Senior Global Programs Advisor Academic Affairs, Office of Global Education
Kent Campus
Leslie Bowser had to make a rapid pivot in the spring of 2020 as she oversaw Kent State’s American Academy program with Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, Brazil. Through the unique program, students begin their university careers at Kent State’s partner university in Brazil, earning Kent State associate degrees there and finishing bachelor degrees here at Kent State.
The first cohort of students were set to graduate with their associate degrees in summer 2020 and transition to the Kent campus in the fall when the COVID-19 pandemic struck and the plan for students to travel from Brazil to Kent fell apart. Bowser worked tirelessly to find alternatives for students and to keep them on their paths to success, both in Brazil and in their transitions to Kent. Leslie found ways to help Kent State faculty who were teaching courses to reconfigure plans and work out options to traveling to Brazil. Of the fifteen students who began the program in 2018, fourteen graduated and were celebrated in a commencement ceremony held in a hybrid in-person/livestream event on September 25, 2020. The pandemic may have thrown a wrench in the plans, but it will not derail the program nor the students, thanks to Bowser’s commitment to the students and to Kent State.