Jill Blondin, Ph.D.
Associate vice provost for global initiatives
Virginia Commonwealth University
Jill Blondin, associate vice provost for global initiatives at VCU, received her B.A. from Indiana University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before becoming Executive Director of GEO, Dr. Blondin served as the inaugural director of VCU Globe, a global education living-learning program devoted to building cultural agility.
Under Dr. Blondin’s leadership, VCU Globe received the 2015 NAFSA Senator Paul Simon Spotlight Award and the 2018 Andrew Heiskell Award from IIE. Dr. Blondin has shared her expertise as a Fulbright Specialist to Brazil (2018), as a speaker with the U.S. Department of State Study Abroad Engagement Grant Program and Fulbright Portugal (2019), and as an Expert Speaker on U.S. Study Abroad with the U.S. Embassy Guyana (2022). Dr. Blondin, a 2021-2022 AIEA Presidential Fellow, serves as Vice Chair on AIEA's Member Outreach and Awards Committee and as a member of the Futures Committee.
Paulo Zagalo-Melo, Ph.D.
Associate provost for Global Education
Western Michigan University
Paulo Zagalo-Melo is associate provost for Global Education and SIO at Western Michigan University. Prior to WMU, he held executive positions at the University of Montana, the Luso-American Foundation, and Fulbright Portugal.
Zagalo-Melo is an AIEA Board Member and Chair of the AIEA Member Outreach and Awards Committee. He was an AIEA 2015 Presidential Fellow. Zagalo-Melo has an MPA from Harvard University and a PhD in political science from the Catholic University of Portugal.
Martha Merritt, Ph.D.
Dean and the Carole M. Weinstein chair of International Education
University of Richmond
As a scholar of Russian politics who has lived and taught in five countries, Martha Merritt seeks to facilitate sustained a cross-cultural community for the University of Richmond. She works with faculty, staff and students to deepen and extend UR’s strong web of partnerships abroad, with particular focus on South Africa and Denmark. Her goals for international education include integrating local and global learning for challenges such as sustainability, facilitating meaningful engagement with other cultures, and empowering international students as vital community members.
Since joining UR in 2015, Merritt founded the EnCompass program to provide international experience for non-traditional students. She also extended International Education Week to a campus-wide focus on another culture. The Institute for International Education recognized EnCompass with a Heiskell Award for increasing access to study abroad, and the Association for International Educators (AIEA) presented its Innovation Award to UR for the revised IE Week, both in 2022. Since EnCompass started, nearly 70% of UR undergraduates graduate with international experience.
Merritt worked at the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame’s Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies before coming to Richmond. Her previous experience included establishing programs and internships in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, as well as oversight of Chicago’s Center in Paris. She attended Pomona College and Oxford University.
Paul Ginder
Fiscal manager
Virginia Commonwealth University
Paul Ginder is the fiscal manager for the Global Education Office at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has a B.A. from Wake Forest University. As fiscal manager, he is responsible for management of the Global Education Office budget and long-range planning. He also has extensive experience developing budgets for VCU study abroad programs.
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