by Jenna Somers
Karen Legrand returned to Guatemala with "new eyes" after her experience in the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development in 2020-2021. In the highlands of Guatemala, she created a violence prevention program, followed by a vocational program and safe living house for women survivors of violence. Her work is modeled after Thistle Farms in Nashville, Tennessee, a haven that offers vocational training and employment to women survivors of trafficking and violence.
During her time as a Humphrey Fellow, Legrand collaborated with Thistle Farms. Now she sees herself as a leader who can affect change in her home country. "I give myself more grace and compassion now," she said. "I see and value myself and my contributions. Being in the American culture gave me a huge vaccine of optimism."
Legrand was one of more than 65 Humphrey Fellowship alumni from the past 15 cohorts who "returned"-through virtual means-to Vanderbilt this summer to attend online reunion seminars hosted by Peabody College on July 16 and 18. Alumni from across the globe joined the seminars to reconnect, discuss educational leadership ideas, and reflect on how their program experience has empowered them to make meaningful changes as educational leaders in their home countries.
At the end of each seminar, Humphrey Fellowship alumni were invited to participate in a study led by Catherine Gihlstorf, a doctoral candidate in the online Leadership and Learning in Organizations program at Peabody College. Gihlstorf's capstone project examines the impact of the Humphrey Fellowship Program on the work of Fellows within their home countries. She interviewed more than a dozen of the reunion participants, including Legrand and Khan Zada, an alumnus of the 2015-2016 Humphrey Fellowship cohort.
Zada is an early childhood educator and researcher from Pakistan, who is now a Ph.D. student at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. A decade ago, as a Humphrey Fellow, he developed a plan to strengthen early educators' professional development opportunities in the Chital Region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in Northern Pakistan. Overcoming financial hurdles, he collaborated with international non-governmental organizations and the regional government to improve access to professional development for educators at 30 schools. His program continues to grow with a goal of reaching 300 regional schools.
Zada credits his experience at Vanderbilt for giving him confidence in his ideas and the support network to make them a reality. Of his time at Vanderbilt, Zada said, "It gave me local networks but global resources."
Bridget Gorokhovsky, director of the Humphrey Fellowship Program at Peabody, was delighted to see that even Fellows from 15 years ago came back to share how much the program influenced their lives. "It is a pleasure to be a part of the Humphrey Fellowship family and to be able to reconnect with everyone even though many years have passed," Gorokhovsky said.
During the reunion seminars, Humphrey Fellowship alumni listened to keynote addresses by Xiu Cravens, professor of the practice of leadership, policy, and organizations and director of the International Education Policy and Management M.Ed. program, and Nancy Dickson, assistant dean of Peabody Global Initiatives.
Following the keynotes, alumni joined breakout sessions based on educational topics, cohort years, and regional connections. Over the two days, they discussed five breakout session topics:
- Education leadership and policy: shaping systems and decisions that drive educational change
- Teacher training and professional development: strengthening the skills and resilience of educators
- Generative AI in education: friend or foe?
- Educational technology and digital learning: using technology to expand access, personalize learning, and drive innovation
- Early childhood education and literacy: foundational learning as a cornerstone of long-term success
Regional breakout groups allowed Fellowship alumni from similar continents and cultures to connect and discuss education issues related to their regions of the world. The regional breakout groups were Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, Asian and Pacific, Latin America and Caribbean, and Europe.
