OIP - Key Persons


Artesia Mckeever

Job Titles:
  • Office Services Clerk

Carol Baldwin

Job Titles:
  • Manager, Marketing and Communications, Educational Outreach and International Programs

Catherine Franklin

Job Titles:
  • Project Coordinator, Educational Outreach and International Programs

Chamundeswari Gowrishankar

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Director

Christi Laginess

Job Titles:
  • Academic Coordinator and ELI Instructor

Cole Johnson

Job Titles:
  • Program Specialist

Darran Hendricks

Job Titles:
  • Designated School Official

Dr. Ahmad Ezzeddine

Job Titles:
  • Vice President for Academic Student Affairs and Global Engagement
  • WSU 's Senior International Officer
Dr. Ahmad Ezzeddine is the Vice President for Academic Student Affairs and Global Engagement at Wayne State University. Dr. Ezzeddine is responsible for the university's efforts to support students throughout the student lifecycle, from their initial engagement with Wayne State to graduation and beyond. His portfolio includes Enrollment Management, Student Success, Educational Outreach, the Transfer Student Success Center, community college partnerships and satellite campuses, the Office of International Programs, and several student-facing academic services offices, departments and programs within the Office of the Provost. Additionally, he oversees Executive and Professional Development, the office responsible for the university's training, consulting, and continuing education services. As WSU's Senior International Officer, Dr. Ezzeddine leads the university's global engagement which includes "Global Learning for All," an initiative to develop students' global competencies by providing them with experiences locally, virtually, or abroad. He has developed partnerships with institutions in the Middle East, Latin America, Korea, India, and China which have led to innovative initiatives and new educational and research opportunities for students and faculty. A member of the Board of Directors of NAFSA: Association of International Educators since 2019, he was elected NAFSA's Vice President for Scholarship and Institutional Strategy in 2020. A firm proponent of the crucial role that universities play in driving economic and community development, he is responsible for forging linkages with organizations in the City of Detroit and the region and supporting community engagement and workforce development initiatives. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities' (APLU) Commission on Economic and Community Engagement. Named one of Crain's Detroit Business "40 Under 40" Class of 2007, Dr. Ezzeddine has been committed to serving the community since his arrival to the Detroit area more than 30 years ago. He is the current Chair of the Board of Directors of ACCESS, the largest Arab American community nonprofit in the United States. Education Ph.D., business and industrial engineering - Wayne State University MBA, Wayne State University BA, computer information systems, Wayne State University

Dr. Bo Shen

Dr. Bo Shen received his Ph.D. in Kinesiology from the University of Maryland at College Park in 2004, and his research focuses on students' motivation, curriculum and instruction in physical education, and physical activity interventions. He has had over 110 presentations at national and international conferences and has authored over 70 data-based research articles published in primary journals in the field of education including physical education. Shen was the first recipient of Helen M. Heitmann Young Scholar Award by Curriculum and Instruction Academy of National Association for Sport and Physical Education in 2007 and is an active Fellow of Research Consortium in the Society of Health and Physical Education. He currently serves as the president of International Chinese Society of Physical Activity and Health.

Dr. Cassandra Denise Davis

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Professor
  • Assistant Professor of Marketing at Wayne State University
  • Member of the
Dr. Cassandra Denise Davis is an assistant professor of marketing at Wayne State University. Her research broadly encompasses the domain of consumer well-being, with research spanning topics such as nutrition, aging, warning labels, mental health, telehealth, and social media influencers. Davis has a particular interest in stigmatized and stereotyped identities, particularly when these identities negatively affect consumer health and safety. She has published in journals such as the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and the Journal of Business Research. She has also received grants from organizations such the American Marketing Association and U.C.L.A.'s Morrison Family Center for Marketing and Data Analytics. Davis is a member of the Ph.D. Project, an organization that seeks to increase workplace diversity by increasing the diversity of business school faculty and has recently co-edited a special issue on diversity and marketing education in the Journal of Marketing Education.

Dr. Helen Durand

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Professor
  • Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering
Dr. Helen Durand is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Wayne State University. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UCLA, and upon graduation joined the Materials & Processes Engineering Department as an engineer at Aerojet Rocketdyne for two and a half years. She earned her M.S. in Chemical Engineering from UCLA in 2014 and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UCLA in 2017, and subsequently started at Wayne State. Durand's research interests are in the area of process systems engineering with a focus on process control.

Dr. RAS Mikey Courtney

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Professor
Dr. RAS Mikey Courtney is an Emmy award-winning international performing artist whose life mission is to spread cultural knowledge to communities across the globe through sharing his gift of the arts. He is an assistant professor at Wayne State University who holds a BFA in dance, an MA in ethnochoreology and a PhD in arts practice research. His research explores ‘movement as cultural knowledge' and investigates the significance of embodied cultural expressions in artistic praxis. Dr. RAS Mikey Courtney continually strives to use the arts as a bridge for cultural understanding.

Dr. Ronald E. Brown

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor
Dr. Ronald E. Brown is an associate professor of political science whose teaching and research interests intersect. He strongly believes that teaching Introduction to American Politics contributes to the health of our democratic republic. In addition, Religion and Politics, Detroit Politics, and African American Politics expose students to the ongoing quest for procedural and substantive justice by civil rights activists and scholars. Brown is a board member and participant in civic literacy programs sponsored by Citizen Detroit, a nonprofit organization that hosts workshops on topics such as gerrymandering, the City Charter, local, state, and national elections. An international or global democratic perspective is an integral part of courses taught by Professor Brown. Illustrative examples include writings and analyses of Frederick Douglass's anti-slavery speeches in Great Britain in the 19th century, as well as comparison and contrast between black power struggles in the United States, Great Britain, and South Africa. Moreover, Professor Brown's prior study abroad courses identifying and describing faith-based politics in South Africa, Turkey, and Ghana increased student knowledge of the power of government(s) to control the political agenda. Ronald Brown's recent research projects are with his son, Associate Professor R. Khari Brown, Department of Sociology, Wayne State University. He is the co-co-principal investigator of the 2020-21 National Politics Study, and the Detroit Area COVID-19 Study, co-funded by the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. He is the co-author along with R. Khari Brown, and James S. Jackson, Race and the Power of Sermons on American Politics, University of Michigan Press, 2021.

Dr. Sandra M. Gonzales

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor
  • Associate Professor of Bilingual
Dr. Sandra M. Gonzales is an Associate Professor of Bilingual/Bicultural Education in the Division of Teacher Education at Wayne State University. She received her master's and doctorate in International Educational Development from Columbia University, Teachers College. Her research interests include: Latinx identity and belonging; K12 school reform efforts; culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and learning practices; and the revitalization of elder and Abuelita epistemologies, such as testimonio, stories and storytelling centering on Detroit's Chicanx, Mexican and Indigenous Mexican community. Gonzales coordinates the Native Development Network and Learning Community, a student success initiative for Native American students and allies at Wayne State University. She is also the faculty PI for the College of Education Upward Bound program, a TRIO pre-college initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

Dr. Valerie Sweeney Prince

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor

Fareed Y. Shalhout

Job Titles:
  • Associate Director of Student Programs for Educational Outreach
  • Associate Director of Student Programs, Office of International Programs and Educational Outreach
  • Associate Director, Student Programs, Office of International Programs and English Language Institute
Fareed Y. Shalhout is the Associate Director of Student Programs for Educational Outreach and the Office of International Programs at Wayne State University. In this role, Fareed is responsible for the developing, planning, and executing federally funded short-term programs through sponsors such as the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State, Institute of International Education (IIE), and International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX). Fareed manages a budget portfolio for these programs.

Gail Hill

Job Titles:
  • Advisor
  • Student and Scholar Advisor

Huajing Maske

Job Titles:
  • Assistant Vice President, International Partnerships

Jessica Hoffmeyer

Job Titles:
  • Project Coordinator for Educational Outreach
  • Project Coordinator, Educational Outreach and International Programs
Jessica Hoffmeyer is the project coordinator for Educational Outreach and the Office of International Programs. Jessica coordinates short-term international programs and international student recruitment. Jessica has been a member of the Wayne State community since 2015 when she came to WSU for her undergraduate degree. She has since graduated with her BA in history and worked in multiple roles across campus as both a student assistant and full time staff member. Education BA, history, Wayne State University

Jessica Martinez

Job Titles:
  • Advisor
  • Student and Scholar Advisor

Kelli Dixon

Job Titles:
  • Director

Kevin Deegan-Krause

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Political Science and Fellowships Faculty Coordinator

Lashara Montgomery

Job Titles:
  • Program Specialist

Laurel Bassett ELI

Job Titles:
  • Instructor

Lawanda Hill ELI

Job Titles:
  • Student Services Coordinator

Michael Klug

Job Titles:
  • International Teaching Assistant ( ITA ) Testing and Training Coordinator and ELI Instructor

Michelle Gardner

Job Titles:
  • Advisor
  • Student and Scholar Advisor

Nicole Coleman

Job Titles:
  • Director of Global Studies and Coordinator of Faculty Engagement and Global Learning
  • Member of Wayne State 's Department of Languages
Nicole has been a member of Wayne State's Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures since August 2015 where she teaches all levels of German language, seminars on human rights and literature, and Global Studies classes. Her main research interests include 20th and 21st century German literature, intercultural literature including but not limited to migrant and minority literature, and the intersection of literature and human rights. Her book, "The Right to Difference: Interculturality and Human Rights in Contemporary German Literature," was published in October 2021 by the University of Michigan Press. It analyzes the relation of alienness and human rights violations in intercultural German literature since 1990. She examines in what ways alienness is constructed to allow for the violation of specific groups of people and demonstrates to which extent literature can negotiate, overcome and reconcile human rights abuses as well as the underlying constructions of alienness.

Rebecca Journigan

Job Titles:
  • Director of Operations for Academic Student Affairs and Global Engagement at Wayne State University
  • Director of Operations, Academic Student Affairs and Global Engagement
Rebecca Journigan is the director of operations for Academic Student Affairs and Global Engagement at Wayne State University. In this role, she is the chief of staff to the vice president, managing the daily operations and supporting the strategic goals of the division.

Sara Kilany

Job Titles:
  • Program Specialist

Siera Bacon

Job Titles:
  • Program Specialist

Sofia Malynowskyj

Job Titles:
  • Advisor
  • Student and Scholar Advisor

Zane Harvey

Job Titles:
  • Project Coordinator for Educational Outreach
  • Project Coordinator, Educational Outreach and International Programs
Zane Harvey is a project coordinator for Educational Outreach and the Office of International Programs. Zane is the primary point of contact for prospective international students. He assists in the execution of an effective recruitment strategy and coordinates outreach efforts for applicants. Before joining full-time in May 2023, he worked on several OIP initiatives as a program assistant since 2017. Previously, Zane was a technician in the University Advising Center working under the Advisor Training Academy and Pre-Medicine and Health Science Center, where he produced STARS 2.0 advising training videos, student engagement initiatives and managed social media accounts. While pursuing his degrees at Wayne State, Zane worked with the Office of New Student Orientation and the Student Center Administration. Education BA, political science, Wayne State University BA, communication, Wayne State University