Dr. Steve Chao is the Director of the International Programs Office and is
responsible for international affairs at Worcester State College. He joined WSC
in 2004. Before coming to Worcester State College, Dr. Chao was the Associate
Director of the International Affairs Center and adjunct faculty in
International Studies at
Indiana State University. Dr. Chao has had six years of academic teaching and
research experience in China and Taiwan. His research focused on reform of state
enterprise in China. Dr. Chao began his professional career serving the
international students and scholars at Columbia College, Columbia, Missouri in
1986.
Kelly O'Brien, Ed.D. is the Assistant Director of the International
Programs Office. Kelly has over 20 years experience in the field of
international education, beginning as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mauritania in
1983. She received a Masters in International Education from American
University in 1987 and then traveled to Kenya to teach secondary school.
Upon her return to the States in 1990, she joined the School for
International Training (SIT) in Brattleboro, Vermont as the International
Student Advisor. In September 1993 she moved to Nairobi, Kenya to work as
an Academic Director for the SIT Study Abroad Program based there. For
five years she lived and worked with US undergraduate students in East Africa. During a
sabbatical she created a development studies program for SIT based in Kampala,
Uganda. In 2000 she returned to school to begin work on a doctorate degree
in international education at the University of Massachusetts- Amherst.
She graduated in May 2006. The focus of her dissertation was on how
US teachers learn during a study abroad opportunity in East Africa and then how
they transform their learning into lesson plans for their students.
She joined the staff of WSC's International Programs Office in September 2005.
Karen Shea is the International Student Advisor. She is the
Designated School Official for WSC. As the liaison between the Department of
Homeland Security and the college, Ms. Shea assists both our prospective and
current international students with their immigration needs and keeping with
federal requirements. Ms. Shea began her work at Worcester State College
in 1996 when she was Assistant to the Director of the Intergenerational Urban
Institute. From there she went to the Center for Effective Instruction where
she was the Mentoring Coordinator for the Career Beginnings Partnership. Karen
continues her work here at the college in the International Programs Office. For
the past two years she has worked directly under the leadership of Dr. Chao
persevering the IPO’s drive to ensure that each international students stay here
is successful.
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