Gustavus Adolphus College Director of International and Cultural Education Roger Adkins, Phd, has been named an Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA) Presidential Fellow for the 2016-2017 academic year.
“The AIEA Presidential Fellowship program is an opportunity to learn from another collegiate international officer who is more advanced in the role,” Adkins said. “It is a unique program that allows fellows like myself to benefit from the knowledge and wisdom of a more experienced peer, to observe them in action on their own campus, and to learn from their approaches to matters of programming, policy, and internationalization projects.”
The AIEA Presidential Fellows program selects up to five new senior international officers (SIOs) from across the country to be paired with more experienced international professionals as mentors. Fellows are selected based on perceived benefit to the individual and their institution, their promise and potential as international education leaders, and the quality of their application statement and materials. The program targets professionals who are in their first three years as senior international officers.
Adkins’ mentor will be Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Brewer, Director of International Education at Beloit College. Brewer has been in her role since 2002 and is a published leader on different approaches to assessment of intercultural learning. Adkins is responsible for preparing an individual plan of action outlining the key objectives of an educational visit to the Beloit campus. During the campus visit he will spend several days with Brewer to shadow and learn about the Beloit’s international education policies, politics, and procedures. After the campus visit, Adkins is expected to prepare a final report on his experience and how it will inform his continued work in the field of international education.
Gustavus is a member institution in the AIEA network, which primarily serves the SIOs from colleges and universities across North America. Adkins represented Gustavus at the 2016 annual AIEA conference in Montreal, Canada, and as a Presidential Fellow he will attend the upcoming conference in Washington D.C.
Adkins joined the Gustavus community in the summer of 2015 after working in international and cultural education at California Polytechnic State University and the University of Oregon. In his role at Gustavus, he leads the Center for International and Cultural Education, supervising a team that supports international students, manages study-away experiences, and promotes intercultural understanding. He serves as a media expert on international education and study-away issues, and is an active board member of the Upper Midwest Association for Intercultural Education and the Intercollegiate Sri Lanka Education (ISLE) program.
More information, including a list of the 2016-2017 Presidential Fellows, is available on the AIEA website.
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