Welcome!

A warm welcome to all! We are looking forward to an exciting year in the International Educational Development (IED) and Comparative and International Education (CIE) programs. I am pleased to welcome our new colleague Professor Adriana Abdenur who will be joining us this fall.  Dr. Reza Arjmand and Dr. Zeena Zakharia will be with us this year.  Professor Louis Cristillo will also be teaching again this year.  Both Professor Monisha Bajaj and Professor Lesley Bartlett remain on sabbatical during fall of 2009.  We are pleased that Dr. Mary Mendenhall will be replacing Professor Lesley Bartlett during the fall semester. We will miss Professor Carlos Ornelas, our visiting scholar who has returned to the Metropolitan Auonomous Univeristy in Mexico City but he sends us warm greetings.  We are also fortunate that Professor Su Pak offered a course this summer.  She is moving to a new position as Associate Professor and Director of Field Based education at Union Theological Seminary  and will continue to be available to students throughout the community of Columbia University and its affiliates.  Our core faculty professors Regina Cortina, Jo Anne Kleifgen, Hope Leichter and Gita Steiner-Khamsi will be with us as usual.

I continue to serve as the Program Coordinator and I am delighted to welcome Sarah Sherman our new Program Assistant.  She recently completed an MA from our program and pursued her undergraduate studies at Rhode Island School of Design.  She is replacing Annie Smiley who received a Fulbright Fellowship to conduct her doctoral dissertation research in Lesotho, Africa.  I would also like to welcome Tammy Arnstein our new Masters Peer Advisor, who is a current doctoral student in CIE.  She is replacing Chris Pagen, who has moved on to an exciting new position in Islamabad, Pakistan.  Please direct all general program questions, as well as inquiries concerning doctoral and EdM requirements, to Sarah Sherman in 374 Grace Dodge Hall (sherman@tc.edu). Tammy Arnstein will be available in 372 Grace Dodge Hall to discuss all matters relating to the MA programs (arnstein@tc.edu), and I will be available to discuss important program matters with students during my office hours.

We know this will be another exciting year for the IED and CIE programs.  We are happy that you will all be part of this dynamic community of committed scholars.

With warm regards to all,

Hope Jensen Leichter