The Humphrey Fellows, a distinguished group of international educators, joined fellow educators at LHU for a day of discussions and exchange of ideas.

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - Lock Haven University and the Institute for International Studies hosted the 2010-2011 Humphrey Fellows on September 10, 2010. The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program was established in 1978 to honor the late senator and vice-president. Humphrey Fellows are mid-career professionals from around the world who go to selected universities in the United States for one year of non-degree graduate study, professional training, and work related experiences.
In his welcoming remarks, LHU Dean of the College of Education and Human Services, Dr. Tom Ormond, provided a brief overview of Lock Haven University and talked about his experiences in the US higher education system as a native of New Zealand.
During their day at Lock Haven University, the Humphrey Fellows toured the campus and were briefed on LHU’s Institute for International Studies by Dean Jennifer Creamer, Assistant Director Trachanda Brown, and Assistant Director Rosana Campbell. After a lunch and welcome from Dr. Barbara Dixon, LHU Interim President, and Dr. Deborah Erickson, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Fellows joined break-out sessions that covered a range of topics.

The sessions were as follows:

Educational Technology – Dr. Punnipa Hossain, Professor, Department of Special Education

Mentoring and Placement of student teachers—Dr. Brett Everhart, Associate Professor, Department of Health and Physical Education and director of teacher education and Priya Poehner, Assistant Professor, Department of Elementary/ Middle Level Education

Higher Education Management and Leadership—Dr. Jim Bean, Professor, Department of Psychology and Dr. Marianne Hazel, Interim Dean of Clearfield campus

International Exchange/ Partnerships and multicultural education—Dr. Zak Hossain, Professor, Department of Sociology and Dr. Jennifer Creamer, Dean of IIS/Anthropologist)

Dr. Jim Bean stated, “It was so exciting to spend time with colleagues from around the world who are interested in exchanging ideas on so many areas of study. It was my privilege to describe our leadership courses and minor to them and they were very receptive. Several would like to initiate programs like ours at their home campuses. We hope to have several of them back on campus to discuss multiculturalism and diversity.”

Priya Poehner, a presenter of one of the breakout sessions, said, “It was a wonderful opportunity to meet colleagues with so much diverse expertise on educational policy and practice from a variety of countries. I was enriched by our discussions on mentoring and placement of students for field experiences during out breakout session. I look forward to learning more about the educational systems in their respective countries when many of the Fellows return to present to my professional semester students in October.”

The 2010-2011 Fellows in the Humphrey Fellowship Program at Penn State are Dr. Amal Alachkar, the Deputy-Dean for Administrative and Student Affairs for the University Of Aleppo Faculty Of Pharmacy in Syria; Jacqueline Austin, Director of the Industry Services unit at Barbados Community College in Barbados; Romina Avila, Coordinator of Accreditation for Santa Maria La Antigua Catholic University (USMA) in Panama; Olga Buchko, education administrator and coordinator of the quality assessment team at the Odessa National Maritime Academy in Ukraine; Ilangalibalele “Edward” Dhlamini, Bursar of the University of Zimbabwe; Mr. Mateo Estrella, Dean of the Faculty of Hospitality at the Universidad de Cuenca in Ecuador; Renata Horvatek, International Relations Office for the Faculty of Organization and Informatics at the University of Zagreb in Croatia; Dr. Balasubramanian Kumar, professor at the Tata Institute of Social Science and the Director of the Indian Council for Social Science Research in Mumbai; Anne-Marie Niandou Gbobia, teacher advisor for the Ministry of Education in Cote d'Ivoire; Srifani Simbuka, lecturer and department head at Manado State Institute for Islamic Studies in Indonesia; Amany Soliman, assistant lecturer at the New Valley branch of Assuit University in Egypt; Armend Tahirsylaj, Teaching assistant in the Faculty of Education at the University of Prishtina in Kosovo; Karma Thinley, Senior Program Officer for the Department of Higher Education at the Ministry of Education in Bhutan; and Dr. Weiguo Yang, professor and vice chair of the school council in the School of Labor and Human Resources at Renmin University of China.

Dean Creamer summarized the visit by saying, “I enjoyed facilitating the Humphrey Fellows visit this year. LHU faculty were eager to meet with the Fellows and led small group discussions on a variety of higher education management topics. LHU faculty were just as excited to learn about these issues from the Fellows perspective as the Fellows were interested to hear from our faculty-a true international professional development opportunity.”