs the Center for Global Engagement at North Georgia College & State University, will get the chance to take her work to a national level.

Armstrong-Williams was recently appointed to a national committee dedicated to international education.

"I believe this is the first time we've had a faculty member from the college appointed to this position," college spokeswoman Kate Maine said.

"It's a big honor and it's very connected to our strategic plan to internationalize our campus."

The committee, known as the International Education Leadership Knowledge Community, is made up of senior international officers from across the globe, Armstrong-Williams said. It aims to provide networking and leadership opportunities to people charged with leading internationalization efforts on their campuses.

Though her two-year term doesn't begin until January, Armstrong-Williams said she has an idea of some of the projects ahead.

One of her roles will be to help create conference opportunities for moderate-sized universities that similar to NGCSU. Representatives from larger institutions have much of their infrastructure in place in international education and have different interests at national conferences, Armstrong-Williams said.

"For smaller institutions, they have more day-to-day questions, such as ‘How will this work on a small staff level?'" Armstrong-Williams said. "I'll help articulate those wonderful, grandiose visions and what can actually happen at a middle-sized institution."

Armstrong-Williams has landed spots in state-level leadership positions as well, which she said will be helpful for her new role. Beginning in 2006, she served as vice-chair of the University System of Georgia European Council, which sponsors large summer study programs for students in major locations in Europe. During that time, she also served as chair of the university system's committee that promotes programs to study abroad.

Armstrong-Williams said she learned of the opportunity to serve on the national council in an e-mail from the Association of International Educators. She said the group was looking for input from mid-sized universities.

"When my application was looked at by the knowledge community they were very interested in me because of North Georgia's size and demographics," she said.

She said one goal of the organization is to work with the Simon Bill, a congressional initiative to send 1 million students abroad. The initiative will need the support of both large and smaller-sized universities, Armstong-Williams said.

"I expect to help officers at schools like mine become more integrated to have more support to hit ambitious goals like that," she said.

Armstrong-Williams said NGCSU's Center for Global Engagement helps send about 130 students abroad each year. The college's language program has also grown to include more offerings, such as Russian and Arabic.

Armstrong-Williams said she hopes her new role will create even more international opportunities for NGCSU students.

"It's so important for kids in this state and region to be globally competitive, but they can only do that if they see the globe," she said. "When they study abroad, kids become mature, self-sufficient and open themselves to new experiences."

Armstrong-Williams said her first meeting with the knowledge community will be Jan. 21-23 in Washington, D.C., where members will discuss the future direction of the committee.