Pace U Reopens World Trade
Institute
Two years after its operations and conference centers were
destroyed in the attack on the World Trade Center, the World
Trade Institute of Pace University (WTI), a major institute
for international trade education, has reopened its doors at
new facilities on Pace's campus in downtown New York.
The facilities were made possible
thanks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
obligating more than $4.1 million–the
largest reconstruction grant awarded for temporary space for
higher education post 9/11–to the state of New York to
help Pace recover from damages sustained in the September 11
attacks on the World Trade Center.
The Institute was originally located in space Pace University
rented on the 55th floor of One World Trade Center. Miraculously,
all of the staff and participants there on September 11 were
evacuated to safety. In the weeks immediately afterward, working
from makeshift quarters in midtown Manhattan with borrowed
computers and personal telephones, the WTI staff began to rebuild
its administrative infrastructure and restructure its disrupted
class and program schedule. WTI then relocated temporarily
to offices at Pace's Midtown Center, where the Institute has
operated for the past year.
"We welcome back the World Trade Institute to the downtown
community," said Pace University President David A. Caputo. "Pace
remains committed to re-establishing the Institute's headquarters
at the World Trade Center site, and to helping the global economy
that increasingly is dependent on international trade."
Under the leadership of Executive Director Donna Sharp, the
WTI staff has restructured the Institute's curriculum, reestablished
relationships with its students and the international trade
community, and significantly expanded the scope of WTI's international
trade and logistics educational programs.
"This year marks the World Trade Institute's 30th year
as a leading provider of international trade and commerce education,
and promises to be one of our most exciting times in recent
years," said Sharp. "Our updated programs and facilities
are designed to provide an improved learning and working environment
for our talented students, instructors and staff."
The Institute offers a broad curriculum of international trade
and logistics classes through its School of International Trade
and Commerce and its Language Center, as well as seminars on
a wide variety of timely topics. Subjects include logistics,
finance, trade documentation, regulations, customs law, importing
and exporting, internet technology, and marketing. (www.wti.pace.edu)
