Penelope Mitchell has served as PARC Executive Director since 2006. Prior to joining PARC, she worked as a consultant in international development for 17 years. Her activities centered on conceptualizing and writing large grant proposals for training programs in over a dozen countries. She also worked in Iraq 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 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 ABD on a Ph.D. in anthropology at American University. She has published and presented papers on the management of training programs and 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. She has worked with both community colleges and HBCUs on internationalizing their campuses and on programs bringing people from over 20 countries and a wide variety of backgrounds to study in the U.S. via short-term programs through Ph.D.s.