.
Joann Geddes
is a faculty member of the College of Arts &
Sciences, and the Co-Director of Academic English
Studies at Lewis & Clark College (L&C), in Portland,
Oregon. She has held that position since 1985.
Joann is a founding member of the L&C Dallaire
Scholarship Committee. Currently, she serves a CEA
Commissioner. She has also been an active member
and presenter in local, regional and national
professional organizations including NAFSA, TESOL,
AAIEP, UCIEP, and ORTESOL.
Blayne Sharpe
has lived in Rwanda for 6+ years and serves as the Executive Director
for Bridge2Rwanda (B2R), a nonprofit that works to create
opportunities for high capacity students from Rwanda, South Sudan,
Burundi, and the Dem. Republic of Congo to study at universities in the
US, Canada, and Europe. Blayne cofound the Bridge2Rwanda Scholars
Program which has over 100 scholars that have been awarded over
$18 million in university scholarships from 50+ institutions including
Harvard, Texas Christian University, Columbia, Yale, Michigan State,
Dartmouth, UPenn, Brown, Abilene Christian, Pitzer, Emory, and
Vanderbilt. B2R works very closely with government partners, the
private sector, and multinational companies to ensure students are
developing a career path that brings them back to Africa.
Carl Wilkens
is the Co-Founder/Director of World Outside My Shoes, a non-profit educational and
professional development organization committed to inspiring and equipping people
to enter the world of “The Other.” A biography at engenocide.org gives some of the
personal motivations behind this organization:
When genocide broke out in Rwanda in 1994, Carl Wilkens refused to leave Rwanda, even when
urged to do so by his family, his church and the United States government. At the time, Carl was a
missionary with the Seventh Day Adventist Church, living in Rwanda with his wife and three
children…. As a result of Carl’s decision to stand up to genocide, hundreds of lives were saved.….
Carl and Teresa spent a year and a half in Rwanda after the genocide ended to assist with the
rebuilding process….. Carl has been recognized with several humanitarian awards, including a 2005
Medal of Valor from the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Dignitas Humana Award from Saint
John’s School of Theology Seminary. He was featured in the PBS Frontline documentary, “Ghosts of
Rwanda,” as well as in “The Few Who Stayed: Defying Genocide,” an American Radio Works
documentary which aired on National Public Radio. Carl Wilkens believes strongly that “one person
can make a difference” and that popular groundswells for change are born when individuals “look
outside of ‘themselves’ and reach out” to one another.
Dr. Kurk Gayle
is the Director of the English Language Learning
Programs at Texas Christian University (TCU). He
has done much collaborative work with others in
international higher education and helped
contribute to "internationalizing the campus" of
TCU for which IIE presented to the institution
the 2015 Andrew Heiskell Award.
How does TCU go from 0 to 10
Rwanda students (9 fully funded)
changing their world
in just three years?
Who starts this up
and how?
How is this sustained?
Why would Rwanda host its 1st Youth
Leadership Conference at TCU?
“Leadership is responsibility.
Leading means you are not alone.”
-- Paul Kagame, President of the
Republic of Rwanda at TCU
IEP.TCU.edu/KWIBUKA