International relations is trending in the Lehigh Valley, at least in the halls of academia.

In the coming weeks educator John Hunter, renown for his "World Peace Game," and Leymah Gbowee, 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate from Liberia, will visit education institutions in the Lehigh Valley; The Swain School and Cedar Crest College.

Lafayette College recently announced Portia Simpson Miller, the first woman to serve as prime minister of Jamaica, will make the keynote address at the 179th commencement at the college later this spring.

And Central Catholic High School last month took first place in the Model United Nations competition at Lehigh University. As the top prize, members of the team will return to Lehigh University April 10 to meet with a delegate from the United Nations, according to Jason Torok, Viking Voices columnist for The Press.

The trend seems to contradict broad understanding of American interest in international engagement also known as internationalism.

Recent surveys by the Global Attitudes Project at the Pew Research Center, based in Washington, D.C., found internationalism on the decline among Americans. For example, in a December 2012 survey cited by Andrew Kohut, founding director of the Pew Research Center, published online in July, the American public "has consistently said the U.S. does not have a responsibility to do something about the fighting in Syria." Pew's researchers found 63 percent of Americans felt this way and felt the same about Libya in 2011.

Plus, in the closing days of the 2012 presidential race about 6 percent of those surveyed pointed to a foreign policy issue, such as the wars in the Middle East, as the most important issue facing the country.

Domestic worries such as jobs and the economy overshadowed world problems.

A look at the top news stories of 2013, also calculated by the Pew Research Center, found the top three stories across establishment television networks ABC, CBS and NBC to be the Boston Marathon bombings, the U.S. Federal budget and healthcare reform, tornado season and winter weather placed fifth and sixth. The death of South Africa's Nelson Mandela ranked 11th. The installation of Pope Francis I ranked 14th.

Do Lehigh Valley residents hold a broader world view than their fellow Americans?

An assessment is hard to make just yet. We might have to wait for the attendance numbers at upcoming events to be tallied before we know for sure.

It is worth noting, however, these international-themed events involve and take place at schools.

Hunter will bring his message to perhaps the youngest minds, stopping by The Swain School, to talk about the "World Peace Game," a game he devised in 1978. The event also includes a screening of the documentary about the game titled "World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements." Hunter has won numerous awards for his teaching and will visit Swain April 10.

Gbowee was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 and will present the 2014 Reimert Lecture at Cedar Crest College April 7. Gbowee is credited with leading a women's peace movement titled the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace movement helping to end Liberia's second civil war in 2003. Gbowee was the second African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Simpson Miller is now in her second term as the prime minister of Jamaica and will speak at Lafayette College May 24. In 2012, Time magazine included Simpson Miller in its list of 100 most influential people. In a press release, Lafayette College President Alison Byerly described Simpson Miller as a visionary. Lafayette is looking into endowing a scholarship fund to attract students from Jamaica to the Easton campus in the wake of Simpson Miller's visit to the school.

It looks like the Lehigh Valley has an eye toward the future by offering international cues to students and future leaders to prepare for a time when global awareness and understanding will be quotidian to national well-being and seen not as an outlier warranting special survey data but an essential factor to American life easily grasped by the youngest to the oldest minds.

April Peterson

editorial assistant

East Penn Press

Salisbury Press