Nirelle Galson, executive director of development and alumni relations for the Division of International Programs Abroad (DIPA), has announced plans to discontinue active services to Syracuse University effective June 30. Galson will continue to work for the division in a consultative capacity until June 2007, when she plans to retire from the University after more than 30 years of service.
Galson served as DIPA executive director from 1993 until late last year. During her tenure as DIPA director, Galson helped the division achieve a national reputation as a model overseas study program. Since stepping down as executive director, Galson has continued to work for DIPA as executive director of development and alumni relations to create a strategic development plan for the division.
After earning a bachelor's degree in human development from SU, Galson remained at the University to become the assistant director of University College's independent study degree programs. She started at DIPA as an associate director, becoming the division's director in 1979. She was named DIPA's first executive director in 1993. As executive director, Galson was responsible for the overall direction, administration and academic quality of SU's graduate and undergraduate study abroad programs.
"Nirelle has served the University with distinction for her entire career," says Vice Chancellor and Provost Deborah A. Freund. "We're all greatly indebted to her for the outstanding work she's done at DIPA to establish this nationally recognized program."
DIPA currently is being restructured to allow the division to better integrate the academic strengths of its programming across the University. The new structure will ensure that DIPA programming is driven by the strengths of SU's faculty and on-campus academic programs, consistent with the University's "Scholarship in Action" initiatives. "We're taking these measures so that DIPA can become a more integral part of our academic culture," says Freund.
The restructuring is intended to help DIPA retain its reputation as one of the nation's premier study abroad programs in light of changing student demands. DIPA, recognized in recent years by U.S. News & World Report as the "Cadillac of American study abroad programs," has five centers around the world. The program has doubled its annual enrollment since the fall of 1986 to an average of just fewer than 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students per year.
