Ryan Rounds

ryanrounds“You don’t go to Spain to eat fries and ketchup.” Sixteen year old me said that to a classmate on a high school trip to Spain. Even then I was all about being open to new cultural perspectives.

As a Fighting Illini, I studied psychology and minored in Spanish after spending a semester studying in Bilbao, Spain. After graduating I went back to Spain to teach English.

I suppose one could call me an “Españafile” as it’s like my segunda patria. I just can’t resist the sound of the Spanish guitar, the sabor of paella, and the beauty of the landscape in the cities and countryside.

I’ll soon (summer 2016) be receiving my Masters in International Higher Education and my plan is to move away from the distance learning field into international education (IE), specifically study abroad. My primary interest in education abroad is diversity and inclusion. This includes increasing participation among diverse identity populations, diversity among IE personnel across career levels, and diversity in curriculum options and locations.

I love to travel and working at an international organization that operates in 8 languages, I’ve developed a fascination with them. While I’m only formally familiar with 2 of the Romance languages, I’m amazed by how much of the others I can now understand, at least in their written form.