Blogs

2026 Lily von Klemperer Award Interview with Carmen Pitz

By Christina Thompson posted 5 days ago
A Conversation with Carmen Pitz (University of Wisconsin–Madison), Recipient of the Lily von Klemperer Award Interviewer: Dr. Christina "Chris" Thompson, EAKC Chair Elect, Founder & Managing Director, COMPEAR Global Education Network Christina : Welcome, Carmen, and congratulations on receiving this year's Lily von Klemperer Award . Before we begin, I'd like to share a few words from your nomination letters: "Carmen does not just volunteer, she strengthens people, builds community, and leaves every space better than she found it. Through her leadership, mentorship, and steady commitment to others, she has created environments where ...

2026 Education Abroad Leadership Interview with Dr. Jason Sanderson

By Christina Thompson posted 5 days ago
A Conversation with Jason Sanderson (Georgetown University), Recipient of the Education Abroad Leadership Award Interviewer: Dr. Christina "Chris" Thompson, NAFSA EAKC Chair Elect; Founder & Managing Director, COMPEAR Global Education Network Christina: First, Jason, congratulations on receiving this year's Education Abroad Leadership Award . Your nomination was incredibly strong and deeply deserving. One of the recurring themes throughout the review process was the profound impact of your long-term leadership on the field of global education. Your work in visa and regulatory affairs was repeatedly recognized as the kind of leadership ...

AI and EA Visa Advising - Proceed with Caution

By Virginia Ward posted 09-23-2025
Written by the 2025 NAFSA Consular Affairs Liaisons (CAL) Virginia Ward - CAL World-at-Large Country Coordinator Lauryl Cookson - CAL Italy Country Coordinator Naomi Ziegler - CAL France Country Coordinator Katie Wiggins-Gawlik - CAL Spain Country Coordinator Daniel Solomon - CAL UK Country Coordinator Jason Sanderson - Chair, CAL Subcommittee Note about CAL: CAL member leaders serve as vital connectors between the international education community and foreign consulates across the United States. These dedicated volunteers work to facilitate communication, share updates on visa procedures, and ...

2025 Education Abroad Award Winner Interview -- Jennifer Engel

By Carolina Robinson posted 06-13-2025
2025 Education Abroad Award Winner Interview -- Jennifer Engel Bio: Jenn ifer Engel , Ph.D. is the Associate Vice President for Education Abroad at Indiana University, providing strategic leadership for education abroad initiatives across the Indiana University system. Prior to coming to IU, Jenn ifer was the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Experiential Learning at CIS Abroad, providing leadership in the areas of student learning and assessment; curricular and programmatic development; and innovation in education abroad. Jenn ifer has served as the Executive Director of the Office of International Programs (SIO) at Loyola University ...

2025 Lily von Klemperer Award Interview -- Katie Wiggins-Gawlik

By Carolina Robinson posted 06-13-2025
2025 Lily von Klemperer Award Winner -- Katie Wiggins-Gawlik Interview Katie Wiggins-Gawlik is the Assistant Director of Member Relations for US Exchanges at ISEP Study Abroad. She also volunteers as the Spain Country Coordinator on NAFSA’s EARP Consular Affairs Liaison Subcommittee, liaising to the Spanish Consulate in Chicago and the Italian Consulate in Detroit. Katie holds a master’s degree in counseling for student development administration and a bachelor’s degree in Spanish for secondary education. She is particularly interested in the effect of education abroad on the intersectionality of student identities and the role of intercultural ...

Education Abroad Leadership, Management and Professional Development

By Erica Jorgenson posted 07-12-2023
By: Erica Jorgenson & Jessica Fetridge Dear Colleagues, As we make our way out of the COVID-19 pandemic with growing numbers of students studying abroad and education abroad offices slowly bouncing back after years of burnout, turnover, and budget cuts, the need for effective leadership and support for staff is at an all time high. During the annual conference in DC, we hosted a lively and thought-provoking roundtable discussing leadership, management, and professional development in education abroad. The discussion centered around 3 main topics: Professional Development and Resources, Management, and Leadership. We asked a ...

Learning from Our Leaders: Dr. Amanda Kelso, 2016 EAKC Chair

By Bradley Titus posted 06-07-2023
Tell us a little about your journey in education abroad. I was the kid who collected stamps and coins and corresponded with a dozen pen pals worldwide. My international interests led me to study in Spain for a year and pursue two degrees in Spanish literature. In graduate school, I was hired to do administrative work for a study abroad program and fell in love with helping students through the experience. After graduation, what started as a part-time position turned full-time when I was hired as the program’s first non-faculty resident director. I learned a lot during my tenure onsite with students, all of which gave me a strong foundation for a career in ...

Learning from Our Leaders: Cynthia Banks 2010 EAKC Chair

By Bradley Titus posted 05-01-2023
Tell us a little about your journey in education abroad. Like so many of us, I found myself in global education not by design, but rather by circumstance. In 1989, I graduated with my undergraduate degree and was asked to be the graduate assistant with a study abroad group headed to Australia. It was an exhilarating time to be there as the higher education landscape was not yet fully aware of Australia as a study abroad destination. We had a wonderful experience and I was asked by our host university to come back to the USA and complete a research project about “study abroad”. After the exploration, we could see the opportunity to help more student ...

Women and Leadership in International Education – Engage, Empower, Advance

By Angela Miller posted 03-10-2022
Women and Leadership in International Education – ENGAGE, EMPOWER, ADVANCE! By Chasity Drew, Jennifer Fullick, and Angela Miller NAFSA’s member interest group: Women and Leadership in International Education (WLIE) has gained over one thousand members as it hits its five-year anniversary! What was the impetus for starting this MIG, and what do we envision in the future? As leaders of this MIG, our goal is to ensure this member group continues its journey to realize its core mission: to engage, empower and advance women in the field of international education. Started by Dr, Mindy Hansen, we continue this same mission in its fifth year to empower women ...

Notes from the EARP Federal Financial Aid Subcommittee

By Katherine Mary Meyer posted 12-08-2021
In the past few years a lot has changed in our world: COVID-19’s ripple effects, new people in the White House, new university modalities, office turnover, etc. One thing that should be considered a constant is NAFSA and the Education Abroad Regulatory Practice (EARP) mission to help keep the field on top of the changes to federal policies from Washington, D.C.. As the chair of the EARP’s Federal Financial Aid Subcommittee, I’ve worked with a team of amazing professionals around the nation to create and update existing resources for the field. I have no doubt this record will continue for many years to come because this group and our partners are ...

Key Takeaways from NAFSA’s Collegial Conversation “Achieving Affordable and Equitable Participation in EA”

By Tian Song posted 09-28-2021
Key Takeaways from NAFSA’s Collegial Conversation “Achieving Affordable and Equitable Participation in EA” Students often cite finances as a barrier to international experiences. In an effort to engage all students in transformative international experiences, institutions should consider their education abroad offerings with an eye towards affordability and equity among program choices, while ensuring access to resources, funding support, and clarity in application processes. This Collegial Conversation was held on July 21, 2021. Collegial Conversations are a member benefit; NAFSA members can access the full transcript online. ...

Regenerating Study Abroad

By Daniel Ponce-Taylor posted 07-29-2021
Regenerating Study Abroad Regeneration has been a widely used term lately, from regenerative travel, fashion, or food to regenerative design or agriculture. In this context, the term "regenerative" describes processes that restore, renew or revitalize their own sources of energy and materials. “Regenerative Agriculture” describes farming and grazing practices that can help reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity. This results in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle, making the industry a contributor to achieving the SDGs. The recently released film “ Kiss the ground ” has ...

2021 Lily von Klemperer Award Interview--Chelsea Kindred

By Bradley Titus posted 07-26-2021
The Lily von Klemperer Award is an honor that recognizes education abroad professionals who, like Lily von Klemperer, have "brought other [education abroad professionals] along" in the field and who maintain the highest standards of professional ethics while sharing their skills, knowledge, and expertise with all colleagues. I had the opportunity to sit down via Zoom with the 2021 Lily von Klemperer winner, Chelsea Kindred, Vice President of Pedagogy and Curriculum at API (Academic Programs International). BJ Titus: Is there any person or experience that significantly shaped your experience as an education abroad professional? Chelsea Kindred: ...

The Elephant in the Sky

By Sam Brier posted 06-09-2021
The Elephant in the Sky We in the education abroad community need to acknowledge the elephant in the sky - that each person we send abroad is emitting more CO2 than a person living in dozens of other countries emit in an entire year. Air travel is the main, but not sole, culprit for this pollution. Most of us recognize climate change as an imminent danger, if not to ourselves, then to our children and grandchildren; yet few of us do much about it. It’s complicated, to say the least. So, let’s simplify it: First, show our study abroad participants how much carbon they emit with their flight - compared to which countries emit less carbon per person in ...

Moving On – Careers in Transition

By Randeep Kullar posted 02-22-2021
In my blog post “ Letting Go ” I talked about my feelings around losing my job and how to connect with a community of professionals. I wasn’t sure what would happen. Between a mandatory COVID-19 lockdown and no longer having a job, my life was pretty much completely turned upside down in April 2020. On top of this I was grieving the loss of my team - a team that was my professional family - and feeling guilty about leaving all of my university partners hanging in the middle of a pandemic. I tried to come up with a game plan to move forward, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to binge watch tv or hide in some fantasy novel. Reality was too much. So I gave myself ...

Letting Go – Careers in Transition

By Randeep Kullar posted 02-11-2021
2020 was a year of transition for the world and more specifically for the thousands who found themselves out of work due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Being in a field like international education that was hit particularly hard, I dealt with this firsthand. After weeks of anxiety around what the pandemic meant for my job, last year, on Thursday, March 26, 2020, I was sent an official “Restructuring Notification.” I was being let go. As an Indian American born to immigrants, I was taught that if I worked hard and treated everyone with respect, I would be successful. I never imagined that I would ever be “let go”. It took me some time to even ...

Acknowledge, Reflect, Act

By Tian Song posted 08-04-2020
On July 15, NAFSA’s Education Abroad Knowledge Community (EAKC) presented an Open Meeting titled Education Abroad - Emerging Barriers & Opportunities for Underrepresented Students , which was hosted by the EAKC Subcommittees on Diversity and Inclusion and Financing Education Abroad . The meeting centered on the financial impacts on underrepresented students related to education abroad. Participants reflected on how events related to the global health pandemic have added an additional barrier to education abroad programs for diverse and low-income communities. We acknowledged the current state of the pandemic and its multifaceted effects on different ...

Education Abroad Leadership Award Recipient Susan Carty

By Mariette Thomas posted 06-08-2020
The Education Abroad Leadership Award is an honor that recognizes members of NAFSA whose careers in education abroad span at least 15 years. Nominees must have an exemplary record of publication, teaching, advising, advocacy, leadership, new program development, and general service to the field that has made and will make a lasting contribution to education abroad. The 2020 Education Abroad Leadership Award recipient is Susan Carty , Director of the Office of Overseas Study at Indiana University (IU). According to her nominators, Susan Carty is the type of person who “does not like to call attention to herself,” but her work speaks volumes. Susan, ...

Reimagining Re-entry in the Age of Coronavirus

By Emily Dougherty posted 05-06-2020
As international educators, we have gone through an impossible situation recently and supported our students the best that we can. Anything you have done, or are doing, to support students in their abrupt re-entry is valid, appreciated, and helpful. The purpose of this blog is to open the door to new ideas and see how we might be able to adapt our re-entry strategies in the future using the virtual and online options we’ve created. The purpose is not to make any person, or office, feel like they have not done enough. There are countless ways to support our students but what we can provide has a lot to do with staffing, time, and budget. Instead, my intention ...