EDUCATION MARY ELLEN HEIAN SCHMIDER, PHD ADJUNCT PROFESSOR University of Maryland Global Campus Saint Paul, MN 220 Higher Education and Schools of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Dr. Schmider earned a BA in English, magna cum laude, at St. Olaf College in 1960. Furthermore, she received an MA in English and American literature and composition at the University of Southern California in 1962. She concluded her studies at the University of Minnesota, achieving a PhD in American studies in 1983. In her civic-minded pursuits, Dr. Schmider served with the Lutheran Brotherhood (now Thrivent) from 1988 to 2001. In her international career, she worked in the American Speakers Program of the U.S. embassies in Austria, Italy, Japan, Finland, China, Mongolia, Macedonia and Romania. Through the board of the Fulbright Association, she spearheaded the task force for the organization’s travel program, beginning with Service Projects to Albania, Serbia and Kosovo. In April 2024, Dr. Schmider received an award for Lifetime Achievement in International Educational Exchange. Dr. Mary Ellen Heian Schmider leverages over six decades of expertise as a proven academic leader. Well-regarded for her insight into history, English and American literature, and women’s and gender studies, she has excelled as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland Global Campus since 2000. During this time, she also worked extensively with the Fulbright Association, serving as an executive director in 2012 and from 2016 to 2017, and as a board chair in 2019. She joined the alumni board in 2008 after receiving two Senior Fulbright Lecturer Awards from Lanzhou University in China in 1997 and Cyril and Methodius University in Macedonia between 2005 and 2006. Dr. Schmider began her career as an English instructor and founding faculty member at California Lutheran College in 1961. From 1964 to 1970, she taught at The University of Vermont, and from 1973 to 1977, she joined the writing program at the University of Rhode Island as an instructor. She also taught at the University of Minnesota, the UMGC European Division in Heidelberg, Germany, and was awarded graduate dean emerita status after 18 years at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Additionally, Dr. Schmider is a former member and chair of the Minnesota Humanities Commission and vice president of the Board for Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTQ5NDA2