Each year, Middlebury Institute students in the International Education Management (IEM) program spend their final semester working full time with an international education organization. In fall of 2021, 19 students, including Katriya Burkdoll MPA/MAIEM ’21, Eleanor Vogt MAIEM ’21, and Katie Wells MAIEM ’21, took on projects across the globe, spanning locations as near as Sacramento and as far away as France.
Eleanor Vogt MAIEM ’21 completed her practicum with the Study Abroad Office of the University of California San Diego (UCSD), which she called a dream position and a leading factor in why she chose the International Education Management degree. During her time at UCSD, Vogt performed risk analysis, performed evaluations of the university’s virtual internship programs, developed training materials like a handbook on intercultural competence, and executed predeparture sessions for students studying abroad.
The IEM program prepared me immensely for this experience, and it felt like I was able to add value to their office based on the information and resources that I obtained throughout my time at MIIS.
Vogt’s time at UCSD did not end with her internship. Since graduating from the Institute, Vogt has gone on to work full time as an undergraduate advisor at the university’s Department of Psychology.
Katriya Burkdoll, a 2021 graduate of the joint MPA/IEM program, volunteered as a consultant for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), where she designed an after-school program for refugee high school students in the Sacramento area. Her work for the Refugees Empowering Peers program included designing a theory of change and program logic model, a 16-week curriculum, an implementation guide for program mentors, outreach flyers for stakeholders, and a program evaluation for the program’s pilot project. The program has now secured a school and grant funding for implementation.
This consultancy-like role turned out to be the perfect position for me to apply skills acquired in my graduate program, expand my learning and program design experience, and also meet the requirements for both my MPA practicum and my IEM practicum.
Burkdoll has since gone on to work for Cultural Vistas in Washington, D.C., where she joins fellow alum Wenonah Echelard MAIEM ’22.
Katie Wells MAIEM ’21 completed her practicum at Syracuse University’s Strasbourg Center in France, where she worked as a student services graduate intern responsible for advising study abroad students and cofacilitated a first-year seminar for Discovery Strasbourg students. She has since been offered a full-time position as an international program advisor at Syracuse University’s main campus International Office in Syracuse, N.Y., where she advises potential and enrolled students in the university’s Strasbourg and Madrid programs.
More than 20 percent of practicum students were abroad in fall 2021, and more than 25 percent of practicum roles were either full time or permanent positions, or led to permanent offers by the end of the semester.
MA in International Education Management
International Education Management Practicum
| by Katherine Punteney
Four alumni were recently selected as recipients of the prestigious RISE Fellowship, the flagship diversity, equity, and inclusion program of NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
| by Jason Warburg
With increasing numbers of students seeking flexibility, the Middlebury Institute recently announced a new online MA in International Education Management that allows students to complete their master’s degrees at their own pace without moving to Monterey.
| by Katherine Punteney and Emily Cipriani
Kaitlin Huemer MAIEM ’19 and her colleagues won an international education case study competition at the NAFSA all-region summit.
