Penelope Mitchell has worked as a consultant in international development for 17 years. Her activities have centered on conceptualizing and writing large grant proposals for training programs in developing countries. The most recent projects include bringing Diaspora Sudanese back home to train colleagues in education and medical fields, ongoing work in Palestine to develop higher education initiatives, activities in Armenia to revitalize the countryside through programs centered on youth, and a worldwide initiative in democracy training. She spent several months over the last two years in Iraq working on a massive program to reconceptualize and revitalize the country’s education system. Prior to her work as an independent consultant, she spent 10 years at the Academy for Educational Development managing human resource development activities in Botswana, Swaziland, India, Honduras and the Caribbean. She worked in financial management for Education Development Center, was logistics coordinator in Kenya for Earthwatch, and served as a department office manager at New York University. She also owned and operated a restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts for five years. She has an M.A. from New York University in TESOL, a B.A. in history from Stanford University, has studied in Italy, France and Mexico, and is working on a Ph.D. in anthropology at American University. She has published and presented papers on the topic of reentry of students into the workplace after long-term study abroad among numerous other topics related to the management of training programs. She is editor of a handbook for foreign universities, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, on how to develop and manage programs for visiting U.S. students and create partnerships with U.S. universities.