Gaia Awarded Fulbright Honoring International Education Administrators

The director of the Office of International Education at Emory & Henry College has been granted a Fulbright award for international education administrators, allowing her to participate in a two-week seminar in France during the next academic year.

During the seminar, Dr. Celeste Gaia, who has led the College’s international education program since 2007, will participate in briefings led by international educators and administrators as well as leading education experts and government officials. She also will examine international education operations at numerous French institutions of higher education.

The award is a timely opportunity for Gaia to enhance international education efforts at Emory & Henry as the institution transitions to university status in the fall. “We plan to expand our Office of International Education to the Center for International Education, including revised strategic goals to enhance study abroad opportunities, faculty exchanges, diversity in study abroad, and recruitment of international students,” Gaia said.

Gaia said she is eager to learn more about higher education in France and how culture and history have informed educational approaches. She also is interested in learning more about the role of international education and study abroad in French universities.

“Learning more about French culture and education will help me to be a more effective advisor, and I will share what I learn with our faculty, particularly in the World Languages Department, who also advise students for study abroad,” Gaia said.

Gaia began teaching at Emory & Henry College in 1997 as an assistant professor of psychology. Her interest in social psychology and culture led her to international education. Early in her career she developed a course on social psychology of the Holocaust. In 2007, she was named Emory & Henry’s director of international education and developed the College’s first Office of International Education.

E&H President John W. Wells praised Gaia for her leadership of international education at Emory & Henry, noting its growing importance to Southwest Virginia.  “Often in rural regions, college students are not encouraged to think of themselves as citizens of the world,” Wells said. “Celeste has worked throughout her career at Emory & Henry to expand the perspectives of college students from rural areas and to think about the immense possibilities such perspectives bring to their lives.”

Gaia’s career has been marked by other honors, including the Exemplary Teaching Award given by The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church, the James A. Davis Faculty Award, the Excellence in Teaching Award, the Appalachian Center for Civic Life Hope Award, and the Inclusion & Dialogue Center Award for Social Justice.