Being a small, private college in middle America doesn’t dissuade its administrators from trying to solve the world’s problems.

Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., will host a global financial summit in April, with invitations going out to CEOs of every Fortune 500 company. School officials already have nailed down five international experts to participate in panel discussions, including a former CIA director. The purpose of the summit is to develop a platform to share with world leaders on how to recognize and avoid economic instability.

Stephen Minnis, president of Benedictine College, and Antonio Soave, executive director of the business school at Benedictine, came up with the idea while on a business trip to Hong Kong and mainland China (where Benedictine has three satellite campuses) last month. Mr. Soave said, “We don’t get the complete story” until we travel and talk to business leaders and educators.

“One of the keys to all of this is for us to be proactive in the future,” Mr. Soave said of hosting the summit, “almost like we do now with terrorism.”

Planned to begin Friday, April 3, the summit begins with a networking event that evening and an all-day series of panel discussions Saturday. The summit will close with a dinner and a special guest speaker, to be announced.

Mr. Soave said Benedictine, as a nonprofit institution of education, will provide a non-threatening, non-self-serving venue for CEOs and managing directors of financial institutions in Europe, Latin America and Asia to come to participate.

“We need a better business acumen and a better set of standards,” Mr. Soave said. “And we really need to raise the ethical bar.”

Not on the list of potential guests — yet — is Igor Panarin, a former KGB analyst and current Russian professor who has for the last several years predicted that the United States will crumble in 2010. He was in the news again this week after the Wall Street Journal ran an article about him. Dr. Panarin puts part of the blame for the decline of the U.S. on the economy. But Mr. Soave said Dr. Panarin underestimates the resolve of the people.

“The U.S. is very diverse,” he said. “The American people and entrepreneurs are very resilient.”

Jimmy Myers can be reached

at jimmym@npgco.com.