MSU’s Visiting International Professional Program, or VIPP, will work with the Business and Community Institute at LCC coordinate and develop the series of workshops, which will include five parts and run from June through November.

“It’s the first time TVTC has reached out to us,” Director of the Visiting International Professional Program Dennis Hart said. “It’s the beginning of, hopefully, a long relationship.”

The VIPP is in its 21st year, with over 3,000 alumni from 23 different countries. However, this new program may help to expand the VIPP’s footprint in the Middle East, Hart said.

“It will deepen relationships and put Michigan on peoples’ radar in the Middle East,” Hart said.

The program will take advantage of MSU’s strength as a national leader in international relations and studies, as well as LCC’s specialty for reaching out to the community to give the trainees practical experience, VIPP’s Middle East programming Coordinator Kari Kammel said.

“Short term, our goals are to have workshops designed to be practical, so the graduates can hit the ground running when they get back home,” Kammel said.

The workshops will take place not only in the Lansing area, but also in other Michigan communities including Big Rapids, Jackson and Ann Arbor.

“There is definitely a lot of potential to benefit everyone involved,” Kammel said.