Vanderbilt’s eighth cohort of Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows will visit Eastern Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains April 7-9. The fellows will be enriching their nine-month immersion into educational policy and practice at Vanderbilt by participating in Dollywood’s annual Festival of Nations.
The 11 international scholars are principals, school superintendents, government education officials and nonprofit managers from around the world who were selected for professional and cultural exchange at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development. This year they hail from Pakistan, Botswana, South Sudan, Lesotho, Morocco, El Salvador, Jamaica, Venezuela, Malawi and Russia. The fellows have been participating in professional development at Vanderbilt since August 2016 and will finish out the program and return home in June 2017.
In addition to visiting Dollywood, the fellows will hike in the Smoky Mountain National Park and spend time with colleagues at associate campus partnership institution, Volunteer State Community College. Vol State will host the fellows at its Livingston campus, approximately 100 miles east of Nashville. While away from Vanderbilt, the fellows will further develop the action plans they will implement when they return to their home countries.
“This trip encapsulates what this year has been focused on: diversity, mutual exchange, and expanding horizons,” said Nancy Dickson, director of the Hubert H. Humphrey program at Vanderbilt. “Our fellows have learned so much about education within the United States, and this gives them the chance to reflect on their journey so far and prepare them for the journey they will undertake once they return home.”
For program information, call (615) 390-0812.