SILVER CITY—For the first time, the WNMU College of Education is hosting an International Research Scholar this year. In this new role, Egyptian scholar Eman Ahmed will be working closely with faculty in the Educational Leadership Program.

For Ahmed, this is not her first international experience. "I came to the United States in 2007 to get my PhD from Pennsylvania State University," she indicated. "I was there for five and a half years, and I worked there as well as a graduate lecturer for four years and as a lecturer for a year." Ahmed's PhD is in educational leadership.

Eventually, the terms of Ahmed's visa required her to return to Egypt. Her next experience abroad was as a faculty member in Saudi Arabia. "I worked there as an assistant professor and then was promoted to associate professor," said Ahmed. "It is not easy to be promoted there if you are not from Saudi Arabia," she added.

Ahmed decided to return to the United States because she is interested in devoting more time to research. "I am very interested in writing research papers and in becoming known in the field," she said.

She decided to come to Western New Mexico University after doing some extensive research on educational leadership programs. After looking at programs around the country, she said, "Western New Mexico University stood out as the best fit."

"The structure of the program itself is different from other universities," Ahmed explained, "The program was updated just two years ago. The people who are teaching the core courses in the program are very much different."

Ahmed elaborated, noting that it is the program's emphasis on futures literacy that sets it apart. "Most of the other educational leadership programs focus on preparing the leaders for the present—on how to address the current problems in the field." In contrast, she said, the program at WNMU is "preparing leaders not just for the present but for the future and how to navigate some of the challenges of the future." It focuses, she said, on "how to develop these future leadership skills that will improve the school leader's practice that will lay the foundation for success in student learning. I think they are doing an amazing job of that here."

Ahmed has been working closely with Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership Robert Neu, who directs the program. "I am learning a lot from Robert," said Ahmed. "He is an expert and has worked as a superintendent for many years."

Part of Ahmed's role as a visiting scholar is to help evaluate the effectiveness of the WNMU Educational Leadership Program's approach. "We are looking at the effectiveness of the program on the graduate's professional practice and career advancement," she explained.

Ahmed noted that she is excited to be in New Mexico and to be able to grow her expertise. "When you are working on different papers, on different topics," she said, "you are learning different things every day."