When Aida Koci completed her Junior Faculty Development Program (JFDP) in 2004, she vowed to bring her American counterparts to Macedonia to complete the exchange. During her fellowship, Aida worked to develop new curricula and gained new perspectives in her field of American Studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Ks. In May of 2005, with assistance of the U.S. Embassy in Skopje, Aida's counterpart Dr. Norman Yetman traveled to Macedonia to take part in Aida's conference, which took place at SE European University in Tetovo, Macedonia.

The goals of the conference included disseminating information about the field of American Studies, networking among American Studies professors across regional and international borders, and examining the cultural, historical, and political components of the United States. Dr. Paul Foster, Director of Post Graduate Studies and Research at SE European University opened with a discussion of American Studies from a Balkan perspective. Dr. Yetman followed up with an interesting presentation on Brown vs. Board of Education and its impact on race relations in the United States. JFDP alumni and their counterparts also contributed, covering topics such as civic education, American experience in organizing cultural diversity, and a history of the United States as viewed through American literature.

At the end, participants participated in a roundtable discussion on American Studies in the Balkans, and professors from around SE Europe were able to compare and contrast their approaches to the field. The discussion renewed interest among JFDP alumni in furthering their links with American universities, and some of the American professors commented that discussing American Studies overseas with foreign students who have studied in the U.S. opened up new perspectives they had not thought of before.