The APA Advisory Board is a committee of highly experienced advisors representing a variety of professions and industries. Members are composed of faculty, education abroad practitioners, academic advisors, institutional coordinators, business leaders, and other important stakeholders from the various countries in which we operate. The APA Advisory Board members play a critical role in evaluating the ongoing quality and impact of APA global education programs and oversee our academic and programmatic developments by assisting APA in continuously improving our students’ international learning experiences.
The Advisory Board will provide advice in the following areas:
- APA’s services regarding program design, quality assurance, planning and evaluation, and academic and curriculum integration.
- Student-centered matters related to education abroad programs such as risk management, security concerns, and health and safety issues.
- APA’s brand awareness and both new and ongoing collaboration with our university partners.
As part of the Advisory Board’s dedication to our growth and success, it holds quarterly meetings. Our advisors have an opportunity to visit our global destinations to evaluate and advise on how APA programs are designed and can be improved. We are truly grateful for their support.
Gerald Walton Fry
Professor
Dr. Gerald Walton Fry
Professor | Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development | College of Education and Human Development | University of Minnesota
My background is Amish, although as a city-reared Kansas boy I was the only member of my extended family who didn’t speak Amish. That may be what prompted my interest in learning languages. I studied abroad as an undergraduate in Germany, taught in the Peace Corps in Thailand, and did fieldwork in Costa Rica on the relationship between education and national development. I eventually obtained my doctorate in international development education from Stanford, with a focus on Southeast Asia. Later, as head of the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Oregon, I continued to be particularly interested in education and development issues in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. I enjoy moving, changing, and taking on new challenges. I have a total of approximately 13 years of fieldwork experience in mainland Southeast Asia over a period of six decades and am fluent in Thai and Lao. I’d like to see teaching about Asia improved in public schools, and to that end have collaborated with the Asia Society in New York.
In 1994-1995, I had the opportunity to spend a sabbatical doing fieldwork in Laos as a team leader for an Asia Development Bank (ADB)-funded education reform project. The project involved practical efforts to improve the quality of education through reforms, such as training educators and producing new textbooks. I also served as team leader for an ADB-funded educational finance and management study in Thailand providing the research base for Thailand’s major education reform. In 2002 I was asked by the ADB to prepare a synthesis report on education reform in Thailand.
Since 1993, I have been regularly taking study groups to Southeast Asia. I have led four University of Minnesota Global Seminars in Thailand and Laos. In the fall of 2008, I received an award from the Learning Abroad Center for promoting diversity in study abroad. I have also taken groups to Southeast Asia for Stanford and the East-West Center and took a Fulbright group to Cambodia.
In 2006-2007, during mysabbatical in Japan. I did the research for the basic reference book on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which was published in the fall of 2008 as part of a series on global organizations.
From 2008-2009, I assisted the UNESCO Office for Asia and Pacific with two projects: 1) a study of education and development in Thailand and 2) a comparative study of secondary education in China, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Lao PDR.
I also had a major research grant with the late professor R. Michael Paige looking at the long-term impact of study abroad on global engagement. This project was funded through the International Research Title VI program of the U.S. Department of Education and was titled Beyond Immediate Impact: Study Abroad for Global Engagement. Also with Dr. Paige, I published a major monograph for the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) on how study abroad transforms careers, world views, and outlooks on life, based on a major research project funded by CIEE.
In August 2009, I gave a presentation (in collaboration with a CIDE graduate student) at the International Convention of Asian Studies (held in Korea) on the complexities of understanding cultures that are similar such as Japanese and Korean and Thai and Lao. At their most recent convention at Leiden University in the Netherlands in July 2019, I presented a paper on the evolution of inequality in Thailand.
In 2013, I completed the Historical Dictionary of Thailand, a major reference work on all aspects of Thai society. In 2018 I completed Education in Thailand: An Old Elephant in Search of a New Mahout, a comprehensive book on education in Thailand published by Springer.
I enjoy teaching and have developed a number of innovative courses. I’m pleased to be living in an urban area with such large and diverse Asian and African diasporas. I also served for many years on the Board of the Directors of the Hmong Cultural Center and served as Chairman of the Board for one term.
[ DEGREES ]
- – BA, Stanford University
- – MPA, Princeton University
- – PhD, Princeton University
Catherine Wang
President of Shenzhen Horn Audio
Catherine Wang
President of Shenzhen Horn Audio | Shenzhen Horn Audio Co.,Ltd
Catherine Wang is the President of Horn Audio since the company was built. She is the founder of the company, which was established in 1997, and she is committed to the development of total solutions and applications for acoustic products. Horn Audio is recognized in China as a National High-Tech Enterprise promoting innovative technology. The company headquarters is located in Shenzhen, with production sites in Shenzhen, Nanchang (Jiangxi Province), and Liuyang (Hunan province), and in Haiphong, Vietnam. With branch offices in the USA, Japan, Taiwan, and Europe, Horn provides integrated acoustic product solutions to its customers as well as ODM/OEM services.
Quan Le
Professor
Dr. Quan Le
Economist | Educator | Fulbright Scholar | YSEALI | Higher Education | United States and Vietnam
Dr. Le, an educator and economist, has had more than 20 years of teaching, research, and administrative experience in higher education in the United States and Vietnam. Currently, he is a consultant for local and foreign universities on curriculum development and internationalization strategies. He was a Director of YSEALI Academy at Fulbright University Vietnam; Director of the Business Administration Program, College of Business and Management at Vin University; and a Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Circular Economy Development at Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City. Before returning to Vietnam, he was the Eva Albers Professor of Economics and Director of the International Business Program at Seattle University. He was a Fulbright Scholar in 2006 and 2016, and a Fulbright Specialist in 2017 at three Vietnamese universities by the United States Department of State. He teaches primarily in the areas of international economics, macroeconomics, and economic development. His research is in the areas of entrepreneurship, governance, public health, and sustainability. His work has appeared in the International Review of Financial Analysis, the Journal of International Money and Finance, and the International Journal of Entrepreneurship Behavior & Research, and Public Health.
[ DEGREES ]
- – BA, University of California, Berkeley
- – MA, University of San Francisco
- – PhD, Claremont Graduate University
Sheldon Shaeffer
Senior Education Consultant
Dr. Sheldon Shaeffer
Former Head of the Education Program at UNICEF HQ and former Director, UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, Bangkok
Former Head of the Education Program at UNICEF HQ and former Director, UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, Bangkok
Dr. Sheldon Shaeffer provides education consultancy services, focused on South and Southeast Asia, in areas such as inclusive education, child-friendly schools, early childhood care and education, teacher management and development, language policies in education, and multi-grade teaching. During recent years, he has worked as a consultant with UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank, AusAID/DFAT, ADB, ILO, SEAMEO, the Asia-Pacific Network on Early Childhood Education, and the Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development. Dr. Shaeffer was the Director of UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education from 2001 to 2008, Head of Education at UNICEF New York from 1998 to 2001.
[ DEGREES ]
- – BA, Stanford University
- – PhD, Stanford University
Yongling Gorke
Professor
Dr. Yongling Gorke
Assistant Director of International Education, Office of International Programs | Adjunct Professor of Chinese, Department of Languages and Culture Studies | University of North Carolina Charlotte
Dr. Yongling Gorke is the assistant director for international education in the Office of International Programs and an adjunct professor of Chinese in the Department of Languages and Culture Studies at UNC Charlotte. At the Office of International Programs, she assists the senior international officer on a variety of initiatives such as the strategic plan, and she collaborates on cross-unit programs such as the Student Learning Outcome project, Globally Networked Learning, and the Global Learning and Internationalization Institute (GLII).
She has taught various Chinese courses at UNC Charlotte and led multiple short-term study abroad programs such as Experiencing Chinese Culture through Historical and Modern Banking. Yongling’s professional expertise includes designing, implementing, and evaluating study abroad programs, curriculum development, and teacher training in Chinese language and culture, and in international education and exchange. She has received multiple federal grants as a principal investigator for STARTALK teacher summer institutions and NSLI-Y (National Security Language Initiative for Youth).
In the Charlotte community, Yongling serves as the chair of the Charlotte-Baoding sister city relations committee, part of the Charlotte Sister Cities organization. She also co-leads a community group “Meet-Up Chinese in Charlotte” that organizes both in-person and online Chinese language and culture events.
A native of Shanghai, China, Yongling has studied on three continent—in China, the UK, and the US. She speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, English, and German.
[ DEGREES ]
- – B.A. Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- – M.Ed. University of Liverpool, UK
- – PhD University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Ping Neo
Associate Engineer
Pingchien (Ping) Neo
Director of International Engineering Programs | Associate Engineer | Affiliations Division of Student Affairs, Staff | Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering | University of Florida
Pingchien Neo was born and raised in Malaysia and moved to the United States to pursue a BS in Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and subsequently obtained her MS in Nuclear Engineering at ETH Zürich in Switzerland.
Since then, Pingchien has worked and studied in Asia, Europe, and the US. The exposure to different countries and cultures gives her a unique perspective on intercultural personal and professional relationships. In her work, she enjoys the opportunity to use her multilingual skills in English, Malay, Mandarin, and German.
Pingchien hopes to leverage her own international experiences to encourage engineering students to think and act globally. She is passionate about the need for more globally-minded engineers to keep up with the increasingly connected environment. Since then, she has advised numerous engineering students and helped them to gain international experience through study, research, and internship opportunities. She has worked with engineering faculty to develop thematic faculty-led programs and expanded the program offerings in the college. She has also advised joint study abroad programs between HWCOE and other colleges at UF. She hopes to continue to develop meaningful, and intentional programs for students to grow professionally and personally through international experiences.
[ DEGREES ]
- – BS, University of California, Berkeley
- – MS, ETH Zürich
- – MS, University of Florida
Jennifer Creamer
Director of Global Engagement
Dr. Jennifer Creamer
Anthropologist | International Educator | Director | Center for Global Engagement | Robert Morris University
Jennifer Creamer is the Executive Director of the Center for Global Engagement at Robert Morris University where she oversees education abroad, international student services, and campus internationalization. Creamer has a long personal and professional relationship with Japan. After spending the summer with a host family near Yokohama with Youth for Understanding in high school, Creamer decided to pursue Japanese language and area studies in college. She returned to study in Japan during college (Kyoto) and graduate school (Yokohama), and also taught English as a Second Language in Japan. As part of a sister city-university partnership, Creamer designed and hosted short-term education abroad programs for Japanese college students and helped coordinate pre-departure programs for American high school students heading to Japan. Currently, Creamer serves on the Board of the Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania and enjoys volunteering with their Japan in the Schools program to share Japanese culture with K-12 students. A cultural anthropologist by training, Creamer has conducted qualitative research on the perceived impact of study abroad on the academic and career trajectories of Japanese women. A member of the NAFSA: Association of International Educator’s Trainer Corps since 2010, she is an active trainer and presenter at national international education and anthropology conferences.
Creamer currently serves on the NAFSA national conference committee as the Content Chair for NAFSA’s 75th Anniversary conference in Washington DC in 2023. She received her BA in anthropology and East Asian studies, and her Ph.D. in cultural anthropology.
[ DEGREES ]
- – A.B., Colby College
- – PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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