Academy Coaches are volunteer NAFSAns who work with a cohort of six to seven trainees. They represent a broad range of expertise and have worked in the field of international education for more than eight years.
Coaches work with their trainees to develop the trainees' learning plans and guide them with tips on navigating the world of international education, including NAFSA. They also advise trainees on workshop and session selections at the annual and fall regional conferences.
Each coach is trained to be knowledgeable in six coaching skill sets:
- Knowledge of the Academy
- Marketing and Recruitment
- Building a Cohort
- Communication with Trainees
- Professional Tools
- Facilitating Learning
Access to coaches' experience and knowledge is one of the greatest benefits to you as a trainee. While trainees receive a broad overview of international education through a variety of workshops, it is the role of the coach to provide guidance and direction to trainees as they make their way in the field of international education.
2012 Chair
Krista McCallum Beatty
Ohio University
Krista McCallum Beatty directs International Student and Faculty Services at Ohio University. In this role she advises international students, scholars, faculty, and staff on many different immigration and cultural issues. She also advises the International Student Union and directs a very busy office. She has also previously worked in education abroad, including a stint as a resident director. McCallum Beatty enjoys interacting with the many different people she meets through her work and believes international education is a transformative experience for all involved, including her. Having been a coach twice, she thinks the Academy is a great program and is excited to be serving as the chair for the Academy.
Chair-Designate
Sharon Ralston
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Sharon Ralston is currently an Immigration Coordinator at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Ralston advises international students, scholars and medical residents and their inviting academic departments and laboratories on many different immigration and employment issues. In addition, she develops and implements training programs and information sessions on a variety of immigration, tax and policy issues for various university constituencies. Ralston has been hooked on International Education since her first Master's program practicum in 1993, when she worked with international student spouses, and from there, her career just fell into place. After serving as an Academy Coach for Academy 5, she quickly became a convert as the enthusiasm and dedication that everyone in the Academy family brings is quite contagious (She is sure you will agree with her soon, if you don't already)!
Region I Coaches
Richard T. Bruce
Western Washington University
Richard Bruce has 22 years of experience in international education, teaching English in Japan, teaching and advising students at an international school in Richmond, BC, Canada -- and since 2002, working in international student and scholar services and education abroad at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA.
Richard is currently Assistant Director of International Programs & Exchanges (IPE) at Western Washington University where he advises F-1 international students and J-1 Exchange Visitors, is the campus SEVIS Coordinator, and provides general advice to students who want to study abroad. He most recently served as the KCISSS representative on the Region I team and was a member of the Local Arrangements Team at the 2011 NAFSA Annual Conference in Vancouver. He has always valued and enjoyed mentoring new professionals in the field not only to impart some knowledge and expertise to others, but also so he can learn from others’ life experiences, motivations and perspectives. Over the years Richard has developed expertise in international education by learning from the many professionals who have mentored him, and therefore strives to give back to the field and continue this cycle.
Michele L. Tomseth
Linfield College
Michele Tomseth works in the International Programs Office at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon. Though working primarily with short-term, faculty-led, off-campus programs, Tomseth also has an active role in Linfield's semester and year-abroad programs. Throughout the years, safety, risk management and liability concerns have become a large part of her job. She is a first-generation college graduate and has been a Rotary exchange student to Sweden, spent her last year of college in Norway and also worked in Norway as an English and Home Economics teacher at a combined grade and middle school. Michele is excited to engage with both seasoned and newer international education professionals as an Academy Coach.
Region III Coach
Shelby Cearley
Texas Tech University
Shelby L. Cearley currently serves as Lead Advisor and Designated School Official for the Office of Graduate and International Admissions at Texas Tech University. She is also the RAP/Admissions liaison for Region III and is a member of the NAFSA Trainer Corps. A graduate of the Academy for International Education (Class IV), Shelby has presented several admissions-related sessions at the regional and national conferences and was chosen as a delegate for the 2007 Baden-Württemberg Seminar in Stuttgart, Germany. She is a member of the Texas International Education Specialists, the Association of Metroplex International Educators, and the Texas Community College Teachers Association. In addition, she is also an adjunct instructor in Speech Communication for South Plains College. She will complete a Master of Arts in Communication Studies in 2011.
Region IV Co-Coaches
Britta Wright
Columbia College of Missouri
Britta Wright is the Director of International Programs and PDSO at Columbia College. She began her career in higher education in 1992 in the admissions office and made the transition to international education in 1998. Wright is responsible for facilitating international student orientation, advising on immigration, cultural and tax issues, SEVIS compliance and coordinating the mandatory health insurance program. She most recently held the position of conference planner on the NAFSA Region IV team. She has been a member of the NAFSA Trainer Corps for seven years and has moderated and presented the F-1 Regulations for Beginners and Nonresident Alien tax workshops at the regional and national levels. She has also presented sessions at state, regional, and national conferences.
In the beginning of her career in international education, Wright appreciated the support and encouragement from her mentor and other colleagues in the field. She is looking forward to sharing her experiences and serving in her second year as an Academy Coach.
Martha Lynn Turner
Washington University in St. Louis
Martha Lynn Turner has been working in the Office for International Students and Scholars at Washington University in St. Louis for the last 20 years. She, and the two other student advisors that she supervises, provide immigration, academic and cultural advising and programming to more than 1700 graduate and undergraduate international students. Her first professional job was at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska where she was the school's first international student advisor. She moved back to her hometown of Chicago in 1984 to work at the Institute of International Education before returning to work at her alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis. Turner loves international education because she believes that it is a marvelous way to make a positive impact on the world, one person at a time. She is looking forward to being a coach because she enjoys mentoring and supporting people who want to make an impact on international education.
Region V Coach
Patti Jones
Retired
Patricia I. (Patti) Jones retired on August 1, 2011 for the second time, from Western Illinois University. She most recently served at the request of the Provost as the Director of Western's English as a Second Language program where she directed a three-level program of language instruction consisting of five unionized faculty and forty-five students from 16 countries. Her work included all areas of administration, as well as recruitment activities. She is excited by the never-ending cultural learning experiences available in all aspects of international education, and the way those experiences have changed and molded her life. There can never be a dull moment in any aspect of international education! Having served at the state, regional, and national levels as a member leader of NAFSA, including being the chair of the pilot program of the Academy, Jones is thrilled to be a part of it in its ninth form. She hopes to share the knowledge that she has gained in thirty years of NAFSA involvement and to continue learning from the participants whom she will coach.
Region VI Co-Coaches
Sandra Lemons
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
Sandra Lemons oversees the services for international students at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). As Associate Director she coordinates welcome and orientation services, as well immigration advising and various support programs for IUPUI's international student population. Prior to student services, Sandra worked in both International Admissions at IUPUI and as an English as a Second Language instructor in both South Korea and Taiwan. Sandra feels that international education is a crucial part of building understanding and peace among the people of the world and is excited to play a small role in that. As an Academy coach, she hopes to be able to share her enthusiasm for her work with new professionals.
Paul Hofmann
Bowling Green State University
Paul Hofmann is the director of the Center for International Programs at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. In this capacity, Hofmann has broad administrative oversight of international undergraduate admissions, international student services, faculty and staff immigration services, education abroad, and the campus-based intensive English program. He also serves as the campus representative for the Fulbright Scholar program. Hofmann enjoys working in the field of international education because of the wide range of wonderful individuals he has had an opportunity to meet. He credits his successes in the field to the many mentors he has had throughout his career and now hopes to serve as a mentor for others in the process of establishing careers in international higher education.
Region VII Coach
Sheri Beyer
Georgia Institute of Technology
Sheri Beyer is an International Student Advisor and Incoming Exchange Advisor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In this role, she advises international students and scholars on immigration issues and works with the undergraduate incoming exchange students from application to departure. Beyer has been in the field of international education for 10 years, and enjoys interacting with the different populations whom she serves. She believes that international education is imperative in today's world, and is proud to be an active member in this growing community. One of her favorite times was being able to serve her previous region and its members, as the Region 12 KCISSS Representative. She attributes much of her professional and personal success to her strong and encouraging mentors. Her positive experience as a mentee inspired her to become an Academy coach. Finally, her desire to give back to the international education community and her time in the international education field incites much enthusiasm for the opportunity to be an Academy coach.
Region VIII Coach
Michele Barosh
Pennsylvania State University
Barosh is currently the Assistant Manager for International Scholars & Faculty Visa Services at Penn State University. She is still energized in her position and by the field, as it is constantly changing. Thankfully, through NAFSA and networking, the ability to adapt and stay abreast of these changes is not as demanding as it once was. International education is such a great field because it touches on so many different areas and disciplines that there is always the opportunity to expand your knowledge and add skills sets. In the nearly 15 years that Barosh has been in field she has primarily focused on international student and scholar advising. She has assisted at many NAFSA workshops during the years and is currently a member of Trainer Corps. She will also be rotating off the Region VIII Team after having served two years as the Membership and Networking Coordinator. As a coach Barosh would like to share her knowledge and experiences with the new Academy members, when it is requested and to be an active listener when needed.
Region X Coaches
Lilli Holdgaard Jensen
Rochester Institute of Technology
Lilli Holdgaard Jensen graduated from Teacher Training College in Denmark, majoring in English and Art with concentrations in Special Education and Secondary/Post Secondary education. She has a degree in Speech Therapy from the Royal Danish School of Higher Education, obtained a master's degree in Secondary and Post Secondary Special Education from the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology and last, but not least, holds a degree in Sign Language Interpreting from NTID/RIT. Jensen has presented at Region X conferences as well as NAFSA conferences, and has been at RIT and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) since 1994, first as an intern in the English department at NTID, then as a speech therapist at NTID and since 1998 in her current position, first as a Foreign Student Advisor and currently as Assistant Director of International Student Services. Jensen has served as Academy Class VIII coach and now as Class IX coach.
Region XI Co-Coaches
Janie Bess
Lesley University
Janie Bess has been in the field of international education for over 20 years. She has been the Director of International Student Services at Lesley University for eight years. Prior to her work at Lesley, she worked as the Assistant Director of the International Center at Tufts University. She also worked in the newly created immigration law department of a major Boston law firm. She has spent time living in France and travelling to Kenya, Mexico and Israel. Bess' current work includes immigration advising to international students, staff and faculty at Lesley University. She also develops cross-cultural programs for American and international students, while serving as a student advocate on campus. Bess is an adjunct faculty member in the Intercultural Relations program at Lesley, where she provides academic and professional guidance to graduate students during the internship component of their program. She loves the thrill of helping and learning daily from international students, and she is excited to collaborate with Academy members to connect and develop together during the upcoming year.
Jamie Kendrioski
Babson College
Jamie Kendrioski is the Director of International Student and Scholar Services at Babson College. His primary responsibilities include advising Babson's international community on immigration, cultural and social matters; he also designs and conducts immigration-related workshops and intercultural training to a multitude of audiences. Before joining Babson, Kendrioski worked in international student and scholar advising at Brown University in Rhode Island and Marietta College in Ohio. He has a genuine passion for mentorship, instilled in him by NAFSAns who supported him over the years, including the late and unforgettable James Leck. Kendrioski views the Academy as the most significant opportunity to mentor and coach international education professionals and he looks forward to encouraging and inspiring Academy trainees to become future leaders in our field.
Region XII Coach
Kevin Long
University of California, San Francisco
Kevin Long is an International Student and Scholar Advisor at University of California at San Francisco, where he is J-1 scholar advisor and lead F-1 student advisor. With his colleagues, he also helps to create cultural and educational programming for all international students and scholars at UCSF. Having served in the same position at Dominican University of California and UC Berkeley, he has learned first-hand the joys and challenges of working with small programs to very large ones as well. He holds a BA in English Literature from University of St. Thomas, and a Master's Degree in TESOL from The Graduate Institute of the School for International Training. As with all dedicated people in this profession, Long believes what he does is helping to make the world a better place to live, one student and one scholar at a time. With over 12 years of international living, teaching, and immigration experience, he is excited to bring his energy, his background in teaching, his unbridled enthusiasm for international education, and his sense of humor to the coaching experience!
National Coach
Kay Thomas
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Kay Thomas is the recently retired Director of the International Student and Scholar Services Office in the Global Programs and Strategies Alliance at the University of Minnesota. While in that position she managed an office that recruits international undergraduate students, runs short term programs for international students and scholars, and does counseling, immigration advising and cross cultural training and social programming for over 6100 international students and scholars from 127 countries. She is also adjunct faculty in the Counseling and Student Personnel Psychology program in the Department of Educational Psychology and has regularly taught Cross Cultural Counseling. She holds a PhD. degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota. As an active member of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, she has held numerous leadership positions at the regional and national level including serving as the organization’s national president in 2000-2001, and most recently as the first chair of the Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship Knowledge Community. She has been an invited speaker and consultant in Japan, Korea, and Singapore and to numerous colleges and universities in the United States on issues of international education and student services. She has received two International Education Administrators Fulbright awards, one to Japan and another to Korea. Going forward she will be doing consulting on international education issues, strategic planning, team building, etc.
