The U.S. secretary of education, Margaret Spellings, will lead a delegation of eight college presidents this month to Chile and Brazil, the Education Department announced today. The delegation, which will be accompanied by State Department and other Education Department officials, will meet with students, university leaders, and executives in business and government. The delegation’s goal is to encourage student exchanges and academic partnerships between colleges in the United States and the two South American countries. In addition to Ms. Spellings and other officials of the State and Education Departments, the members of the delegation are as follows: Susan C. Aldridge, president of University of Maryland University College Gregory L. Geoffroy, president of Iowa State University John L. Hennessy, president of Stanford University James B. Milliken, president of the University of Nebraska Sean C. O’Keefe, chancellor of Louisiana State University Eduardo J. Padrón, president of Miami Dade College Mark S. Wrighton, chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis Henry T. Yang, chancellor of the University of California at Santa Barbara

The delegation is similar to ones last November to East Asia and last March to India. —Andrew Mytelka