- MEET THE DIRECTOR - HANGZHOU, CHINA
Valparaiso University's administered study abroad programs have resident directors who manage the programs on a day-to-day basis, teach two courses for the students and coordinate group excursions and cultural activities. Since 1990, VU has sent 15 different faculty members, and their families, to the Hangzhou, China program.
GEORGE C. HEIDER will serve as resident director for Valparaiso University's Study Abroad Center at Hangzhou, China, during the fall semester 2009. Dr. Heider has previously taught in China, introducing a new curriculum for the teaching of English to middle and high school teachers in Shuyang, Jiangsu Province, during July 2007. He has extensive international travel experience, including visits as an educational administrator to Japan and Indonesia, as well as study tour leadership to Israel and Europe. Prior to his current appointment to the Department of Theology at Valparaiso in 2004, he served as president of Concordia University in Illinois (1995-2003) and as academic vice president of Concordia College in Nebraska (1987-95). He holds his Ph.D. in Old Testament from Yale University and is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. During his appointment in Hangzhou, he will offer a course in "The Bible as Oriental Literature," as well as one in "Chinese Culture and Civilization." He and his wife, Carolyn, have two children, Kristen and Matthew, both living in Minnesota.
Email: george.heider@valpo.edu
Former Resident Directors of the Hanghzou, China Study Center
1990
Sara Dorow 1991-1992 John Hazewinkel 1993, 2001, 2007
Jim Nelson 1994-1996 Lin Zhimin 1997 Yuehua Zhang 1998 Peter Scholl 1999 Meng Jianyun 2000 Stepehn Smith and Linda Lewis
2002 Rachel Gretencord
2004 Jennifer Oldstone-Moore
2005 Dennis Friesen-Carper
2006 Gregory Hume
2008 John Ruff