RIT has been a special place for me to enhance both my own international experiences and even more so those of my students in the School of International Hospitality and Service Innovation.   During many teaching assignments back-and-forth to Croatia, I was able to experience students studying abroad at both campuses.  It was exciting to see students return from Croatia having a new appreciation and understanding of Mediterranean tourism, post-war hotel development, and the role of the European Union in a transitional economy.

As both an educator and a professional I have had a number of international experiences. Together theses inform my way of thinking and teaching. As a professor in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences I bring my experiences in a global society directly into my classroom.

I have been privileged to have a wide variety of international experience throughout my personal and professional life, and to be able to share these experiences with my students.  As a researcher in robotics, a truly global field, I have traveled to conferences in Japan and across Europe, and have co-authored papers with colleagues in Japan and Australia. 

I have taught at RIT’s campuses in Kosovo and Dubai and I have also taught in Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, the Czech Republic, and some other countries. I hope to teach at the RIT campus in Zagreb, Croatia in the future. I have always felt very welcome and appreciated by my International students. Many of them continue to stay in touch with me. The students at RIT’s global campuses are very interested in studying at RIT’s main campus and they want to meet more professors and students from the main campus.