The founder of Education Abroad office at UW was awarded for going above and beyond call of duty to make international education valuable at the university.
Ruth Shepherd, the assistant director of the Education Abroad office at UW, was recognized at the NAFSA conference, that took place in Denver this November, for her outstanding contribution to the field.
After twelve years of work as an international educator she received the Bruce Tracy Award. This recognition brought recognition not only to Shepherd, but also to the University of Wyoming.
“I’m glad that there is an organization like NAFSA, which is the institution for international educators, that recognizes the hard work of somebody like Ruth,” director of Global Engagement office, Carrie Hesco said. “We, here at UW, appreciate and value her contribution in the engagement of UW in the international educational network. But it’s nice for a bigger organization to recognize that hard work too.
Ruth Shepherd started her job as an international educator at UW twelve years ago and was the first person to discover and develop an office for study abroad programs in the university.
“She came in and it was just her alone in the new office. Ruth has built it up to the point where we are at now,” Hesco said. “Before our office developed, she was the only responsible person on campus for bringing students abroad to UW, and sending local students to foreign countries every year. She was the only responsible for bringing those students to the office along with getting scholarships. Ruth, basically, built that all herself.”
At the beginning of her career on international education field, Shepherd joined NAFSA, an organization that unites and helps professionals in this field all across the country.
“No-one remembers what NAFSA stands for – it’s been around for too long. No longer these initials would be meaningful, but it is professional organization for all education abroad professionals throughout the country,” Shepherd said. “So, I joined that organization when I first started working here. They have program, called “The Academy”, which helps to train people like myself into this position, so that we are aware of the standards and practices within this field. It gave me all the necessary tools to be able to do this job within a rubric of what U.S State Department of Education expects from universities.”
Shepherd was nominated with the Bruce Tracy Award during the annual conference of NAFSA: Association of International Educators in Denver.
“Usually, it’s conference of the Region 2, which consists of eight western states: Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Wyoming. This conference was combination of three regions – 1, 2 and 4. So, it was much larger conference than we normally have,” Hesco said. “There are all kinds of topics, covered at the conference – recruiting international students, keeping students safe while they are studying abroad, having fundraisers for offices like ours, and so on. And prior to the conference NAFSA nominated the professionals in the field in different categories.”
“The Bruce Tracey Award was originally an international education award and was intended to be given to someone who has gone above and beyond call of duty to make education abroad matter at their university,” Shepherd said. “This year they recognized my contribution at the UW Education Abroad office over past twelve years.”
This award brought recognition not only to Shephard as the professional international educator, but all the university.
“I believe, it reflects on the University of Wyoming, because throughout the time NAFSA allowed me to have professional trainings, be aware of the best practices in the field, what is changing as the world situation, how to adapt our practices and advise students who are going abroad,” Shepherd said. “So, I think, this recognition will give the same opportunities available to my colleagues, who we hire to work in this field.”
