Indiana University. Digital Library Program

In 1954, the Indiana University School of Education partnered with the Prasan Mitr College of Education in Bangkok and the Thai Ministry of Education to develop programs in teacher education in Thailand. IU's involvement in this area of the world expanded even further the following year when IU was contracted by the U.S. Foreign Operations Administration to assist in the development of an Institute of Public Administration at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand.

General meetings of the Indiana University faculty began in 1835, to discuss the industriousness of its students, calling student rolls, and hearing reports on the work and standing of each of the students. Disciplinary measures, dismissals, and exams for students were also discussed during many of the meetings throughout the nineteenth century. By the 1920s, the faculty had grown to such a point that it was necessary to create a representative body of the faculty, but the faculty as a whole continued to meet with some regularity. Today the faculty body rarely meet, but may be convened by the IU president, the Secretary of the University Faculty Council, or on petition signed by voting faculty members numbering no less than 5% of all voting faculty members.

Willis Putnam Porter (1908-1985) received his B.A., M.A., and PhD from the University of Iowa. He joined the Indiana University faculty in 1954 as the Chief of the Party for the recently signed Thailand Contract. Porter remained in Thailand as head of the project and as a faculty member at the School of Education at Chulalongkorn University until 1957 when he returned to IU to serve as the campus coordinator of the Thailand Contract until 1962. From 1969-1972, Porter was on leave from IU to serve as special advisor to the National Education Council in Thailand for the Ford Foundation. He was instrumental in the development of the IU School of Education’s international education program and was associated with IU's Pakistan Project, the Afghanistan Project, and the Saudi Arabian Project. Porter retired in 1978.

In the 1950s, the United States government began to offer programs to developing nations to strengthen technology and governmental infrastructure. Contact between Indiana University and Thailand began in 1954 with an agreement between the IU School of Education, the Prasan Mitr College of Education in Bangkok, and the Thai Ministry of Education with funding from the U.S. Foreign Operations Administration to develop Thailand programs in teacher education. On May 3, 1955, IU was contracted to run the three year cooperative project between the University and Thailand's Thammasat University in Bangkok to establish an Institute of Public Administration. The primary objective was the formation of undergraduate and graduate education programs, and the establishment of facilities that would aid in the training of government officials and civil servants. The contract also provided aid for research programs, consultative services to the Thailand government, and training in the U.S. for Thai students. The contract was scheduled to terminate on February 24, 1958, but ultimately was extended for eight years.