Participants

William M. Plater

Director, Office of International Community Development, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)

Dr. Plater directs the Office of International Community Development (ICD), a joint project of the IUPUI Office of International Affairs, the Center on Philanthropy, and the Indiana University Center for Urban Policy and the Environment.

He helps coordinate and develop the international work of these two centers in cooperation with campus and university offices of international programs while developing new initiatives to promote international civic engagement. ICD’s focus is on enhancing the interaction of nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations with government and for-profit entities in their combined contributions to the international future of Indianapolis and central Indiana. Through academic diplomacy, ICD facilitates linkages between universities to help their respective communities prosper in a rapidly changing world.

Dr. Plater is also Chancellor’s Professor of Public Affairs, Philanthropic Studies, English, and Informatics. He served as the chief academic officer at IUPUI from 1983 to 2006 and dean of the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI from 1983 to 1987. He holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.