Kristen Shannon is the Program Manager for Summer Enrichment Program and Selections for the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program. She comes to Howard from IREX, where she oversaw the alumni engagement portfolio for the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, including leading Alumni Enrichment Institutes – a unique opportunity Fellowship Alumni to travel to U.S. for two-week placements at U.S. institutions of higher education to learn about topics such as the United States’ diverse culture and society, resiliency and ethics in leadership, and social justice principles. Prior to IREX, Kristen served as the program manager of the NEA Foundation’s Global Learning Fellowship – a year-long professional development program designed to support American public-school educators develop the necessary knowledge and skills to prepare students for 21st century global citizenship. In this role, Kristen co-authored a K-12 global competency curriculum book, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals titled “12 Lessons to Open Classrooms and Minds to the World”. Under Kristen’s leadership, the NEA Foundation successfully designed and implemented week-long international teacher field studies to Peru, China, and South Africa. Kristen has additional international affairs experience through past roles at EF Education First, Youth for Understanding (YFU), and the International Executive Service Corps (IESC). She holds a Bachelor of Arts in international studies with concentrations in international development and public administration from American University and studied community development at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa.