Press Release

Contact: Debra Humphreys
Vice President for Communications
and Public Affairs
202.387-3760 ext. 422
humphreys@aacu.org

Professors Mehrdad Madresehee and Virginia Chappell Appointed Faculty Fellows for Spring Semester

Madresehee will work with the International Economic Development Council and Chappell with Search for Common Ground

Washington, DC—February 15, 2004—The Institute for Experiential Learning (IEL) and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) announced the appointment of two new faculty fellows for the spring 2004 semester. Professors Mehrdad Madresehee and Virginia Chappell will serve as part of the Faculty Fellows Internship Program sponsored by IEL in cooperation with AAC&U.

Dr. Madresehee, professor of economics at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, will intern at the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), an organization devoted to providing leadership and excellence in economic development. Through his internship, Dr. Madresehee seeks to enhance his research capacity by collaborating with professionals at IEDC and to gain knowledge and skills that will make him a more effective classroom teacher.

Born in Iran, Dr. Madresehee received both his B.S. and M.S. in economics in Iran. In 1982, he received another M.S. in economics from the University of Idaho and ultimately attained a Ph.D. from Washington State University. He has taught at Lycoming since 1986 and has chaired the economics department there since 2002. His research interests include labor economics, regional economics, international economics, and the economics of gender. Dr. Madresehee was recently recognized by his peers for his excellence in teaching as a recipient of the 2003 Constance Cupp Plankenhor Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence.

Dr. Chappell, associate professor of English at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will intern at Search for Common Ground, a non-profit organization devoted to transforming the way the world deals with conflict. Through her internship, Dr. Chappell hopes to learn more about the experiential learning process itself so that she may better prepare her students for the transition from the classroom to the workplace. She also hopes that her internships will help her to plan initiatives for Marquette’s Center for Teaching and Learning where she will coordinate cross-curricular conversations for faculty involved in experiential education.

Dr. Chappell received her bachelor’s degree in American civilization from Brown University before receiving her M.S. in journalism at Columbia University. She then received both her M.A.T. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington. She has worked in a variety of different business sectors, including both professional journalism and service projects in Haiti and Thailand. As a faculty member at Marquette, she has continually emphasized her belief in service learning, and to that end has proposed several initiatives to enhance the universities programs in this area.

“The Faculty Fellows Internship Program is such a powerful learning experience for the faculty who participate,” said Mary Ryan, executive director of IEL. "Faculty connect with their discipline in ways that have reinvigorated their teaching.”

The Faculty Fellows Internship Program enables faculty to broaden their professional, disciplinary, and personal horizons, reinvigorating their own work as scholars, teachers, and educational leaders. Faculty Fellows spend one full semester in the Washington, DC area immersed in a challenging professional environment, such as a government agency, non-profit organization, national association, museum, foundation, or other site. In collaboration with local leaders, participants investigate applied areas of knowledge, develop skills, and explore the systems and policies of their host organizations or agencies.
Through these professional internship experiences, Faculty Fellows return to campus with new insights about how the aims of liberal education can be enhanced by high quality experiential learning programs.
For information about the program, see http://www.ielnet.org/faculty_fellows.html.

About the Institute for Experiential Learning

IEL is a recognized leader in the field of experiential education, creating Washington, D.C. - based learning opportunities for U.S. and international students. Its highly successful academic programs include the Embassy and Diplomatic Scholars Program, which arranges student internship in embassies and international organizations, and the Capital Experience, which places interns at sites such as the National Institutes of Health, the Smithsonian Institution, and legislative offices on Capitol Hill."

IEL is committed to individual development through excellence in experiential education.

About AAC&U

AAC&U is the leading national association devoted to advancing and strengthening liberal learning for all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Since its founding in 1915, AAC&U’s membership has grown to more than 1000 accredited public and private colleges and universities of every type and size.

AAC&U functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging links among presidents, administrators, and faculty members who are engaged in institutional and curricular planning. Its mission is to reinforce the collective commitment to liberal education at both the national and local levels and to help individual institutions keep the quality of student learning at the core of their work as they evolve to meet new economic and social challenges.

Information about AAC&U membership, programs, and publications can be found at www.aacu.org.