Who's Who

New Appointments - Office of Study Abroad

Kathleen Fairfax was appointed director of the Office of Study Abroad in July 2001. Her prior experience includes stints as study abroad director at two other schools, Purdue University (1995-2001) and Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas (1993-1995). She was also a foreign service officer for a number of years. Fairfax received her master's in political science/international relations from Indiana University in Bloomington and her bachelor's in political science and Spanish from DePauw University.

Fairfax is working with her staff and with faculty and administrators university-wide to achieve MSU's goal of sending 40 percent of its students on high-quality and affordable study abroad experiences by 2006. Her decision to come to MSU was based on her desire to contribute significantly to such an ambitious study abroad program. Currently, MSU sends nearly 2,000 of its own students, as well as more than 200 students from other institutions, on over 175 programs in 57 countries.

Fairfax replaces Acting Director Ed Ingraham, whose current assignment in International Studies and Programs includes work on a study abroad impact assessments project and follow-up on the October 2001 national conference on Study and Learning Abroad.