Bullets pierced through the windows of Hayder Assad’s car. Instant messages left on his computer detailed threats of torture and murder. His friends and co-workers were being beaten and killed at an alarming rate. Assad had two options: leave his native country of Iraq or risk his safety.

“I was in severe danger,” he said. “The best decision was just to leave for a while and try to relocate and see what’s going to happen.”

For more than four years Assad worked as a translator for the U.S. Army in Najaf, Iraq. In October 2007, he left his position when violence against translators by Iraqi militants intensified. With the help of a friend, he traveled to the United States and settled in Ithaca. He is now a lecturer of Arabic at Ithaca College.

Assad is one of several international professors who bring their stories from abroad to the college community. This semester’s numbers will not be available until November, but last year 15 “nonresident alien”

faculty taught at the college, according to the Office of Institutional Research.

A “nonresident alien” includes anyone who is not a citizen of the United States and who is in this country on a visa or temporary basis. But many international faculty, like Assad, have permanent residency, which doesn’t factor into that figure.

Tanya Saunders, assistant provost and dean of the Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies, said the presence of international faculty enriches the campus environment.

“Our institutional mission emphasizes the preparation of students for citizenship and service in the global community,” she said. “International faculty are critical to that.”

Though the college does not specifically market to international faculty, Saunders said, it “seizes opportunities to bring them here when they present themselves” and encourages visiting scholars to teach courses related to their experiences abroad at the undergraduate or graduate level.

A passion for writing motivated Matt Mogekwu, associate professor and chair of the Department of Journalism, to leave his home in Nigeria in 1973 to study journalism at the University of Wisconsin. Mogekwu said many people from developing countries view the United States as an “educational utopia.”

“Students will die to come here and go to school,” he said. “Professors will die to come here and teach.”

Freshman Monica Watson said American students are fortunate to have an international presence in the classroom. Watson, who is in Mogekwu’s Journalism Research class, said Mogekwu opens students to new social and political perspectives.

“Professor Mogekwu broadens people’s minds to understand others cultures better,” Watson said. “He gets to telling about different stories about different places he’s been. ... It brings a whole other element to class.”

Phoebe Constantinou, assistant professor of health promotion and physical education, and a native of Cyprus, said though most students appreciate the presence of international professors, some are skeptical of their “competency level” and ability to teach.

Constantinou and Srijana Bajracharya, associate professor of health promotion and physical education, are conducting a survey about faculty who speak English as a second language. So far, they have asked nearly 600 students and professors if ESL faculty — and in particular, their accents — impact a student’s learning experience.

Bajracharya, who lived in Nepal until 1980, said because of this lack of exposure, students are often unsure how to communicate with a foreign professor.

Constantinou came to the United States in 1981 without speaking any English. She said though she now speaks proficiently, she still makes grammatical errors. Some students, she said, are not always the most forgiving of her mistakes.

“A student wrote in an evaluation, ‘I don’t think I should be penalized for grammatical mistakes when the teacher makes them herself,’” she said.

Watson said though it often takes time to adapt to a particular professor’s accent, students should consider it an added benefit to learning.

“Once you’re out of college you’ll have to work with people with accents and will have to understand and interpret,” she said.

Traevena Byrd, assistant counsel and director of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Compliance, said there seems to be less student contact with international faculty at the college than on other campuses.

“I am concerned because all students really benefit from a global perspective,” she said. “There’s progress to be made on retention of international faculty. We have to make sure we’re supporting them.”

Constantinou said greater interaction between international professors would facilitate their integration into the campus community. She said the college should schedule events specifically for international faculty.

Byrd said similar programs are already in place for African, Latino, Asian and Native American faculty, but the college does not have programs that create a network of support specifically for international faculty members.

Mark Coldren, associate vice president of human resources, said a new staff member will join his office in October to coordinate programs and discussions for faculty and staff so they can address professional concerns. One of the primary goals is to increase employee retention, he said, especially among international professors.

Coldren said the college’s retention rates are at an “acceptable level” but could always be improved.

Junior Jeffrey Bush, who is in Assad’s Elementary Arabic class, said the college should specifically focus on the retention of international professors because understanding different perspectives is important, especially now, when many Americans are particularly biased against foreign countries and peoples.

“Part of the reason I’m taking Arabic is because when people think about the Middle East and Iraq, they just think of terrorism,” he said.

Assad will pursue his doctorate at the college starting in January and said he intends to live in Ithaca and teach at the college for a few years. He said if the situation in Iraq was safer, he would return to his native country to visit friends and family.

He said his experience so far at the college has been a positive one and has felt welcomed and accepted by both colleagues and students.

“Everybody is trying to help me,” he said. “I’m very thankful to be here. And I’m proud of myself for getting here.”

Getting to know you

Senior Writer Liz Getman takes a glimpse into the lives of four international faculty members at Ithaca College.

Hayder Assad, lecturer of Arabic

Working as a translator for the U.S. Army in Najaf, Iraq, Hayder Assad was accustomed to witnessing the violence that accompanies war. But when he and his family were targeted for execution by Iraqi militants, Assad gave up his position and left his country.

“I thought, ‘I have to continue to work with the U.S. to help the U.S. and Iraq,’” Assad said. “My family had different ideas. Everybody started telling me this is not going to work.”

With the help of a friend, Assad found safe travel to the United States and settled in Ithaca last October. He began teaching Arabic in the college’s Department of Modern Languages and Literatures this semester. He plans to pursue his doctorate in culture and communication at the college in January.

“I’m very thankful to be here,” he said. “And I’m proud of myself for getting here.”

Srijana Bajracharya, associate professor of health promotion and physical education

After teaching in her native country of Nepal for six years, Srijana Bajracharya said she initially felt shocked and a bit overwhelmed by the typical American classroom when she first came to Ithaca College seven years ago.

“[Nepalese] students are very disciplined compared to students here,” Bajracharya said. “Here you can come to class and bring your food and put your feet up. That doesn’t happen in Nepal.”

Being called by her first also took some getting used to.

“I never called my teachers by name,” she said. “I even find it hard to call [administrators] here by name. That culture is hard to give up.”

Bajracharya said though the relaxed demeanor of most American college students is still bothersome at times, she connects with them by discussing her experiences in Nepal.

“I just tell my story to students and they look at me like I’m from another world. I enjoy doing that,” she said. “They learn a lot just by telling my story.”

Phoebe Constantinou, assistant professor of health promotion and physical education

In 1981, Phoebe Constantinou arrived in the United States to attend Queens College in New York City. Having lived in a tiny little village up in the mountains of Cyprus for most of her life, she said her first taste of the Big Apple was a bit overwhelming.
   
“There were no colleges and universities in Cyprus back then,” she said. “I had to learn English when I got here.”

After learning the language and attending college, Constantinou returned to Cyprus and taught physical education at a small grammar school for seven years. Her time there inspired her to initiate an exchange program in 2005 for Ithaca College student teachers studying physical therapy. Each year, the program allows four students to live in Cyprus for eight weeks, Constantinou said, and teach at the same grammar school where she was a teacher.

“[The students] have a great time,” she said. “They really love it and learn a lot about teaching.”

Matt Mogekwu, associate professor and chair of the journalism department

After teaching in South Africa, Sierra Leone, Swaziland and his home country of Nigeria, Matt Mogekwu decided to change courses — and countries — and work as a professor in the United States.

Mogekwu, associate professor and chair of the journalism department, taught at Bowie State University from 2004 to 2008 before arriving at Ithaca College this year. He said in many African universities professors are often viewed as inaccessible and do not “come down to the level of students,” but his style of teaching is much more student-oriented.

“I like to impress upon students that I am there for them,” Mogekwu said. “I’m a mentor for them.”

He said the college’s academic community provides for such a student-professor connection, which creates a conducive learning environment for students.