UK Well Represented at NAFSA: Association of International Educators’ National Conference

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 17, 2016) — The University of Kentucky will be well represented by current and future leaders as well as expert presenters at the national conference of NAFSA (Association of International Educators), ’“Building Capacity for Global Learning,” May 29-June 3 in Denver, Colorado.

UK’s contingent will join others in welcoming plenary speakers of note: David Brooks, op-ed columnist for The New York Times and a frequent analyst for PBS, NPR and NBC’s “Meet the Press"; Bryan Stevenson, visionary legal scholar, advocate and champion for social justice who founded and directs the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization committed to fair and just treatment for all people in the U.S. legal system; Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, journalist, author and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; and Kailash Satyarthi, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 in recognition of his ongoing efforts to eliminate child labor and for the right of all children to an education.

UK presenters include Ellie Holliday, Summer Eglinski, Thomas Teague, Michael Hagel, Bessie Guerrant and Seth Riker, who also serves the NAFSA regional team as the communications coordinator.

In addition to the expert presenters, UK’s NAFSA leaders include Region VI’s chair-elect, Frances Henkel, a student advisor with the UK International Center. She will coordinate the session proposals for the Region VI conference in the fall and learn about the best practices and innovative ideas happening all over the region. Henkel will chair the regional conference next year in Louisville. 

Miko McFarland, acting director of education abroad and exchanges in the UK International Center, currently serves on two education abroad advisory boards that convene via NAFSA, the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP) Council of Advisors and the International Studies Abroad (ISA) Advisory Board. Both appointments are member-elected, where board members support and advise on program development, quality assurance and risk management. McFarland will author a chapter in the third edition of NAFSA’s Guide to Successful Short-term Programs Abroad that explores alternative program types, such as internships, rotations and service-learning. 

Laurence Tuccori, education abroad advisor for the UK International Center, has been the United Kingdom country coordinator on the NAFSA Consular Affairs Liaison Subcommittee since 2012. He will lead a team that works with the United Kingdom consulate in New York City to resolve student visa issues and disseminate updates on that nation's visa policy to the education abroad advising community across America.

John Honeycutt of the UK International Center will also attend. He serves on the NAFSA Regulatory Ombud Subcommittee as the region VI regulatory ombud for student issues. Honeycutt’s committee liaises with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) service centers and provides vital regulatory updates to NAFSA members. At the national conference he will focus on federal policies affecting international education. Jason Hope, international risk analyst for the UK International Center, is Kentucky state representative to NAFSA, and Seth Riker is the communications coordinator for Region VI.

“The field of international education is full of smart, supportive and passionate professionals who navigate complicated regulations and sometimes incredibly complex student issues,” Henkel said. “Both our regional conferences and participation in the annual conference have helped me to grow and learn from amazing colleagues over the years and I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve the region in this way.”

NAFSA plays a vital role in keeping professionals well versed in the increasingly complex world of global education. It represents four key professional practice areas: comprehensive internationalization, education abroad, international education enrollment and international student and scholar services, as well as cross-cutting competencies, which describe the shared skills and knowledge needed across all international education domains: advocacy, intercultural communication, community communication and leadership.

The NAFSA International Education Professional Competencies™ is the most comprehensive listing of the necessary competencies for success in the field of international education. Created by a group of NAFSA member leaders and reviewed by numerous international education experts, the NAFSA International Education Professional Competencies forms the basic building blocks of the international education profession. This inventory is intended to define the professional knowledge, skills and abilities expected of international education professionals working in the United States, regardless of their area of specialization or role within the field. From advisor to manager to policy maker, the International Education Professional Competencies offer everyone working in international education a direction for professional success.

Presenters representing UK for the upcoming national NAFSA conference include:

Ellie Holliday

Assistant director of International School Partnerships and coordinator of International Student and Scholar Mobility for the UK College of Education, Holliday earned her master's degree in diplomacy and international commerce from the UK Patterson School and worked with the UK Education Abroad office for two years co-coordinating its Peer Ambassador Program.

Presentation: "Beyond Orientation: Supporting International Students and Scholars by Strengthening Partnerships."

Holliday will focus on what happens after the variety of orientation and support services many colleges have in place for new international students. She will discuss gaps in support experienced by students and scholars and will provide ideas for closing those gaps through forging strong, collaborative relationships. She hopes her listeners can identify areas where international students and scholars experience a gap in support and develop ideas for closing this gap, can think strategically about how to use existing resources to better serve this unique community and explore how to develop stronger partnerships utilizing various resources.

Summer Eglinski

Director of Gatton Global Initiatives in the UK Gatton College of Business and Economics, Eglinski previously worked as an academic advisor for business and as an education abroad advisor at both UK and Kennesaw State University. She received her master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of Kansas in 2009.

Session: Eglinski, Holliday, UK Gatton College Academic Adviser Thomas Teague and Leigh Poole, director of the International Center at Winthrop University in South Carolina, will chair a session discussing how to extend support of international students and scholars beyond the orientation period through strategic campus partnerships.

Eglinski is also a co-presenter at a poster presentation titled “Enhancing Learning Before, During, and After Education Abroad: Education Abroad and Academic Advisors as Orientation Facilitators.” Eglinski and Teague will co-present a poster “Beyond the Orientation: Student Learning via Advising Before, During and After Education Abroad.”

Michael Hagel

Data management specialist at UK International Center/International Student and Scholar Services, Hagel manages UK’s student and scholar tracking tool and the OPT student list.

Presentation: "Cloud Computing for the International Student and Scholar Services Office."

Bessie M. Guerrant

Associate director of Undergraduate Research, Guerrant is a former Kentucky Distinguished Educator and has extensive experience in public school education reform and improvement initiatives. She has developed and managed several university programs targeting both high school and undergraduate students in research. She has served on many boards and committees, including the executive board of the Council on Undergraduate Research in Washington, D.C., and the board of directors of the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. She has served as a proposal reader for the National Science Foundation, NASA and the U.S. Department of Education..

Presentation: "Undergraduate Research Abroad: Creating Global Opportunities."

Guerrant will examine the links between undergraduate research and studying abroad and how research abroad differs from regular study abroad programming. She hopes her listeners develop an understanding of why setting up an undergraduate research abroad program is valuable for their top students and their institution; develop knowledge on how to finance an undergraduate research abroad program; and develop an understanding of the outcomes and deliverables of undergraduate research abroad.

Seth Riker

Marketing and communications manager for the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment and  communications coordinator for NAFSA Region VI, Riker recieved NAFSA's inaugural Rising Star Young Leader Award in 2015 for his exceptional work to promote international education through several new and creative strategies, his contributions to Region VI, and his work as UK's first Education Abroad promotion and outreach coordinator.

Presentations: "Breaking into Education Abroad" and "Creating Videos on a Budget for an International Office."

"NAFSA has been a great outlet for networking and development,” Riker said. “I've made connections across the country with international educators in all areas of academia. In a time when campus internationalization is the expectation, not a luxury, my NAFSA network has been critical for benchmarking and idea sharing. If UK is to become an internationally recognized institution, fostering the next generation of global leaders, we all have a role to play."

“I participate in most NAFSA national, regional and state conferences,” said Holliday, “because they help me stay up-to-date with changes and updates in the fields of international student and scholar services and education abroad, both of which I work with in my position as assistant director of International School Partnerships in the College of Education. I also enjoy being able to network and meet with colleagues in the field.”

Eglinski says her participation in NAFSA is like involvement with any professional organization. “Being involved with NAFSA allows me to check the pulse of the field, in this case international education as it pertains to higher education. It allows professionals to share best practices, information and research in a collegial setting."

“It can be very easy to feel alone when you work with unique populations,” Eglinski said. “Involvement with NAFSA cracks the barriers of isolation, opens up resources and introduces you to ways of thinking that are new. Because I also work with exchange programs within the College of Business, NAFSA national conferences provide me with the valuable opportunity to also meet with my international partners in a central location. Of the eight exchange programs the Gatton College supports, six of our partners will be attending the NAFSA conference in Denver. This allows me to meet with representatives from our partner schools, discuss issues, learn about their programs in greater depth, and share information about UK and Gatton conveniently, easily and efficiently.”

With more than 10,000 members, NAFSA is the world's largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education. For more information about the organization, visit www.nafsa.org/. To learn more about its advocacy efforts on behalf of international education, visit www.ConnectingOurWorld.org and @ConnectOurWorld on Twitter.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Gail Hairston, 859-257-3302, gail.hairston@uky.edu