IEM Practicum with AIRC, 2017
1/2017- 6/2017

As the Spring 2017 Graduate Practicum Consultant with the American International Recruitment Council, I had the opportunity to work for a prominent organization in the international education field. AIRC is the leading U.S.A.- based organization in international student recruiting and provides the only certification and best practices for international student recruiting agencies. The organization is based in Bethesda, MD and counts over 270 US higher education institutions and 70 international agencies as its members. AIRC features only 3 full-time staff members and my supervisors, AIRC Certification Director Jennifer Wright and AIRC Executive Director Mike Finnell immediately treated me as a full-time employee. As a result, I was able to contribute many of the skills and expertise I gained at MIIS to the organization’s resources and mission. My time with AIRC was a unique opportunity to operate in high-level operations and meetings among international education and higher education leaders in the U.S.A. and abroad, and I am very grateful to have had this experience as I continue my career in international education.

During my time with AIRC, I created and developed a number of resources including best practices, official statements, recruiting toolkits, certification research, social media initiatives and marketing plans and materials. I even was afforded the opportunity to represent AIRC at the 2017 NAFSA conference in Los Angeles and the 2017 AIEA conference in Washington D.C. My most important contribution came in the form of an innovative professional rubric that I conceived and created. The rubric document is meant for agents and U.S.A.-based admissions professionals to self-evaluate their working relationships, and it is the first-ever resource that evaluates this connection. I collaborated with a number of senior-level education administrators as well as highly-regarded representatives from leading international agencies on this project and have gotten amazing feedback since its release. The rubric was presented at the NAFSA conference and is now available to AIRC members on the organization’s website. Being able to contribute to a leading organization as a practicum student was a tremendously satisfying and motivating experience and I am very grateful to IPL for making it possible!

TaTalking with prospective agent member at the NAFSA conference in Los Angeles.