The chapter unites diverse alumni and students of Erasmus Mundus courses coming from Canada and the United States.
Our goals
• To increase the awareness about and promote Erasmus Mundus and higher education in Europe among prospective students and within the academic circles within our region; and
• To offer networking opportunities for Erasmus Mundus alumni living in the North American region.
Achievements
• Alumni networking event and pre-departure send-off for newly selected Erasmus Mundus students in Toronto, August 2011.
• Collaboration with the European Commission to promote Erasmus Mundus and “Study in Europe” at the annual Association of International Educators (NAFSA) conference. NAFSA hosts the largest international higher education conference in the world and representatives from the North American chapter have attended the 2009 NAFSA in Los Angeles, California, 2010 NAFSA in Kansas City, Missouri, and 2011 NAFSA in Vancouver, Canada.
• A NAEMA representative attended the Conference of the Americas on International Education, 2010 in Calgary, Canada to promote Erasmus Mundus
• Innovative and modern online speed-networking event "Erasmus Mundus Online Network Roulette" was organised for the very first time in November 2011
Canadian alumni LeDieu Tran and Jonathan Lear
speak about their personal Erasmus Mundus experiences.
Chapter Board
President of EMA North American Chapter
Leasa Weimer is a Ph.D. Candidate in the University of Georgia (UGA) Institute for Higher Education. She was awarded a Fulbright grant and an American-Scandinavian Foundation grant in support of her dissertation research exploring international student tuition fees in Finland, allowing her to spend the 2011-12 academic year in Finland. Prior to pursuing a Doctorate, she was awarded a European Union Erasmus Mundus scholarship wherein she completed a joint-degree master’s program (and became a Europhile), living and studying in Oslo, Norway; Tampere, Finland; and Aveiro, Portugal. Leasa earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication and Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. In her free time she loves the (mis)adventures of travel and everything that the great outdoors offer, practicing yoga, and taking "action" photos.
Vice-President
Elizabeth Humberstone graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Neurobiological Sciences and a minor in African Studies. In 2008, she began the Erasmus Mundus program GEMMA: Women's and Gender Studies, earning a degree from Utrecht University in the Netherlands and another from the University of Hull in the U.K. Moreover, Elizabeth studied abroad for a semester in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and spent her thesis-writing semester in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. After completing her master degrees, she return to the University of Florida as the Associate Director of the MA-International Business program. In addition to travel, Elizabeth loves new restaurants, equality and Google.
Communications Coordinator
When Peggy Sue Ewanyshyn left her teaching career to pursue a new career in libraries, she didn’t realize it would eventually lead to her having the opportunity to fulfill a longheld dream of seeing Norway. She graduated in 2009 from the inaugural class of the EM International Master in Digital Library Learning (DILL) programme. Peggy Sue loves sharing stories from her time studying in three beautiful countries (Norway, Estonia, and Italy) and is happy to be working as Digitization Librarian at the University of Alberta Libraries. Through her involvement with EMA she has managed to feed the European nostalgia that so often strikes her.
Promotions Director
Joe Brew is currently based in Granada, Spain where he is carrying out studies for an Erasmus Mundus Master's in Public Health. In addition to his duties as a student, Joe is a volunteer translator for Physicians for Haiti. He has studied History at the Institut Catholique de Paris (Master 2; 2009), and Languages at Sewanee: The University of the South (BA; 2008). He spent the last few years working in Tennessee as a teacher, cook, and athletics coach. He often spends his summers in Guatemala, working in education and health-related projects. Professionally and personally, Joe is most interested in issues of social justice, equality, culture, politics and health.