Under the collaboration of State Islamic University of Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta and the US Embassy Regional English Language Office (RELO), Jakarta, one of the lecturers of English Department, Dr. Witriani, M.Hum, was chosen as the representative of Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University to take part in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Exchange Program: A Program for International English Program Administrator by the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Office of the English Language Program, United States of America, started from 4th March to 18th March 2019.

This year's program was represented by 39 countries with 46 participants in total. This program coincided with the 50th anniversary of RELO in America.

On this occasion, participants visited two different states in America and later attended the TESOL Conference in Atlanta at the end of the program.

TESOL itself is an annual conference hosted by the Department of State, United States, on teaching English to foreign speakers, which is held in Atlanta, Georgia, and is attended by nearly 6000 participants from all over the world.

Before attending the TESOL Conference in Atlanta, participants were divided into 4 different groups, namely Lincoln, Seattle, Detroit, and Philadelphia, to attend different programs. As it is said by Witriani, for the program in Lincoln, Nebraska, the participants participated in a series of events to establish cooperative relations, especially between universities, the University of Nebraska, the Community Council, and the State of Nebraska. During this visit, participants were then introduced to the education system in the US starting from schools, colleges, and policy levels in the Department of Education, both in Nebraska and in Atlanta. What makes it interesting was that, in addition to introducing the culture of the Midwest Nebraska, participants were even awarded the honorary citizenship of Nebraska by the secretary of the State as a form of appreciation for their visit from this exchange program.

Joining this exchange was of course very beneficial for the participants, not only because it could expand the network of tertiary institutions in Indonesia and State Islamic University of Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, specifically with the United States, but also the network of tertiary institutions involved, both in the exchange program and the TESOL Conference in general.