ITEP Alumni

ITEP ALUMNI

ITEP has a post-graduation rate of 92-100% employment rate post-graduation; those who are not employed are typically pursuing further education or taking time off for caregiving responsibilities. Upon graduating, ITEPers find themselves in a variety of organizations, companies and institutions. Many of our alumni work in teacher or cross-cultural training in non-profits and universities, or in training. positions within the Department of State, Foreign Service, or INGOs.

After completing her BA in International Studies at AU, Emily Bird, 2015 ITEP alumna, worked in non-profit business development and advocacy focused on Africa. In 2009, she departed to Niger where she served with the Peace Corps as a Municipal and Community Development Volunteer. Emily implemented a number of projects in Niger but found working with students in her community to be the most rewarding. While completing her ITEP degree she participated in an AU Alternative Break trip to Israel focusing on refugee rights and issues. Emily currently works as a Business Development Manager at Plan International, designing projects that focus on child-centered development and youth participation.

After spending two years in Japan teaching English through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program, one year in Botswana teaching history and geography at Maru a Pula School as a Princeton in Africa Fellow, and one year teaching English to Venezuelans at the Latin American Caribbean Centre at the University of the West Indies, Mona in Jamaica, Kwame Gayle began his graduate degree with ITEP. In the summer of 2016, after his first year at AU, Kwame served as a graduate summer service-learning fellow in Myanmar, working with disadvantaged students at a monastic education high school in their pre-college program. Originally from Jamaica, Kwame did his undergraduate degree in anthropology and African studies at Macalester College in Minnesota, where he served as a residential assistant for two years, as an admissions intern in his senior year, and was involved in many international-related activities and clubs. He is passionate about the performing arts and contributed to many theater, dance and music productions at Macalester. His research interests include race, ethnicity and educational access for minority groups, especially in Africa and the Caribbean. He is also interested in international and cultural exchange through different modes of expression, such as language, communication, the performing arts and diplomacy. Kwame designed a study abroad course on diversity and higher education in Jamaica for ITEP as part of his final MA capstone, which ITEP hopes to offer as an elective in 2018.

Anna Lippard, 2014 ITEP alumna, is an International Services Specialist at Southern Methodist University with a Master's degree in International Training and Education from American University. She is originally from Gaffney, South Carolina, and has lived in Bratislava, Slovakia and Washington, DC before moving to Dallas, Texas. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree in history in 2010 from Coker College, where she discovered a love of learning about other cultures through meeting international students on campus and through study abroad. Anna completed a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Bratislava, Slovakia 2010-2011, teaching high school students conversational English. Anna earned a Master's degree in International Training and Education in 2014 from American University, focusing on international student exchange and minority education. She now is an International Services Specialist working with F-1 and J-1 international students at Southern Methodist University. Her duties include immigration advising and cultural/educational programming.

At Global Ties US, Franziska Rook, 2014 ITEP alumna, is working with over 110 organizations worldwide that engage in international exchange. Additionally, she is also responsible for designing and running exchange programs. Prior to joining Global Ties US, Franzi has worked extensively in international student recruitment, marketing, program design, and community outreach. Her work experience spans three continents and organizations such as the UN World Food Program, HHL -Leipzig Graduate School of Management, and American University. Franzi is a Fulbright Scholar and aside from German (her native language), she speaks English, Portuguese, and French. Franzi received her Master in Public Administration (MPA) with a focus on Nonprofit Management and Leadership from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, and her Masters in International Training and Education from American University in Washington, DC. You can follow her on Twitter at @franzirook.

Pauline A. Shams, 2005 ITEP alumna, is a training specialist with extensive experience working on security and business improvement focused trainings both internationally and domestically. Having spent much time working on the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region, she has also cultivated experience in program management, proposal development, program implementation, events coordination, and training design. She has worked on projects directly related to Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Mexico, Morocco, Panama, Paraguay Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia. Prior to joining Los Alamos Technical Associates, Inc. (LATA) as a Training Program Coordinator, Ms. Shams worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce, the World Bank, the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce and other organizations focusing on the MENA and South and Central Asia regions. She played a leading role in developing proposals and implementing programs funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of State, USAID, U.S. Trade & Development Agency among others. She currently supports an Emergency Management training program for the Department of Homeland Security's TSA division. She has experience developing online modules as well as in classroom exercises.

Originally from Rochester, NY, Ashley Whittington, 2015 ITEP alumna, completed a dual BA in international relations and foreign languages and literatures at the University of Delaware. After graduation, she joined the Peace Corps where she taught English as a Foreign Language in a small village in Mongolia. As an AU student, Ashley worked as the Graduate Assistant for the Bilingual Education program as well as interned in the Training Unit at Peace Corps. Her studies in ITEP focused on multilingual education, primarily in the former Soviet states. She currently works as the TEFL E-learning Specialist at Peace Corps Headquarters.

Through the Center for Community Engagement and Service, AU offers alternative breaks for current undergraduate and graduate students. Alternative breaks give students an opportunity to join a classroom abroad or a social justice issue domestically during their Summer, Winter, or Spring break.

Alternative Breaks are year-long, student-led service-learning immersion programs that promote student leadership, equality, ethical volunteering, and social justice by cultivating a society of active citizens with the tools, resources, and experience to be effective leaders and allies within their local and global communities.

Student groups partner with community initiatives on a variety of social justice issues, from immigration rights to environmental protection and defense of freedom and human rights to race/gender/identity issues. Direct engagement occurs in locations across the globe and students have an opportunity to learn from community leaders ranging from New Orleans to Dominican Republic, Texas, and Laos. 

A Capstone project is completed in the ProSeminar class, taken in the final Spring semester of the Master's of Arts in international training and education degree. This course is treated like a project that students can take with them to show their employers and is often created in the form of a handbook or best practice guide. The Capstone project is an accumulation of research and skills developed throughout the graduate studies. For example, a student will learn to write an annotated bibliography during their first semester required course and have that study skill developed to use in the final project. While students take their projects very seriously, the course is in fact 3 credits and weighed equally to any other required course in the program.

Below is a sampling of students' project titles to give an idea of the type of thematic and regional focus students have had:

  • Support through mentorship: a mentorship program for graduate international students at American University 2016-2017
  • Online program on self-esteem and entrepreneurship for Arabic speaking young adults 2016-2017
  • Bridging the resource get for: an online resources guide to help general education teachers best support English language learners 2016-2017
  • Teaching English as an International language 2016-2017
  • Stem abroad: a guide to studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics abroad 2016-2017
  • The Exportation of national stimulus: motivations behind study abroad scholarships in the United States 2016-2017
  • DC youth connections: a movement for cultural and linguistic competence in youth transition services and supports 2016-2017
  • Pre-departure orientations for international service-learning: preparing high school students for relationships based on the value of reciprocity 2016-2017
  • Sexual identity in a foreign context: creating an inclusive climate for international LGBTQ+ students 2015-2016
  • Undocually Training 2016-2017
  • International education practicum design: a collaborative practicum abroad course between American university school of education and the University of the west Indies, when I campus 2016-2017
  • Intercultural competence he training for educators: training sessions, facilitator guide, and participant manual 2014- 2015
  • Black – international student InterGroup Dialogue conversations on race, discrimination, identity, and culture 2015-2016
  • Mentoring impact: how a mentoring program in Burkina Faso impacts that empowerment and social roles a female mentors 2016-2017
  • Education and Kenya: a short term study abroad program looking at the history, structure, pedagogy, opportunities, and challenges of education in Kenya 2016-2017
  • Global citizenship education in District of Columbia public high schools 2016-2017
  • Educational technology opportunities in Haiti 2016-2017
  • Supporting refugee integration: a handbook for Stabley Shang a community integration program for refugees 2016-2017
  • Understanding repatriation: a guide to facilitating the re-integration a deportees in Jamaica 2014-2015
  • Supporting students with disabilities during exchange and study abroad 2016-2017
  • "Terrorism": A study of its impact on international students from Jordan and Tunisia traveling to the United States and United Kingdom 2015-2016
  • Integration efforts of the formal education system and Islamic schools in Nigeria: a comparative analysis of events, patterns/trends, systematic structures, mental models in northern Nigeria and Ghana 2015-2016