International Visitors Program

UALR is the home for Arkansas’s International Visitor Program, which receives government officials, nonprofit leaders, and journalists from other countries sponsored by the U.S. State Department. About 130 of these visitors a year come to Arkansas, mostly to Little Rock but also to Hot Springs, Harrison and Jonesboro. They typically spend three nights here, have appointments with their professional counterparts, and eat dinner in the home of a local volunteer. The purpose of the program is to provide exposure to American culture and information about their own profession to rising leaders in other countries who are likely to have influence on issues that affect U.S. foreign policy. These visitors usually come while in their 30s, and many become heads of their ministries or even heads of state. Previous visitors in the program have included Tony Blair, F.W. DeClerk, and Hamid Karzai.