{ Hello }

Having lived and worked in Bulgaria for eight years, I can appreciate many of the concerns that international students have as they consider applying to a liberal arts college hundreds (or thousands) of miles from home. I'm excited be a part of Oberlin College's continuing efforts to further internationalize the campus. Maybe you would like to be a part of that effort as well?

A liberal arts graduate of Case Western Reserve University, I earned my M.S. and Ph.D. in economics from Purdue University and was a long-time faculty member at a number of highly selective liberal arts colleges - including Oberlin! During my time in Bulgaria I served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the American University in Bulgaria. In this role I had many opportunities to promote the liberal arts model of education to students and even the Bulgarian higher education community. I hope you'll give me the opportunity to help you appreciate all that an excellent liberal arts degree such as those conferred at Oberlin can do for you.

{ Entries }

11.17.09				Choosing Colleges vs. Choosing Fishmongers There are a few differences between the liberal arts colleges and fish markets, though. Liberal arts colleges generally smell better, for instance.
09.06.09				Greetings from Ecuador Oberlin parents are just amazing. When I called to offer to take some Oberlin parents in Quito out for coffee, they instead invited me into their home for a delicious dinner.
09.03.09				Latin America - Day 2, with a nod to our chemistry faculty If you are interested enough to know how clouds form, then you might also be interested to know about one of the really cool pieces of equipment that we have in Oberlin's chemistry department - a custom-built turbulent flow chemical ionization mass spectrometer.
09.02.09				International Travel - Latin America Day 1 Last year Oberlin students did more than 60,000 hours of community service - that we know of. None of it was required.
08.27.09				International Orientation Our new crop of international students arrived late last week and began international orientation Saturday evening.
08.19.09				On the Road Again You can look forward to seeing the detailed itineraries up on the website soon, but I thought I'd give you a sneak preview of our international travel plans.
08.16.09				Worldwide dining Oberlin style Without ANY planning on my part to "eat exotic," here is what my wife and I did to travel around the world just in the last 9 days.
08.03.09				China and the Oberlin Admission Process We are aware of the general educational system in China and have tried to look at the whole picture of all of the students that apply.
07.30.09				Diversity and Admissions Diversity is not the result of any one or two students that we have at Oberlin, but rather the result of the integration of the unique perspectives of all of the students that we have on campus.
05.29.09				International Diversity in the NBA This post doesn't really have much to do with Oberlin College, but after last night's thrilling Cleveland Cavaliers win over the Orlando Magic, I got to thinking about how it isn't just college campuses where one can find international diversity.
05.26.09				Remembering Memorial Day For those of you abroad who don't know, this past weekend was a holiday in the US: Memorial Day.
05.19.09				Commencement Speakers (not as dry as it sounds!) As we approach Oberlin's Commencement Ceremony, I couldn't help but think about Commencement speeches that I've heard over the years.
05.12.09				One Year Ago Today Today I'd like to take a moment to think about the natural disaster that struck China one year ago and reflect on the many Chinese people who devoted days and weeks of their lives to trying to make a difference in the aftermath.
05.01.09				International Enrollment as of Decision Day So far 31 foreign A&S students have confirmed. This represents the most in Oberlin College history!!
01.04.09				Studying Overseas as a Growth Opportunity I know that my leaving home and traveling to that wonderful country changed me in important ways too numerous to even count. At the very least, the assumptions I left with about my country and its relationship to the rest of the world changed in profound ways.
11.06.08				Oberlin Admissions Interviews International Style When it comes to international students, almost no students have interviews. But what is an interview like when I do actually find time to offer one?
10.16.08				Early decisions with an Ecuadorian Twist To assure that we have great diversity when we are done with the final crafting of our international class and that we have also chosen the individual applicants who are most likely to thrive, we use a three-decision process for early decision applicants.
10.15.08				The Amish and Languages in American (and at Oberlin) Last night I visited the United World College in Costa Rica and had the pleasure of speaking with a prospective student from Spain. Xiana is a native speaker, not of Spanish, but of Galacian. This got me thinking about differences in language diversity within countries.
10.13.08				CLE as an Airhub & Environmental Stuff at Oberlin Environmentalism is probably the single most prominent cause on campus at the moment.
09.29.08				Dining with family in London Monday, September 29, 2008 1:45 pm EST Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean
09.26.08				Learning geography the hard way Friday, September 26, 11:00 pm Islington, London, UK
09.23.08				What's in a name? A college by any other ... Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 6:16 am United World College of the Adriatic, Duino, Italy
09.21.08				St. Stephen and St. Peter Sunday, September 21st, 6:40 pm Fiumicino Airport, Rome, Italy
09.21.08				Obies in China and Great Circles Sunday, September 21st, 5:00 am Domus Maxima B&B, Rome, Italy
09.19.08				Seoul, Sushi, and Shanghai Friday, September 19, 11:50 pm Pudong Airport, Shanghai, China
09.17.08				Sleepless over the Yellow Sea 3:54 am, September 17th, 2008 Asiana Airlines Flight 724, Somewhere over the Yellow Sea
09.16.08				Life in the Fast Lane Hong Kong Airport
09.14.08				Street Cricket in Singapore Here in this tiny island nation Chinese, Indian, Malay, Europeans, and many others seem to live together in a harmony not often seen.
09.13.08				My First Blog! The flight here was the second of 14 flights that I'll be taking over the next 17 days as I literally circle the world to spread the word about Oberlin College.