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Director: Olga Ganzen, Ph.D.oganzen@park.edu
Olga was born and raised in Leningrad (Russia). She obtained her Master of Arts in Education specializing in Library Science in 1980 from the Leningrad State Institute of Culture (Russia). While living in Leningrad and Tallinn, Estonia, she worked extensively in youth exchange programs and with educational programs geared toward global thinking and understanding. During this time, she served as president of People to People Estonia and People to People Europe. Olga moved to America in 1998 and received her M.P.A in Non-Profit Management at Park University's Graduate School of Public Affairs, in 1999. She majored in Non-Profit and Community Service Management, and Government-Business Relations. She has now added a Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies degree with a concentration in Arts and Sciences, and a specialization in International Education to her many achievements. Olga's passion for international culture began at the age of 19, when she boarded a cruise ship captained by her father for a 3-week trip. In awe, Olga saw the world that had been waiting for her outside of Russia for the first time. She visited France, England, Denmark, and the Federal Republic of Germany - and she was never the same again. "I will do everything I can to make it possible for everyone around me to have that same experience," she says. "It opens your mind and gives you much bigger dreams." At Park University, Olga is doing just that. She directs many programs within the scope of the Office of International Affairs and Education, including the directive toward internationalization of curriculum, study abroad, various community outreach programs, and faculty and student international exchange projects, to name a few . She hopes to encourage us all to consider ourselves members of a global community, and to incorporate tolerance and knowledge of other cultures into our daily lives and education. "I am always fascinated with the concept of being a global citizen," she says. "It is a set of skills, values, and attitudes which involve communication with other cultures and tolerance of their ways of life and thinking. We need to consider ourselves part of a much bigger picture, and consider our responsibilities, which are not only just for our local town, village, or state - but also our country, and the whole globe. Whatever is happening here is somehow affecting the whole world." --------------------------------- University Resources |
Dr. Olga Ganzen is a faculty member and the Executive Director of the Office of International Affairs and Education at Park University. Her accomplishments as an executive director include establishment of contacts and partnerships with several foreign universities, design of short-term, faculty-led study abroad programs, the creation and coordination of many community outreach programs at Park University, and cooperation with faculty on the internationalization of curriculum.