John Strand

Education

MA in International Relations, Webster University

BA in Psychology, Webster University

John has spent his entire career working in service to others. He began as a Counselor for Juvenile Offenders in the late 1990’s before moving abroad for the following two decades. While living and working in Asia, John spent more than 10 years in the classroom, becoming an experienced educator. He then went on to receive his MA in International Relations while working for UNESCO and becoming a skilled administrator of non-profit organizations. During the 5+ years prior to COVID, John specialized in international experiential education and service learning – designing, managing and running programs throughout Asia and the Pacific. After returning to the US in 2020, John served as the first Managing Director of the PEARL Institute, a small NYC-based non-profit which advocates for Asian-American representation and works to increase training for social service workers to serve multicultural and immigrant populations more effectively. John is excited to be part of the UHart community, as he has long had a passion to work as an administrator in higher education, helping to maximize opportunities for students, especially from under-served communities.

Interest Areas:

• Experiential education
• Service learning
• International education
• Educational and non-profit administration
• Woodworking
• Cooking