Notre Dame College Faculty Member Becomes Fulbright Scholar

Natalie Trotch Strouse

Natalie Trotch Strouse, associate professor of business administration and accounting, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture in accounting at Ternopil Academy of National Economy, also known as Ternopil State Economic University, in Ukraine this fall. She is the first faculty member to receive this prestigious award since Sr. Mary Cesarie ’31, SND spent the 1967-68 academic year in France. Natalie left for Ukraine on August 20 to teach financial and managerial accounting to upper level university students.

Natalie isn’t traveling alone. Her five-year old daughter, Larissa, is taking her first trip to Ukraine with her. She’s attending a local kindergarten and improving her Ukrainian language skills while her mom is busy teaching.

Natalie admits she is “excited yet a little apprehensive about visiting Ukraine. As of this writing I still do not have an address.” This is her first trip to her ancestral homeland and she will be near some family members in Western Ukraine who are already planning to visit her. No need to worry about a language barrier. Natalie is fluent in Ukrainian, having studied it for 12 years while she was growing up in Cleveland. Natalie hopes that “by the end of our ‘grand adventure’ Larissa will be fluent, too.”

We’ll be eager to hear about Natalie’s experiences and see photos of her adventure after her return on January 25. Natalie, her husband James, and Larissa live in Bay Village.

Natalie is one of approximately 800 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad to some 150 countries for the 2006-2007 academic year through the Fulbright Scholar Program. Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program’s purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries.

The Fulbright Program, America’s flagship international educational exchange activity, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Over its 60 years of existence, thousands of U.S. faculty and professionals have studied, taught or done research abroad, and thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the U.S. They are among more than 266,600 American and foreign university students, K-12 teachers, and university faculty and professionals who have participated in Fulbright exchange programs. Recipients are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their fields.

Mary Ann Kovach ’06 is the Director of Public Relations for Notre Dame College.

Notre Dame College Introduces Associate Deans

Deborah L. Sheren, MBA

As enrollment continues to grow at Notre Dame College, so do the needs of the

students and the expectations of a quality educational experience. To meet these demands, the College restructured the office of academic affairs and student life with the introduction of two new associate dean positions.

In late July, 2006 Dr. Tonia K. Stewart began serving as the new associate dean for student affairs. Dr. Stewart previously served as the executive director of the Cleveland Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program, and has a long history of successful work in higher education. She has served as associate vice president for student affairs at Bowling Green State University, the assistant to the president for diversity and multicultural affairs at Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine, and has also taught at Ohio Northern University, Bowling Green State University, and Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Tonia Kates Stewart

Meanwhile, Deborah L. Sheren, MBA, was named associate dean for academic affairs. Sheren joined Notre Dame College in 2000 and most recently served as an assistant professor of business administration and information systems. Her primary responsibility is the oversight of Notre Dame’s online initiative in partnership with The Learning House Inc. She will also perform certain tasks relative to scheduling and institutional research while teaching a limited course load.

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