Brief Bio
Dr. Andrea Thomas is an educational leader for global learning, innovation and virtual exchange with a track record for delivering transformative results to build and scale collaborative international programming in higher education. Disruptor and change agent, Andrea has worked with 45+ universities globally as an institutional mentor to design effective programming for digital community and international peer to peer learning through Virtual Exchange and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL).
Dr. Thomas is a Senior Intercultural Learning Specialist at Purdue University, Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship, Assessment and Research (CILMAR), and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern California, Viterbi School of Engineering.
Dr. Thomas was the Head of International Programs and Senior International Officer (SIO) at the State University of New York (SUNY) Farmingdale State College as well as a 2019 Fellow for the Association of International Educators Administrators (AIEA). She brings more than 17 years of experience at global organizations and 15 years in operations, human resources, diversity, equity and inclusion and global engagement. She is passionate about global education and the importance of cultivating a global mindset among students and faculty to support capacity building for digital transformation in the Fourth Industrial context and to create the conditions for peace and mutual understanding.
Andrea began her career at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) where she focused on Ethics and operations within international development. In 2022, she became a United Nations Global Diplomacy Fellow through the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Andrea earned a Doctorate at the University of Southern California (USC), Rossier School of Education where she studied Global Education Leadership and Administration with rotations in Hong Kong, Finland and Qatar. She is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from the Kyrgyz Republic and speaks Russian, Kyrgyz, and Spanish languages. She has lived and worked in Central Asia, Southern Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South America.