International students

Teaching and Learning Chair Christian Faltis and panelists share advice with international students.

The Department of Teaching and Learning recently held its first “Your Home Away from Home” event for international and immigrant students.

“Our international and immigrant students add so much value to our programs, and yet at times they are invisible in the department,” said Christian Faltis, PhD, chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning. “I wanted to let students know that EHE and the Department of Teaching and Learning is their home away from home.”

Faltis said there were two main goals of the event. One: to show support for international and immigrant students. And two: to share experiences, challenges and successes from three scholars who were also international students in graduate school.

The three speakers were:

  • Hasan Aydin, PhD, an associate professor of multicultural education at Florida Gulf Coast University
  • Tanja Burkhard, PhD, a postdoctoral associate at the University of Pittsburgh and a recent Ohio State alumna
  • Blanca Caldas, PhD, assistant professor in second language education and elementary education at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities

“As an international student, you are coming from a different academic culture,” Aydin said to the students at the event. He also discussed how he overcame linguistic challenges such as learning to write academically in English.

A follow-up event to “Your Home Away from Home” is planned for the spring semester.

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