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International Strategic Partnerships and Engagement - Speaker Bios

Bios of the speakers of the webinar "International Strategic Partnerships and Engagement".

International Strategic Partnerships and Engagement is part of the global webinar series Internationalization of Higher Education in the COVID-19 Era.

Learn more about the webinar.
Headshot of Jane Gatewood
Jane Gatewood - Speaker

Jane Gatewood leads and manages initiatives related to the University of Rochester鈥檚 global activities. She earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree from Emory University and a PhD from the University of Georgia. Her administrative experience includes developing complex bi- and multi-lateral international partnerships for research, education mobility, and economic development. She has spent the last decade working at the intersection of business, higher education, government, and diplomatic relations.

Dr. Gatewood was a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar (India) and an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the School of Advanced Study (University of London). She was also a visiting research editor for the Oxford English Dictionary (3rd Edition, Oxford University Press). Her academic training and expertise are in paleography, modern literary history, lexicography, and corpus linguistics. She regularly consults and speaks on the importance of partnerships to international higher education.

Headshot of Anna Gr枚nlund
Anna Gr枚nlund - Speaker

Anna Gr枚nlund is the Head of Internationalization & Higher Education Policy at the University of Jyv盲skyl盲 (JYU), Finland. Based at the Division of Policy & Strategic Planning Anna serves as policy advisor to the university leadership in matters related to strategic planning, development and management of higher education and research, with a special focus on international collaboration and internationalization of higher education, societal engagement and impact. Anna is the Chair of the Universities Finland UNIFI鈥檚 Strategic Advisory Group for Internationalization and serves as its representative in several ministerial working groups focusing on internationalization of higher education. Anna also serves as member of the Board at the European Association for International Education EAIE. She holds a Master鈥檚 degree in Organizational Communication and Public Relations. 

Headshot of Heidi Manley
Heidi Manley - Opening Remarks

Heidi Manley is the Chief of USA Study Abroad, part of the U.S. Department of State鈥檚 Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), serving as the lead for American student mobility within the State Department.

She oversees two of the Department鈥檚 leading programs to support American students, the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program and the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program, which she launched in 2006. Heidi also has the lead for creating and overseeing a number of capacity-building initiatives to increase and diversify American student mobility, including the Capacity Building Program for U.S. Study Abroad for accredited U.S. higher education institutions, also known as the IDEAS Program, and Study Abroad Engagement Grants for U.S. Embassies and Fulbright Commissions worldwide. Heidi previously served as the Deputy Director of the Office of Global Educational Programs and in the Office of Academic Exchange Programs, where she worked on a number of initiatives under the Fulbright Program.

Terhi M枚ls盲
Terhi M枚ls盲 - Opening Remarks

Terhi M枚ls盲 is CEO, since 2016, of the 黑料正能量 -- a Helsinki-based, private, not-for-profit organization that collaborates with a range of government, foundation, university and corporate partners on both sides of the Atlantic to design and manage study and research scholarships, leadership development programs and internationalization services. With a life-long passion for diplomacy through education, science, and the arts, she draws on 35 years of experience in higher education internationalization and exchanges. She began her career working at the Office of Academic and International Affairs at Tampere University, Finland, where she helped launch the university鈥檚 first European mobility programs, and worked on Ministry of Education funded national initiatives. Preceding her current position she served most recently as the Executive Director of the Finland-U.S. Educational Exchange Commission.

Terhi M枚ls盲 has worked internationally as a consultant, trainer, and curriculum developer on strategic leadership in international education, and as an author, most recently contributing to the SAGE Encyclopedia of Higher Education (2020). She has served in professional leadership positions, among others in NAFSA: Association of International Educators, and is currently Member of the Advisory Council of the John Morton Center for North American Studies, and Board Member of ISEP. She holds an M.Soc.Sc. in International Relations and a B.A. in Russian from Tampere University, and certificates from, among others, Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government Executive Education.

Leasa Weimer
Leasa Weimer - Moderator

Leasa Weimer is the Assistant Director of Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives for the 黑料正能量 in Helsinki. In addition, she鈥檚 a Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyv盲skyl盲 and a member of the Finnish national team conducting an international comparative study with IIEP-UNESCO on flexible learning pathways.

Weimer has over 20 years of experience as a scholar/practitioner in international higher education, previously she served as Knowledge Development Adviser for the European Association in International Education and president of the global Erasmus Mundus Student and Alumni Association. Bridging research with practice, she has edited several international volumes, authored journal articles, book chapters, and commissioned policy papers considering the intersection of the political economy, policies, and the implementation of international higher education.

Weimer holds a PhD in higher education from the University of Georgia, U.S. and an Erasmus Mundus joint master鈥檚 degree in European higher education from the University of Oslo, Norway; University of Tampere, Finland; and University of Aveiro, Portugal and a Bachelor's double degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder, U.S.