The NAFSA: Association of International Educators Annual Conference and International Education Expo takes place in Los Angeles, California May 24th-29th 2009. SIT/World Learning faculty, staff and alumni will have a strong presence in the committee rooms, as presenters, on the exhibit hall floor and as conference attendees.
Several SIT faculty and staff currently hold important posts in NAFSA and their work contributed to the planning of this year’s conference:
• SIT Assistant Professor Sora Friedman serves as the Chair for the NAFSA Training Coordination Subcommittee.
• Professor David Shallenberger serves as Vermont whip and is chairing a team to develop an Applied Research Core Educational Program for NAFSA.
• SIT Professor Linda Drake Gobbo is the past chair of NAFSA’s Teaching, Learning & Scholarship Knowledge Community.
• SIT Director of International Student and Scholar Services Janet Hulnick serves as the Vermont Representative for NAFSA’s Region XI.
If you are attending the NAFSA conference, please come and visit the SIT/World Learning booth in the Expo Hall at booth #114 to meet representatives from SIT Graduate Institute , SIT Study Abroad, International Development Programs and Constituent Relations. A number of faculty, staff and alumni are presenting at the conference and we will have a list of presentations by SIT-affiliated people available at the booth. The conference is swarming with alumni of the PIM program (and the MAT program too!), as well as many, many people, organizations and agencies that have long standing and strong relationships with SIT and World Learning. If you are attending the conference and want to learn more about us, please come by!
If you are not attending the conference, but live in the Los Angeles area and want to learn more about our graduate programs, please contact us to find out how you can meet up with Lead Admissions Counselor Rebecca Bell at the Alumni Happy Hour event we are holding in conjunction with the conference. The Happy Hour is on Wednesday, May 27 from 6-8pm and will be a great opportunity to talk to faculty, staff and alumni of our programs to learn more about SIT’s graduate programs and the impact of our alumni worldwide. For details, location and to RSVP, please email admissions@sit.edu with the subject “NAFSA” for more information.
We look forward to seeing you in Los Angeles!
Tags: David Shallenberger, Janet Hulnick, Linda Drake Gobbo, Meredith McDill, NAFSA, Rebecca Bell, Sora Friedman
May 25, 2009 at 7:18 pm |
Greetings! I’m an incoming PIM student for Fall 2009 and often check this blog for new stories. I would really like to hear how the conference goes from a student’s perspective. What was learned/discovered/fascinating!?
Thanks!
June 12, 2009 at 4:49 pm |
Hi Laura!
I am a PIM student (IELR68) who attended the NAFSA conference in Los Angeles this last May. I have to say it was a really interesting experience as a student.
For one thing I met a lot of students that were in a similar position as me (as in “job hunters”), and I found the variety of ways that people approached that to be quite interesting. There were several students in full business suits walking around trying to meet anyone and everyone they could and hopefully through random conversations end up finding a job. My roommate at the conference (who is not an SIT student) said to me at the end of the conference that she felt she had not made any worthwhile connections. On the other hand, there were a couple of us from SIT who were looking for positions and we took a very different tactic. For one, because of the SIT faculty’s close relationship with NAFSA we were able to meet people through direct introductions given by our professors. That was a major plus and made having an organic conversation with people a lot easier. I personally went to a lot of sessions that I found interesting and through the conversations that often happen post-session was able to meet new and interesting people who have similar interests to my own. Furthermore, I actually learned something useful as a student and as a professional. I found myself inspired with ideas about what I wanted to do for my capstone (though I still haven’t decided!) and with a better idea of where I might want to go within the field in the future. Lastly, the SIT cocktail event was really fun to attend and just confirmed how amazingly diverse and widespread the SIT alumni network is. Being able to identify as someone who is affiliated with SIT is really a wonderful way to connect with people and find new ideas and opportunities.
If you have any other questions for me, let me know!
June 15, 2009 at 11:56 am |
Thank you! This is very helpful and informative. I wonder if you’d be willing to share specifics with regard to the organizations you found to be most interesting/helpful. What feild are you in and what ideas are you exploring? I’m assuming that it be within the realm of International Education but since it’s so expansive I’d love to hear your story. Thanks again for this!
June 15, 2009 at 5:21 pm |
Hi Laura,
I think that saying what orgs were particularly helpful is pretty difficult to say. I was looking at the conference from a broader perspective than I normally do (meaning looking outside of just study abroad). I met people from Fulbright, Glipmse magazine, various different universities throughout the country, study abroad offices, international student offices…and really it is much more about the individuals personalities than the particularly helpful. I did find the variety of work that Fulbright did to be quite interesting and not something that I had thought much about before. I have mainly thought about Fulbright as a scholarship to apply to rather than an organization to work for. I think what I liked the most about the conference was trying to be open to all different kinds of IE as each different branch can inform the others. That being said I can’t say I went to any sessions that talked about SEVIS….