Master of Arts in International Education (On Campus)

Faculty

Sora Friedman
PhD, George Mason University
Distance Education Certificate, University of West Georgia
MIA, School for International Training
BA, University of Maryland

Associate Professor
Chair, International Education
Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management

Sora Friedman has worked in the field of international education for 27 years, focusing on the administration of adult exchanges in public diplomacy, international training programs, high school exchanges, and international policy advocacy. She joined the SIT Graduate Institute faculty in 2005 and was an adjunct faculty member for three years before that. Sora holds a doctorate in cultural studies, as well as a master’s in international administration and a certificate in distance education. In addition to teaching and advising, she coordinates the administration of SIT’s International Education low-residency program and serves as chair of NAFSA’s Trainer Corps. Before joining SIT, Sora taught at George Mason University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Lauder Institute, and in Mexico and Chile. She has lived in Bolivia, Colombia, and England, and is fluent in Spanish. Outside of work, Sora enjoys contra dancing, listening to live folk music, cooking with local Vermont foods, and working in her yard.
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Linda Drake Gobbo
MBA, University of Massachusetts
MEd, Springfield College
BA, Hartwick College

Professor
International Education
Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management

A former dean of SIT Graduate Institute and member of the faculty since 1984, Linda Drake Gobbo teaches courses and advises students in international education and management in both the online and face-to face programs. She has travelled as faculty with SIT Graduate Institute programs, and has also provided administrative support from the home campus to various SIT Study Abroad programs in such areas as crisis management, health, student development, and professional staff support. In 2011 she led a group of 25 graduate students on a short-term program to Turkey; she took a similar group to Morocco in 2010.
Linda served as the first elected chair of the Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship Knowledge Community in NAFSA and recently concluded a term on its subcommittee on information management. She was lead designer and trainer of NAFSA’s original Academy for International Education and a member of its New England regional team. Linda’s consulting, presentations, and writing have addressed the topics of program and curriculum design, strategic planning, internationalization, and multicultural group dynamics. Her geographic interests are mostly in Europe, and her other areas of professional interest include organizational change, and helping youth make educational decisions. She was a board member for her local Montessori school for several years, where she guided strategic planning efforts. Linda holds two master’s degrees, an MBA from the University of Massachusetts and an MA in student personnel administration from Springfield College. Her personal areas of interest include rowing (as spectator and participant), and getting twins through college.
Richard Rodman
PhD, Georgia State University
SCT, MAEd, Murray State University
AB, Indiana University

Professor, International Education
Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management

Richard Rodman, who holds a doctorate in comparative international education, teaches graduate courses in international education, program planning and project design, social change, and intercultural communication. Richard has a special interest in theory-to-practice modeling in international and experiential education, non-formal education, and intercultural communication. A current research focus is the internationalization of higher education campuses in the US and other countries.
Richard has extensive experience in community development and education work in Lesotho and South Africa, and has tackled assignments in more than 50 other countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. Before joining the Graduate Institute faculty in 2001, he served as an academic dean at Warren Wilson College, where he introduced the college’s broad-based education abroad program. He also directed international education and global leadership development in more than 60 countries for the Presbyterian Church (USA). Richard remains active in the Comparative International Education Society and NAFSA, and serves as a consultant to colleges, organizations, and programs in the US and abroad. He is a retired civil affairs officer in the US Army Reserve.
Kevin Brennan
PhD, University of North Carolina
MA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MA, School for International Training
BA, Boston University

Visiting Associate Professor of International Education
Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management

Kevin Brennan earned his PhD in education from the University of North Carolina, where he taught in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies and served as managing editor of The High School Journal, a publication of UNC Press. He has served as an adjunct member of the SIT Graduate Institute faculty since 2001, teaching a variety of international education and management courses, and is joining the faculty in a full-time capacity for the 2011-2012 academic year. From 1996-2000, he was the regional director of African programs with SIT Study Abroad, prior to which he had been an academic director with SIT Study Abroad programs in Kenya and South Africa. Dr. Brennan has also been a consultant to the United Nations Centre Against Apartheid, the African-American Institute, SIT's Center for Intercultural Programs, and other organizations and institutions. Dr. Brennan has also worked with a variety of local organizations in southeastern Vermont, focusing on economic development, program planning, and budget mapping activities. He is currently the executive director of Community Action Brattleboro Area (CABA), for which he was one of the principals in the creation of Vermont’s first dedicated evening child care business.
Janet Y. Thomas
PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Ed.M., Widener University
BA, Norfolk State University

Visiting Associate Professor
International Education

Janet Thomas received her PhD in educational policy studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She also has an Ed.M. in educational psychology from Widener University and a BA in the sociology of education from Norfolk State University. Her areas of focus are international educational policy, international educational development, program design, program evaluation, educational assessments, and educational administration. She has international educational experience in southern Africa and the Middle East. Dr. Thomas has held positions at Zayed University in Dubai, the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, and Johns Hopkins University. She is a member of the Comparative and International Education Society, the American Educational Research Association, Phi Delta Kappa International Honor Society in Education, and Kappa Delta Pi international Honor Society.
William Hoffa
PhD, University of Wisconsin
MA, Harvard University
BA, University of Michigan

Adjunct Faculty
Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management

Bill Hoffa holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin. He spent his early academic years as a professor of English and American Studies at Vanderbilt University and Hamilton College and was founding director of the American Studies program at Hamilton. He also was a senior Fulbright lecturer at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at the University of New Mexico. Bill spent eight years as executive director of the Scandinavian Seminar study abroad organization, followed by five years with the Council on International Educational Exchange. His other positions include study abroad advisor at Amherst College and international education editor for Transitions Abroad magazine. Bill has taught and advised students in the SIT Graduate Institute’s Masters Program in International Education for over a decade. He is a founding board member of the Forum on Education Abroad, on which he served two terms. In 2005 he received NAFSA’s Homer Higbee Award for distinguished service and mentoring colleagues. He has authored and edited many publications, including NAFSA’S Guide to Education Abroad for Advisers and Administrators (2005), A History of U.S. Study Abroad: Beginnings to 1965 (2007, Journal of Study Abroad), and A History of U.S. Study Abroad: 1965 to the Present (2010, Frontiers).
David Shallenberger
PhD, Fielding Institute
MBA, Stanford University
BA, Pomona College

Adjunct Faculty, International Education
Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management

David Shallenberger joined the SIT Graduate Institute’s International Education program in 2006, after four years serving as director of European and Middle Eastern studies for SIT Study Abroad. He also served for one year as dean of SIT Graduate Institute. David holds leadership positions in professional organizations such as NAFSA and the Forum on Education Abroad, which reflect his interest in applied research, advocacy, and professional ethics. His previous positions include 20 years teaching global studies, intercultural communication and research, ethical leadership, and multicultural awareness; developing and coordinating travel study programs for adults in Europe, Asia, and Latin America; directing a BA program in Hong Kong; and expanding understanding of “the other.”
Before coming to SIT, David held faculty and administrative positions at DePaul University and the University of Redlands and taught at Elmhurst College, Mallinckrodt College, and National University. He has given workshops on adult learning, cross-cultural communication, and multicultural issues at universities in El Salvador, Poland, Romania, and China, and is the author of Reclaiming the Spirit: Gay Men and Lesbians Come to Terms with Religion (Rutgers University Press, 1998).

View Dr. Shallenberger's Research