2006.11.12: November 12, 2006: Headlines: COS - Morocco: University Education: International Education: The Herald: Morocco RPCV Lee Pelton is new director of Winthrop's International Center
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2006.11.12: November 12, 2006: Headlines: COS - Morocco: University Education: International Education: The Herald: Morocco RPCV Lee Pelton is new director of Winthrop's International Center
Morocco RPCV Lee Pelton is new director of Winthrop's International Center
The new director of Winthrop's International Center has a comfortable way about him and prefers to be called "Woody," although his list of credentials would indicate more formality. He holds a doctoral degree from George Washington University's National Law Center and practiced international law in Washington, D.C., for eight years. During his high school graduation summer with a family in France, he met his wife, Chris. They went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's in higher education student personnel services. After they graduated, they headed to Morocco for two years with the Peace Corps and taught English in a high school.
Morocco RPCV Lee Pelton is new director of Winthrop's International Center
Center's new director wants to boost international presence at Winthrop
Nov 12, 2006
The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.
Nov. 12--Lee Pelton caught the "international bug" when he was a student, and he intends to spread it throughout the Winthrop University campus and beyond.
The new director of Winthrop's International Center has a comfortable way about him and prefers to be called "Woody," although his list of credentials would indicate more formality. He holds a doctoral degree from George Washington University's National Law Center and practiced international law in Washington, D.C., for eight years.
But in 1992, he opted for what he calls a "lifestyle decision" more in keeping with his Midwestern roots in St. Louis.
He took a post as special assistant to the president for international programs at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan.
"The majority of the students had not traveled outside the U.S.," he said. "I tried to develop a lot of different activities to internationalize the university."
He accomplished goals similar to some he has set for Winthrop: increasing the number of international students on campus, offering more opportunities for students to study abroad, developing an international professor-exchange program and beginning an intensive English language program for students whose first language was not English. The number of international students at Saginaw increased tenfold during his tenure, and students studying abroad grew from a handful to more than 100. The university also introduced an international guest professor every semester.
"One thing Study Abroad does is make you more curious," he said with a smile. "The fallout is that that also makes you a better student."
The surprise benefit is that it opens people to other ways of doing things, he said, and makes them better understand the United States.
"I think a lot of Americans think America doesn't have a culture - - that other people have culture," he said. "You realize how American you are."
He wants students to become as aware of other parts of the world and their importance, as they are of themselves.
His goals include raising the International Center's visibility on campus, making it "more integral to the fabric of the university," and reaching out to Rock Hill's international community.
During his high school graduation summer with a family in France, he met his wife, Chris. They went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's in higher education student personnel services.
Chapel Hill was a sleepy little community in the mid-1970s, he recalls. When they could "scrape together" enough money, they backpacked or Eurorailed abroad.
After they graduated, they headed to Morocco for two years with the Peace Corps and taught English in a high school. Although it was a Muslim nation, the culture was not nearly as conservative as it is today, he said.
In the early 1980s, he became an education adviser with the U.N. High Commission for Refugees in Malaysia. They developed a program in a refugee camp for Vietnamese boat people, improving the language skills of those who had some English so they could teach other refugees bound for the English-speaking world.
The refugees lived on islands off Malaysia's coast, building their own housing from wood on the islands or constructing homes by piling rice bags to create tents.
The primitive lifestyle of Morocco and Malaysia led the Peltons to Washington, D.C., for law school, building a family and international law practice. It gave Pelton the experience he needed to develop expertise in international law, "but I always had higher education in the back of my mind," he said.
The only major parts of the world to which he has not traveled are mainland China and Australia. He has spent most of his time abroad in Asia and Europe with some travel in Africa and South America.
His international law expertise will be helpful at Winthrop, because laws regarding students traveling overseas, both coming and going, have changed since 9-11.
Winthrop has about 130 international students this semester, and Pelton hopes to increase that. The attraction of the United States to foreign students fell after 9-11 and dropped further with anti- American sentiment about the occupation of Iraq, he said.
"To prepare somebody to be an effective citizen and professional in this century, they need to be prepared to work with people different from themselves," he said. "People need global competency."
That would include suggesting more Winthrop departments to encourage Spanish as a minor.
"It is a leg up in a lot of government agencies if you speak Spanish," he said.
Meanwhile, he and his wife are preparing their Rock Hill home for their two sons, who are still in school in Michigan. They will arrive for Thanksgiving.
"It will be the first time they have ever been to this area," he said with eager anxiety. "We are hanging pictures and trying to make it home."
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Story Source: The Herald
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