Senior Public Relations Strategist
Purdue University's Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship, Assessment and Research
Annette Benson serves as the senior public relations strategist for Purdue University’s CILMAR: Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship, Assessment, and Research. The thrid branch of Purdue’s Global Programs—alongside the Office of International Students and Scholars and the Office of Study Abroad Programs—the Center was created in Fall 2016 with the charge to provide intercultural learning (ICL) programs which would assist faculty and staff in embedding ICL into their academic and study abroad curriculum.
Each member of the CILMAR staff innovates new ICL activities, professional development opportunities, and research which are curated into the Intercultural Learning Hub, for which Annette serves as manager. Annette has given final approval for 800+ ICL resources, gathered from many sources beyond CILMAR, for publishing in the HubICL; this exposure has given her a great overview of the current ICL field.
The CILMAR staff members, including Annette, are also privileged to serve as mentors to undergraduate students during their study abroad experience.
Beginning her career at Purdue in 2003, Annette entered a position created with an agreement between Housing and Food Services (VP-HSF) and Human Resources (VP-HR) to oversee English as a second language programs for graduate students, the spouses of graduate students (seen as potential students), community members, and service workers who might better qualify for advancement with improved language skills. In addition, Annette used her experiences working with this diverse population to serve as a diversity and inclusion trainer for faculty, staff, students, and town and gown programs for the Purdue HR department.
Annette is a qualified administrator of the IDI, IES, ICEdge, GCC, BEVI; Gallup Strengths; and the MBTI assessments.
Annette can often be found offering workshops at WISE, NAFSA, and SIETAR conferences.