About The Abroad View Foundation

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NOTE: The Abroad View Foundation is experiencing a period of restructuring during 2010 and has temporarily halted its activities. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

Contact

The Abroad View Foundation
P.O. Box 745
Bennington, VT 05201
United States
802-442-4827
info@abroadview.org

Mission

The Abroad View Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides college students and recent graduates with opportunities for discourse and initiatives that encourage intercultural and global citizenship development. Its key activities are running the Abroad View Foundation website and producing Abroad View magazine.

All Foundation activities aspire to:
• Promote education abroad, global awareness, and cross-cultural understanding
• Foster open-minded exploration and inform, challenge, and expand students’ views of the cultures, environments, and conditions of the world

Staff

Sherry Schwarz: President and Founder
Lena Watts: Creative Director

AbroadView.org
Chris Norris: Developer and Programmer
Ian McBride: Programmer Analyst

The development of the Abroad View Foundation website was made possible by Middlebury College, which institutionally hosts AbroadView.org. The site was designed by Becca Paden, of PDI Creative, and developed by Middlebury College Manager of Database Applications and Systems Chris Norris and Programmer Analyst Ian McBride.

Abroad View Foundation Sponsors

Abroad View Foundation Editorial Board Members

Strategic Partners

Americans for Informed Democracy (AID), a non-partisan organization that brings the world home through programming on more than 1,000 U.S. university campuses and in more than 10 countries.

The Forum on Education Abroad serves the field of education abroad by establishing standards of good practice, promoting the integration of education abroad into high-quality curricular development and academic design, encouraging outcomes assessment, conducting research and data collection, and engaging in advocacy of education abroad.

Middlebury College:
Abroad View is deeply grateful to Middlebury, a small liberal arts college that has reached far beyond the borders of the Green Mountains in which it is nestled to touch the globe. Its roots spread the world over as students, faculty, and alumni work to promote peace, sustainability, and social justice abroad and at home. The College has a long-standing international focus and is "a place where education reflects a sense of looking outward, and a realization that the traditional insularity of the United States is something of the past." Its students learn "to see beyond the bounds of class, culture, region, or nation."

As the College's central purpose states: "a Middlebury education is precisely to transcend oneself and one's own concerns—and this transcendence may come for some through the study of other cultures, as it did for alumna Sherry Schwarz and her peers who produced the early editions of Abroad View (1998-1999), when it was a magazine for the Middlebury College community:

Abby Stoller, Alanna Shanley, Amari Parker, Anna Tiven, Chiara Rosati, Christian Botting, Emily Friedberg, Hanna Pfeifle, Holen Miles, Ivan Davtchev, Jennifer Diggins, Jennifer Pearsall (Editor-in-Chief, Fall 1999), Josh Raufman, Julie Scofield, Justine Kwiatkowski, Kerri Noto, Kristine Palmero, Laurie Manus, Lena Khor, Lena Watts, Lisa Labonte, Mary Catherine Maxwell, Meeghan Murphy, Megan Mabee, Nadya Tkachenko, Okomboli-Ongonga, Ramya Chari, Rose Mellion, Sara Stewart, Sarah Pearsall, Sarah Waybright, Scott Leach, Seth Kroop, Shannon Shaper (Editor-in-Chief, Fall 1999), Slava Bazhin, Tara Lohan

While Abroad View was a Middlebury-campus publication, the magazine was made possible by the Office of Off-Campus Studies, under the directorship of Dr. David Macey; The Middlebury Language Schools; the Student Activities Office; and the Career Services Office. Ben Block and Megan Sowards, then editors of The Middlebury College Campus, provided significant production assistance and the use of their office space and production equipment. Stacey Woody Thebodo, Assistant Director of Middlebury College Off-Campus Studies served as Abroad View's first adviser and remains on The Abroad View Editorial Board to this day. She is also the Middlebury College Liasion to Abroad View.

In 2000, Middlebury College Professor of Political Science Eric Davis, Secretary of the College Emeritus, and Dr. Macey assisted Sherry in transforming Abroad View from an on-campus publication into an intercollegiate magazine for the field of study abroad.

Middlebury College alumni Mary Catherine Maxwell, Meeghan Murphy, and Lena Watts remained part of the Abroad View magazine staff after graduating college in 2000. They are Active Directors on The Abroad View Foundation Board.

In 2003, when The Abroad View Foundation was established as a Vermont incorporated not-for-profit organization, Middlebury College became an official Founding Sponsor with the support of Dr. Macey, Thebodo, Director of Internal Communications Robert Keren, Provost and Executive Vice President Alison Byerly, Monterey Institute of International Studies President and Middlebury College Professor Emerita Clara Yu, President Ronald Liebowitz, and President Emeritus John McCardell.

These administrators further supported Middlebury's sponsorship of The Abroad View Foundation in 2007. Joining them in the decision to make this possible were: Vice President for Communications Michael McKenna, Vice President of the Language Schools and Schools Abroad Michael Geisler, Dean of International Programs Jeffrey Cason, Associate Director of Off-Campus Study Liz Ross, Director of College Communications Maggie Paine, Director of Interactive Communications Timothy Etchells, and Manager of Database Applications and Systems Chris Norris.

Special thanks to Dr. David Macey for having the vision for Middlebury College to host The Abroad View Foundation website and for providing the support, commitment, and leadership to make this possible; Director of Institutional Collaboration and Marketing Jamie Northrup for assisting in the planning process and strategic development of the Abroad View Foundation website; Dean of International Programs Jeffrey Cason, Associate Director of Off-Campus Study Liz Ross, and Assistant Director of Middlebury College Off-Campus Studies Stacey Woody Thebodo for their significant contributions to the conceptual and content development of The Abroad View Foundation website; Manager of Database Applications and Systems Chris Norris and Programmer Analyst Ian McBride for their technical oversight, programming, and management of The Abroad View Foundation website; Media Services Specialist Scott Witt for video and audio production assistance; Education Technology Specialist in Digital Media Joseph A. Antonioli and his team for enabling the Abroad View Foundation website to host streaming video and audio content.
Community & History

The Abroad View Foundation is more than just an organization; it's a community of individuals who believe in international education as a means to global understanding and peace. These globally minded students and alumni, teachers, and education abroad professionals share in common a passion for and commitment to making a positive difference in the world for the betterment of the planet and its people.

Through dialogue, collaboration, and action, this community has given life to many of the ideas and activities that Abroad View now represents. Countless individuals have shaped and enriched Abroad View's development, not the least of whom are the thousands of students who have generously shared their international stories and experiences with Abroad View because they care about the world, especially as they have come to understand it while studying, working, traveling, or volunteering abroad.

In addition to recognizing Abroad View's student contributors, Sponsors, and Editorial Board Members, there are a few individuals and institutions to which we offer special thanks:
- GoAbroad.com:
  Jason Coppage and Troy Peden, co-founders of GoAbroad.com, generously developed and hosted Abroad View's first website from 2000-2003. Chris Kitzman assisted in managing the website.
- Lexia International Study Abroad:
  Edmund S. Harvey, Executive Director, and Ned Quigley, Director of University Relations and former Executive Director of Communications at Middlebury College, provided critical guidance and assistance to Abroad View in preparing the structure of The Abroad View Foundation prior to its non-profit incorporation. Mr. Quigley, who has extensive and diverse experience in higher education, continues to advise Abroad View.
- Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
  In 2003-2004, VLA facilitated the pro-bono assistance of the global firm LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP on behalf of The Abroad View Foundation. Paul P. Chen, a partner in LeBoeuf Lamb's New York office and attorney John Demasco generously gave of their time and expertise to enable The Abroad View Foundation to become a tax-exempt 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
- Dickinson College
  Under the leadership of Dr. Brian Whalen, Associate Dean and Executive Director of Global Education, Dickinson College hosted Abroad View's website from 2003-2006. Webmaster Forest Brown managed the website during these years.
- The IFSA Foundation:
  The Abroad View Foundation was awarded a grant from The IFSA Foundation in 2005 to establish a student editorial staff for Abroad View magazine at Northwestern University and The Medill School of Journalism.
- Northwestern University and The Medill School of Journalism
  Dr. Jennifer Hirsch, a lecturer in the Northwestern University Department of Anthropology and the Director of the Chicago Field Studies Program, was a former Abroad View Editorial Board member. Dr. Hirsch made significant contributions to the editorial development and management of Abroad View, including the creation of and planning for the Abroad View Northwestern University Student Editorial Staff. With an institutional commitment from then Medill School of Journalism Dean Loren Ghiglione and Northwestern University Study Abroad Office Director Bill Anthony, a competitive application process was established for selecting Medill School of Journalism students and returned study abroad students to serve in Abroad View editorial and production positions.
- Transitions Abroad
  Clay Hubbs, founder of Transitions Abroad, was a former professor and study abroad adviser at Hampshire College. Dr. Hubbs was particularly knowledgeable about educational travel options, working abroad, and living abroad. In 1977 he created Transitions Abroad as a publication dedicated to work, study, living, and cultural immersion travel abroad. Its purpose was the dissemination of practical information leading to a greater understanding of other cultures through direct participation in the daily life of the host community.
  
  Shortly after founding Abroad View, Sherry Schwarz befriended Dr. Hubbs, who remained a mentor to her until his death in March 2007. Dr. Hubbs entrusted Sherry with the role of editor and publisher of Transitions Abroad in 2003, because he believed in Abroad View's mission "to promote global education and cross-cultural understanding among students." This was Dr. Hubbs' mission when he founded Transitions Abroad, which grew into a well respected and widely read bimonthly magazine that included not only students but all who travel to learn. Transitions Abroad is no longer in print as of January 2008, however Dr. Hubbs's son, Gregory Hubbs, created a Transitions Abroad webzine and he built and runs TransitionsAbroad.com, the Internet's most comprehensive portal for work, study, travel, and living abroad. It continues to carry on the work of Dr. Hubbs, with its impressive depth and quality of articles, resources, programs, and links.