Following a remarkable tenure as professor and more than a decade as the Vice Provost for Global Programs at Penn State University, Dr. Michael Adewumi will join IES Abroad as the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, effective January 2, 2019.
In his new role at IES Abroad, Dr. Adewumi will lead our 360+ academic programs around the world serving more than 9,000 students a year. Reporting to President & CEO, Dr. Mary M. Dwyer, he was chosen after an extensive, six-month global search following the retirement announcement of Dr. Michael Steinberg, our long-serving Executive Vice President and Director, Academic Programs.
Dr. Steinberg served our organization for 42 years, and is respected as one of the study abroad field’s great leaders and foremost experts. Steinberg’s retirement is effective December 31, 2018.
Dr. Adewumi has served Penn State in different roles for more than three decades, initially joining the University as an assistant professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering in 1985. In his role as Vice Provost for Global Programs, a newly-created position to which he was appointed in 2007, Adewumi oversaw significant growth in the international student population at Penn State.
He also led the development of an effective and innovative support infrastructure for Penn State’s more than 10,000 international students, and provided innovative leadership and oversight for Penn State’s international engagements across the entire University.
In announcing the appointment, Dr. Mary Dwyer, said: “Dr. Adewumi has developed a stellar reputation in the field of international education as an academic faculty member, an excellent listener, a skilled negotiator, an effective leader, and an extremely strategic and knowledgeable education abroad professional.; Dr. Adewumi also brings a unique and essential understanding of faculty and student needs and interests, all of which made him such a clear choice for this position.”
Prior to his role as Vice Provost for Global Programs, Dr. Adewumi served as the first director of Penn State’s Alliance for Education, Science, Engineering and Development in Africa, a University-wide body that promotes Penn State engagement in Africa and helps build partnerships with African institutions.
He has also been recognized as an elected fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, an elected member of the Council of Registered Engineers in Nigeria, and was selected as a distinguished alumnus of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Dr. Adewumi is an internationally-recognized expert in the field of petroleum and natural gas engineering, with more than 100 scholarly publications to his name. He holds a master’s and doctoral degree in gas engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s degree with honors in petroleum engineering from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.
He is a member of multiple professional engineering societies, deeply involved in a wide variety of international education associations and organization, serving in leadership roles in NAFSA and The Forum on Education Abroad, among others, and was recognized by the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus in 2005 for his dedication to creating educational opportunities for underserved students.
Dr. Adewumi noted that his move to IES Abroad will provide him with an even greater opportunity to shape the lives of young people around the world.
“As an educator and an academic committed to international education, I am tremendously excited to lead Academic Affairs at IES Abroad, and work alongside a passionate team to help fulfill IES Abroad’s mission to educate students from around the world,” Dr. Adewumi said, “I look forward to working with IES Abroad as we seek to take the world’s finest study abroad organization to new levels of excellence in international education.”
Dr. Adewumi joins IES Abroad at a momentous time in our history, as we serve U.S. and international students. In 2015, IES Abroad expanded its mission to serve students from around the world, in addition to the U.S. students it has educated since 1950.
