Marilee Hong graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from San Diego State University (SDSU). Currently, she has been an International Academic Specialist in the Office of Advising and Evaluations, Enrollment Services at SDSU. A majority of Marilee’s career at SDSU has been affiliated with the admission of international students (graduate and undergraduate), evaluation of international credentials, and student advising with international documents. She was part of the NAFSA Training Corp, and led two training Evaluation credential workshops. She has also served as Chair of the AACRAO International Admissions Committee, led two AACRAO International Admissions Workshops and authored the chapter “How to Evaluate International Credentials” in AAACRAO International Guide: A Resource for International Education Professionals, an AACRAO-PIER publication. She also serves on AACRAO's International Publication Advisory Committee (IPAC) committee.
Kristalina Karabunarlieva has served as the assistant director of the Office of International Admissions at the University of Houston, Texas. She holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Classical Languages and English Language from the Sofia University, and an MBA degree from the Bourgas Free University in Bulgaria. As a member of the NAFSA Trainer Corps and the NAFSA Curriculum Development Team, she conducts regional and national workshops and sessions. Kristalina has also served as NAFSA Region III South Texas State Representative.
I have spent my entire career as an international educator and education entrepreneur working in the public, non-profit, and private sectors in three different countries. I am currently the Managing Director of Capstone Vietnam, a full-service educational consulting company with offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), a position I have held since the company’s founding in 2009.
Capstone’s latest website, Recruit in Viet Nam, is a one-stop online resource for student recruitment that is devoted exclusively to non-commission-based recruitment tools and techniques.
Capstone is the only company in Viet Nam, and probably the world, that works exclusively with regionally accredited institutions of higher education in the US and officially accredited schools in other countries. Its unique business model addresses the needs of both institutional and individual clients.
From 2005 to 2009, I served as country director of the Institute of International Education in Viet Nam. Prior to that, I was director of the World Languages Institute, adjunct lecturer, and Fulbright program adviser at the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY/Buffalo).
During 1994/95, I worked as a primary researcher on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) Case Study Project in Germany, Japan and the U.S. I was a Research Associate at the University of Michigan’s Center for Human Growth and Development (CHGD) and a visiting scholar at the Goethe University Frankfurt and Northwestern University.
Among other work related to the Case Study Project, I edited and contributed to The Educational System in Germany: Case Study Findings and co-authored the chapter on “The Development and Implementation of Education Standards in the United States” that appeared in
It was my privilege and honor to have worked with the late Dr. Harold W. Stevenson, the project director and a professor at the University of Michigan at the time. Dr. Stevenson was a developmental psychologist whose comprehensive studies in the 1980s showed that schoolchildren in Asia outperformed US American children often because they simply worked harder.
In 2003, I became the first US American to be awarded a Fulbright Senior Specialist Grant to Viet Nam. I have served as an adviser to VietAbroader, a student-run, nonprofit whose slogan is Empower Vietnamese Youth, since its founding in 2004 and am a member of the advisory board of Teachers for Vietnam, a U.S.-based non-profit organization. I’m the only foreign member of the Science and Training Council of the University of Education, Viet Nam National University, Hanoi.
I’ve written and presented widely on issues related to Viet Nam, US-Viet Nam relations, Vietnamese studying overseas, international student recruitment, accreditation, commissions-based recruitment, international student access and equity, the use of education as a tool of soft power, nationalism, global citizenship education, and the development of intercultural competence.
I am the author of Vietnam Today: A Guide to a Nation at a Crossroads (with Thái Ngọc Diệp), published in 2005 by Intercultural Press (now Nicholas Brealey Publishing). This substantive introduction to Vietnamese culture and society has been widely cited. Vietnam Today appeared on a list of the top 40 books about Viet Nam, compiled in 2013 by the Vietnam Studies Group.
In 2009, I co-authored a book chapter entitled “Developing Globally Competent Citizens: The Contrasting Cases of the United States and Vietnam,” (with Dương Thị Hoàng Oanh) that appeared in The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence (ed. Darla Deardorff).
I’ve been an external reviewer for the Comparative Education Review, published by The University of Chicago Press, and am currently one for the Journal of Studies in International Education, published by Boston College (US) and La Trobe University (Australia).
My work has been published by the BBC, The Buffalo News, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Comparative Education Review, CounterPunch, Forbes Vietnam, The Huffington Post, for which I was a blogger, International Educator (NAFSA), ICEF Monitor, Inside HigherEd, International Higher Education (Boston College), The PIE Blog, University World News, Vietnam Full Disclosure, VNExpress International, and World Education News & Reviews (WES), among others.
In Viet Nam, I have been interviewed and/or quoted by the following media outlets: VTV1, 2, 4, 6, HTV, Thanh Nien, Tien Phong, Tuoi Tre, VietnamNet, Giao Duc Viet Nam, Lao Dong, Soha.vn, Saigon Times Online, Vietnam Economic Times, CPV, Vietcetera, VNExpress International, the Voice of Vietnam, Zing, among others. My Vietnamese language publications have appeared in VNExpress and Zing.vn, both top 10 media outlets, as well as Tia Sang, a well-known online and print journal.
I have been interviewed and/or quoted by the following foreign (non-Vietnamese) media outlets: Asia Times, Casper Star-Tribune (WY), The Chronicle of Higher Education, College Times, CNN International Business Traveler, CounterPunch, The Daily NNA (Japan), Financial Times (of London), Honolulu Star Bulletin (HI), ICEF Monitor, IIE Networker, IIE research publications (e.g., Globally Mobile Youth: Trends in International Secondary Students in the United States, 2013-2016), International Educator, The PIE News, TechTrends, University World News, USA Today, etc.
I have presented at numerous conferences in Viet Nam and the US based on submitted proposals and by invitation. The six (6) most recent presentations – in descending chronological order – are:
I earned a Ph.D. in Comparative and Higher Education from the SUNY/Buffalo Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, where I studied with Philip G. Altbach, Harold J. Noah and Gail P. Kelly, among others. I hold M.A. and B.A. degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of Delaware, respectively. I also studied, taught, and conducted research in Germany, including the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
I am a member of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the Fulbright Association, and the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (GSMD). My personal email address is markashwill[AT]hotmail.com
Chris J. Foley is the Associate Vice President for University Academic Affairs as well as the Director of the Office of Online Education at Indiana University. He has worked in admissions, public relations, and marketing for Indiana since 2001 and has experience with recruitment, market analysis, strategic planning, admissions, technology, credit transfer and immigration. He authored AACRAO's The Educational System of Kyrgyzstan and edited AACRAO's publication on the educational systems of Central Asia. He has been an instructor of international credentials evaluation since 2005 as well as a consultant on international admissions, credentials evaluation, and recruitment. He has served on numerous committees for AACRAO and NAFSA concerning international education. Chris holds a BA from the University of Arkansas and an MA and MFA from Indiana University.
Walker Parent began working with international students at the University of Texas at Austin in 2005. During that time, he received a Bachelor of Arts and spent six months studying in Argentina. He took a year off from international admissions to teach drama in Hong Kong. He has worked as an Administrative Assistant at the Graduate and International Admissions Center for the University of Texas. He thoroughly enjoys working with international students and learning new things about the educational systems of foreign countries.
Botir Djuraev is a senior English teacher at the Scientific-Educational Center of the Academy of Sciences in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He holds an Honors Diploma in the Teaching of English from the Uzbek State World Languages University in Tashkent and has held several positions as English instructor and translator at higher education institutions in Tashkent. He also was the head of the International Relations Department of the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent early in his career. Botir has participated in conferences and training programs in Central Asia, the United States, South Korea, Turkey, and India, and his works on English linguistics and the teaching of English have been published in Uzbekistan, the United States and Europe. In 2003-04 Botir participated in the US Department of State’s Junior Faculty Development Program as a visiting scholar at Arizona State University, where he began working with Ann Koenig of AACRAO on developing AACRAO’s English-language resources on education in Uzbekistan. They have been collaborating on their work in providing information on education in Uzbekistan ever since.
Ann Rahmat, originally from Malaysia, holds a BBA and MBA from the University of North Texas. She was the Director of International Admissions at the University of North Texas for more than a decade. She is an active member in NAFSA and AACRAO, and has presented at the regional and national levels in a variety of topics including Bologna-compliant degree equivalency at UNT, Malaysia update, and Public-speaking effectiveness.
Karlene N. Dickey received an AB from McGill University and an MA from University of Pennsylvania. In her career, Karlene was active in NAFSA as Chair of International Admissions section as well as AACRAO as Vice President for International Relations. She served as President of TRACE, now known as World Higher Education. She served on the boards of GRE, CGS and TOEFL. She has led workshops to Yugoslavia, Hungary, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Her publications include World Education Series and PIER projects on education in Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Slovenia, and Swiss Engineering and Business Schools.
Peggy has presented at NAFSA and AACRAO at state, regional, and national conferences, participated in poster fairs on a variety of topics, co-written ad hoc conference workshops, and presented NAFSA CEP workshops as a NAFSA Trainer Corps member among others. Peggy is a Charter Member of The Association for International Credential Evaluation Professionals (TAICEP) and was the managing editor for the TAICEP Talk Newsletter for its first two years; she remains an active member of the Resources for Members Committee. She has contributed to such publications as the NAFSA Online Guide to Educational Systems around the World, the AACRAO Electronic Database for Global Education (EDGE), the NAFSA wRAP-Up Newsletter, the 2010 AACRAO International Guide, the NAFSA Guide to International Student Recruitment, and others. In addition, Peggy has presented on topics such as country updates, international communication, undocumented students, secondary education and freshman admissions, professional development, international transfer credits, researching international institutions and education systems, accreditation, international graduate admissions, electronic verification services, bogus institutions, and more.
Receiving Digital Documents
Receiving Digital Documents Part 2
Dr. George Fletcher has served the President of Globe Language Services, Inc., located in New York. He has also been an Assistant/Associate Professor at NYU. He received a B.A. in Spanish/Russian/Education from Oklahoma University in 1963; a M.A.T. in Russian/Education from Indiana University in 1967; and an Ed.D. in Russian/Spanish/Education from Oklahoma State University in 1977. Dr. Fletcher is a member of AACRAO (past chairperson of the International Education Research Committee), NAFSA, the European Association of International Education (EAIE), and the International Higher Education Academy of Sciences (IHEAS). He was also a Charter Member and Vice President of the Association of International Credential Evaluators (AICE) and an examinational certified translator for the American Translator Association (ATA). He has been the author of numerous publications including EDGE Report: International Education Index:Chile and Russia (2006), Russia: A Comparative Education Study, a section on undergraduate and Master's Degree education (2001), and The Complete Handbook and Glossary of Soviet Education (1992).
Sandra Dyson Rodríguez was first introduced to international education upon joining the Peace Corps in 1961. She holds a BA and an MA in Linguistics and has taught English as a Second Language, Spanish, Linguistics, and Cultural Studies in both Venezuela and the U.S. before working as an international student office director and foreign student advisor. She has been an international credentials evaluator since 1977 and a certified translator since 1982, and has presented papers, seminars and workshops. She was a contributor to the 1999 NAFSA publication, A Guide to Educational Systems Around the World. She is the founder of SDR Educational Consultants in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Lou Nunes is the President of Academic Evaluation Services. She has over 30 years of experience serving the international education field in various roles, including Credentials Evaluator, Translator, Mentor, and Consultant. She is an author of several publications in foreign educational systems as well as a presenter at various professional conferences, including NAFSA, AACRAO and EAIE. Dr. Nunes is the author of the Country Study: Brazil, a joint AACRAO/NAFSA/PIER Project, 2004, and a contributor to AACRAO EDGE and NAFSA Online Guide. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from LSU. Dr. Nunes has been a NAFSA Trainer Corps Member since 2003. She is fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish; she has working knowledge of French.
Kathleen Trayte Freeman has more than 20 years of experience in international admissions and foreign credential evaluation. She co-authored the 2007 AACRAO publication, The Educational System of France, as well as AACRAO monographs on the educational systems of Tunisia, Mauritania, Yemen and Seychelles. Ms. Freeman was a participant in the 2002 Fulbright Higher Education Administrators program in Germany, the 1999 Baden-Wurttemberg Seminar, and was selected for the NAFSA-OSEAS-State Department Program in Lyon, France in 1998. She is an active member of NAFSA: Association of International Educators where she served as chair of the Recruitment, Admission and Preparation (RAP) Knowledge Community and is the layout and design editor of the RAP newsletter, wRAP Up. She was previously the RAP representative to the NAFSA Subcommittee on Information Management and served as chair of the Web Access Task Force.
Dr. Etilvia Maria Arjona Chang completed her undergraduate studies at H. Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University. Following, she got her graduate degree at Rochester Institute of Technology, the School of Interpreters of the University of Geneva, Switzerland and earned specialization certificates from the State University of Mons, Belgium, the Université de Dijon and the Université Besançon in France. She obtained her Ph.D. from Stanford University's School of Education. Dr. Arjona has served as Director of Translation and Interpretation Studies Divisions at the University of Panama, the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, the University of Hawaii and Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan. She has held a variety of advisory capacity posts at SUNY-Binghamton, Florida International University, Montclair State University, as well as in many other international organizations. In two prior administrations of the Panamanian government, Dr. Arjona served as private advisor and consultant to the First Lady of the Republic. Dr. Arjona has headed the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria la Antigua (USMA) in Panama, and is Director of Education USA Advising Center. Her numerous publications concern mainly Translator and Interpreter training and testing. She has also served as an alternate representative of private universities on the Central American Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CCA).
Laura Macchia Amescua holds a BA in Italian & Special Fields from the University of California, Los Angeles. She lived and worked in Italy for two years teaching English before obtaining a position in the UCLA Undergraduate Admissions Office, where she has also held the positions of International Specialist, Senior Evaluator and DSO.
Bradley L. Spencer has extensive professional experience in the field of international education credential evaluation. He spent over 16 years as a credential evaluator and assistant director in the Office of International and Graduate Admissions at the University of Southern California and 5 ½ years as Director of Evaluations at the Foundation for International Services, Inc. before establishing his own company, e-ValReports, in June of 2000. He has been active in the professional associations having been Chairman of the Admission, Evaluation & Placement Committee (now International Admissions Committee) of AACRAO and Chairman of the Admission Section (ADSEC) OF NAFSA: Association of International Educators. Bradley earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities and a Master of Science degree in Education from the University of Southern California.
Mary Baxton holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Business Administration from California State University, Northridge. She has served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Records at her alma mater, where she managed domestic and international admissions and transfer credit functions. During extensive career in management, she’s been involved with the admission of international students at the undergraduate and graduate level and the evaluation of international credentials. A frequent presenter on international recruitment and admissions topics at AACRAO and NAFSA conferences, Mary chaired the International Issues Committee for AACRAO from 2001-2003, served as the Program Coordinator for International Education from 2003-2006, and was the AACRAO nominee for Vice President of International Education, 2006-2009. She also served a term from 2003-2005 as the NAFSA, Region XII ADSEC/RAP representative, and attended the 2005 Baden-Wurttemberg German Seminar. She has served as the Transfer Credit Practices (TCP) reporting officer for the state of California.