Piper Center staff member named Fulbright Scholar
St. Olaf College Piper Center for Vocation and Career staff member Kirsten Cahoon ’98 will travel to Berlin this fall as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar to study Germany’s higher education system and bring what she learns back to the Hill.
“I hope to increase my understanding of cross-cultural models for career development, internships, research, and other high-impact practices,” says Cahoon, who is the senior associate director of employer and alumni relations in the Piper Center.
The International Education Administrators (IEA) seminars through Fulbright will allow Cahoon and other U.S. international education professionals and senior higher education officials to travel across the country to create empowering connections with the societal, cultural, and higher education systems of Germany.
“I’m looking forward to spending time with the cohort of 15 higher education administrators — international education specialists, development staff, and career services professionals — who also place a high value on international exchange,” Cahoon says, “as well as immersing myself in the German culture and learning more about Germany’s long-standing expertise in embedding high-impact practices into various forms of higher education.”
During their two-week stay in Germany, grantees have the opportunity to learn about the host country’s education system and establish networks of U.S. and international colleagues. The goal of the program is to have grantees return to campus with enhanced abilities to serve and encourage international students and prospective study-abroad students.
“While in Germany, I hope to develop new opportunities for the Piper Center to collaborate with the German department,” Cahoon says, “and to create professional connections that will help St. Olaf enhance internationalism on and off campus.”