Speaker Biographies
Jane Albrecht, Associate Professor, Romance Languages,
Wake Forest University
An associate professor of Spanish, Jane Albrecht served as director of Wake Forest’s Salamanca, Spain semester program in 1993, 2001, 2006 and 2009. She is the co-designer and director of Wake Forest’s new service-learning program in Managua, Nicaragua, which was launched in 2007. She has also served as an interpreter for the medical community at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and for visiting Guatemalan human rights activists. She has written three books and numerous articles. She has a bachelor’s degree from Wright State University and master’s and a doctorate in Hispanic literature from Indiana University.
Terry Baker, Associate Professor of Accountancy,
Wake Forest University
Terry Baker has led a summer study abroad program to Europe and teaches an undergraduate course in partnership with the Bordeaux School of Business that examines business management problems in the wine industry. He also teaches graduate courses on international accounting that focus on the current effort to find a uniform global accounting language. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Miami University, master’s degrees from the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago and a doctorate in accountancy from the University of Kentucky.
Darla Deardorff, Executive Director, Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA), Duke University
Darla Deardorff has worked in international education for more than 15 years and teaches graduate courses in international education and intercultural communication. She has experience in study abroad, international student services, cultural programming and ESL teaching/teacher training. She has also published widely on international education and is editor of The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence. She is frequently invited to consult and lecture around the world on intercultural competence and assessment. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Bridgewater College and a master’s and doctorate from North Carolina State University where she focused on international education.
Steven Duke, Director, Center for International Studies,
Wake Forest University
Steven Duke oversees Wake Forest’s study abroad office and coordinates the university’s intercultural competency program for students. He serves on Wake Forest’s Overseas Crisis Management Team and is a point-person on risk/crisis management issues for faculty leading study abroad programs. A specialist on modern Russia and the Baltic region, he has taught history classes at Brigham Young University and coordinated international programs at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. He has a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and two
master’s degrees and a doctorate in history from Indiana University. His article “Multi-ethnic St. Petersburg: The Tsarist Period” was recently published in Preserving Petersburg: History, Memory, Nostalgia.
Steven Folmar, Assistant Professor, Anthropology,
Wake Forest University
Steven Folmar began conducting anthropological research in Nepal in 1979. In 2001, he led his first study abroad trip to Nepal. Since then, he has led five study abroad groups to Nepal, where his students have home-stay accommodations, study Nepali and conduct independent projects related to tourism, health, development and the social conditions of marginalized people. He is a prolific writer, and his most recent article is Identity Politics among Dalits in Nepal. He earned his bachelor’s,
master’s and doctorate degrees in anthropology from Case Western University.
Mary Gerardy, Associate Vice President and Dean of Campus Life, Wake Forest University
Mary Gerardy oversees a wide range of programs for students, including Wake Forest’s Volunteer Service Corps (VSC), which coordinates service trips organized by students. Over the past 15 years, she has been instrumental in helping more than 530 students, faculty and staff participate in VSC-sponsored trips to Belize, the Dominican Republic, Georgia, Honduras, India, Russia, South Africa and Vietnam. Since 2001, she has personally led service trips and study abroad programs to Vietnam, and in 1998, she led a service trip to India. She is a certified trainer in numerous areas, and throughout her career, she has developed, led and facilitated several training and leadership programs for both students and faculty. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Hiram College, master’s degrees from Kent State University and Wake Forest University and holds both a master’s and doctorate in human and organizational systems from The Fielding Graduate University.
Kline Harrison, Associate Provost for International Affairs, Kemper Professor of Business, Wake Forest University
Kline Harrison leads the international affairs efforts for Wake Forest University. His responsibilities include pursuing international initiatives for student learning (both academic and experiential), for faculty instruction and development, and for interdisciplinary and cross-campus collaborations. In addition, he has taught courses in global trade and commerce and organizational theory and behavior. His research has focused on various aspects of international organizational and human resource management with an emphasis on the impact of personality variables on students’ study abroad experiences. For 12 years he led an international business study tour in Western Europe during which students learned about the distinctive characteristics of global business operations through multiple site visits and presentations. He chairs Wake Forest’s Global Advisory Council and will serve as conference chair for the annual meeting of the Forum on Education Abroad in 2010. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and his doctorate in organizational behavior from the University of Maryland.
Brighid Jensen, Director of Campus Life, Wake Forest University
Brighid Jensen coordinates a variety of activities for students and oversees the day-to-day operations of Wake Forest’s Volunteer Service Corps (VSC). She coordinates annual experiences to India, South Africa, Brazil and Russia and oversees domestic trips to numerous urban and rural locations. She assists with service-learning courses and trainings and coordinates the process of selecting student leaders and faculty or staff advisors for VSC-sponsored service trips. She works directly with student-leaders and advisors through all stages of the planning and preparation stages for each trip. She has participated on service trips to Mexico and Vietnam, and in 2008, led a group of 12 students on a service trip to Brazil. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University and a master’s degree in higher education from Boston College.
Mike Lord, Director, Flow Institute for International Studies,
Wake Forest University
Mike Lord manages the international programs (China, India, Europe, Japan and Latin America) of the Flow Institute at Wake Forest’s Business Schools. His responsibilities also include helping manage international relationships such as faculty and student exchanges with various global partner institutions. As director of the China Program, he has organized and led overseas management programs for many years on conducting business in and with Greater China. His research and consulting focus on international expansion and global learning and innovation. He has a bachelor’s degree with honors from Harvard University, a master of business administration from Baylor University and a doctorate in strategic management from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Gary Miller, Associate Professor of Nutrition, Health and Exercise Science, Wake Forest University
Gary Miller has led student groups in more than 10 different countries throughout Europe, Southeast Asia, Central America and the Caribbean. He is skilled in creating academic experiences and cultural encounters that incorporate the local environment and encourage students to observe and become involved in the culture of their location and providing an effective balance between studies and cultural experience. He currently holds a cross appointment as associate professor of internal medicine in gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas, a master’s degree from Kansas State University and a doctorate in nutrition from the University of California at Davis.
Penelope Pynes, Associate Provost, International Programs, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Penelope Pynes leads the internationalization efforts at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). In 2005, she represented the UNC system in an administrative exchange at the Ministry of Science and Arts in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Since then, she has worked to promote student/faculty exchange and piloted the Baden-Wuerttemberg state-to-state program, which led to the establishment of UNC’s system-wide exchange program. She facilitates diversity and intercultural workshops on and off campus to prepare faculty and students for successful experiences abroad. She is a former Fulbright scholar to Heidelberg, Germany, and was awarded a Rotary Club Study Exchange Scholarship to Norway. She earned her master’s degree from the University of Alabama and a doctorate in Germanic linguistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Bill Roberts, Professor of Anthropology, St. Mary’s College
of Maryland
With more than 30 years of international education experience, Bill Roberts specializes in international educational exchange. He teaches numerous courses in anthropology including cultural anthropology, culture and social experience, language and culture, and global learning and engagement. Since 1996, he has directed seven field study programs in The Gambia, West Africa, and several two- and three-week study tours to Senegambia, Belize and Peten, Guatemala. He has published widely, given numerous presentations and organized sessions at professional meetings on international education, including the roundtable Three Important “Rs” for Experiential Approaches to Education: Responsibilities, Risks and Rewards. His current research focuses on the short-term impacts of international education on undergraduate students. He has a bachelor’s degree from The College of William and Mary and earned his master’s degree and doctorate in cultural anthropology from American University.
Julie Scott, Institutional Relations, Danish Institute for
Study Abroad (DIS)
Since 2005, Julie Scott has directed the Institutional Relations operations for DIS, leading efforts in collaborating with U.S. partner universities to integrate study abroad in the undergraduate curriculum through existing offerings, developing innovative courses and programs, visiting faculty opportunities and joint research efforts. She spent seven years serving on-site in Copenhagen as the director of the Psychology & Child Development Program and the coordinator for Institutional Relations. Prior to joining DIS, she was a research analyst for the Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics and has extensive experience in education, conference and program management. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Dickinson College and a master’s in marketing from Johns Hopkins University.
Anders Uhrskov, Director, Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS)
Anders Uhrskov has more than 30 years of experience with DIS and has served in nearly all capacities throughout the organization. For the past 22 years he has led the organization’s efforts as director. He has served two terms on the board of directors for NAFSA: Association of International Educators, and is currently a member of the Forum on Education Abroad, where he serves on the council, the council standards committee and the ethics working group. He also currently serves on the board of the Denmark-America Foundation and the Academic Selection Committee for the Crown Prince Frederik’s Fund. He holds a master’s degree (Cand. mag.) in political science from the University of Copenhagen.
Byron Wells, Professor of French and Chair of Romance Languages, Wake Forest University
Byron Wells has participated in study abroad programs at Wake Forest for more than 20 years. He has taught semester-long programs in France, Italy and Japan. He helped establish Wake Forest’s summer program in Morocco, and led that program in its initial year. He actively encourages French, Italian and Spanish professors to participate in study abroad programs. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Georgia, another master’s and a doctorate in French/Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He currently serves as the executive director of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, which has its executive office at Wake Forest. He is an administrative officer for the American Council of Learned Societies, serves on the executive board for the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and sits on the editorial board of Eighteenth-Century Studies.
